“I Was Asked To Leave”: Shashi Tharoor Opens Up About Facing Racism At Mumbai’s Breach Candy Club
A personal story shared by Shashi Tharoor has once again sparked conversations around elitism and colonial-era discrimination in India’s elite social clubs.
The Congress MP recalled an incident from the 1960s when he was allegedly asked to leave Breach Candy Club in Mumbai because he was Indian.
According to Tharoor, an American classmate had taken him to the club, hoping the rules would be ignored, but the visit quickly turned humiliating. Sharing the memory in an old blog post that recently resurfaced online, Tharoor described how the club followed a “Europeans-only” culture even years after India gained Independence.
Founded in 1878 during British rule, the Breach Candy Club was originally created as an exclusive social space for Europeans in Bombay, now Mumbai. Reports suggest Indian members were not allowed entry until the 1960s.
The controversy has returned to the spotlight after discussions around the club’s constitution, which reportedly still limits trust committee membership to European passport holders residing in Mumbai.
Reacting strongly, Tharoor questioned how such a provision could continue to exist in modern India. In a recent social media post, he said there was “no acceptable justification” for racist policies to survive on government land and argued that the Indian Constitution should matter more than outdated club rules.
The issue has triggered strong reactions online, with many social media users calling the policy discriminatory and out of touch with today’s democratic values. Several users said institutions in independent India must move beyond colonial-era exclusivity and uphold equality for all.
News source: Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
