I do not accept that my words ‘Good week for the Indians’ are racist. As the individual words are not themselves racist, for the sentence to be racist the context needs to be taken into account.

For example, if they were used in the context of the Indian cricket team having just thrashed England in a test match, no reasonable person would regard them as racist.

The meeting at which they were spoken was on 25 October, coincidentally the same day that Rishi Sunak became Britain’s first-ever prime minister of Indian descent. When Sumati Bala was confirmed as Deputy Chair of YDCC, she became the first person of Indian descent to hold a senior position at YDCC – at least during my residence in the village, possibly ever.
 
My words following her appointment were thus a good natured observation of current affairs. As far as I was concerned, both events were evidence of the increasing inclusivity of British public life and as such were thoroughly healthy developments. The remark was congratulatory, not denigratory.

The circumstances surrounding Sumati’s candidacy are also relevant. Shortly after I joined the council in 2021, the Deputy Chair fell ill. The council held the post open for several meetings but by the time of our AGM in August it was clear that he would not be able to return and that we needed to elect a replacement. No one present at the meeting was willing to fill the post, so rather than leave it unfilled I offered to act as temporary Deputy Chair until a replacement could be found.

I made this offer reluctantly because I was uncomfortable with a single person being both Treasurer and Vice Chairman. The inclusion of ‘Election of Deputy Chair’ on the October agenda, at my written request following a lack of time to discuss the matter at the September meeeting, confirms my desire to keep my tenure as short as practicable.

Before the October meeting I discussed this problem with Sumati – we have been friends for several years – and was delighted to learn that she would be willing to put her name forward. She duly did so, I seconded her candidacy, and she was elected unopposed.

Given that the election process was initiated by me, and that I seconded her candidacy, it is simply not plausible to allege that my remark was intended as a racial slur. To claim that it was, is a affront to my integrity which I find deeply offensive and which I reserve the right to challenge by any legal route available.