Shashi Tharoor, a Congress Member of Parliament, said he was expelled from Mumbai's Breach Candy Club during the 1960s [1].
The account highlights the persistence of colonial-era exclusionary practices in India's elite social circles and the systemic racism that once governed high-society access.
Tharoor said the incident was a direct result of the club's Europeans-only provision [1]. He said the rule was a racist requirement that barred non-Europeans from membership or entry, reflecting a social hierarchy established during British rule in India [2].
"I was thrown out," Tharoor said [3].
He said the club's restrictive policy was a colonial hangover, suggesting that such rules remained in place long after India gained independence. The lawmaker said the exclusionary nature of the club was not merely a matter of prestige but a structured form of racial discrimination [2].
"There is no place for such a racist provision," Tharoor said [1].
The Breach Candy Club remains one of Mumbai's most exclusive institutions. Tharoor's recollection of the events from the 1960s [1] serves as a critique of how colonial elitism continued to influence private institutions in the post-independence era.
He said that the enforcement of such rules served to maintain a social divide based on ethnicity and origin, a practice he argued is incompatible with modern democratic values [2].
“"I was thrown out."”
Tharoor's testimony underscores the slow erosion of colonial social structures in India. By highlighting the 'Europeans-only' rule of a prestigious Mumbai institution, he illustrates how private clubs functioned as bastions of racial segregation well into the mid-20th century, complicating the narrative of a clean break from British social hierarchies after 1947.
