Indian diaspora protests across UK over police crackdown; seeks Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation

Hundreds of members of the Indian diaspora gathered outside the Indian High Commission in central London on Monday evening in solidarity with the student movement in India protesting alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and the police crackdown on demonstrators in New Delhi.

The demonstrations, which were echoed in Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, called for accountability in India's education system and demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Addressing the gathering, Somiha Chatterjee, secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) UK, expressed solidarity with students in India who are on hunger strike and condemned what she described as sustained police brutality against protesters.

Among those attending was Ishita, a UNICEF employee currently based in London, who told Maktoob that she joined the protest out of solidarity with her friends in Delhi.

"I have friends who are students, and I'm a recent graduate myself. This idea that if you're not a student you should stay out of it is a very stupid argument to me," she said.

Reflecting on the relative safety of protesting abroad, she added, "I'm very safe here. I'm doing this in London, where I know I can reach back home safely, have a good night's sleep, and come back again if I want to. But my friends in India have put everything at risk to do this."

She said she hoped the demonstrations abroad would reassure protesters in India that they were not alone.

Another participant, a 23-year-old student from New Delhi who requested anonymity, said he had previously taken part in the anti-CAA-NRC protests before moving to the United Kingdom. He said the current movement was connected to broader struggles for justice across India.

"I am also here fighting in solidarity with people in Bundelkhand, Adivasis who have been displaced due to the river-linking project. I'm also with the Dalit farmers who are being displaced because of the Google data centre being built on their lands, and I'm here for the Muslims who have been persecuted and whose homes have been bulldozed."

He said living abroad had not diminished his sense of responsibility towards developments in India.

The protest was jointly organised by the South Asia Solidarity Group, SFI-UK and the India Workers' Association (GB) under the slogan "Cockroaches of London Unite, Rise in Protest."

Protesters gathered outside India House in central London demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET controversy. They also expressed solidarity with climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and others who have been on a hunger strike demanding justice and structural reforms to India's education system.

The demonstration reverberated with slogans including "Inquilab Zindabad" and "Pradhan Istifa Do," as protesters called on the Indian government to ensure transparency, accountability and justice in the conduct of public examinations.

Organisers also announced that a similar demonstration is scheduled to be held in Leeds on 26 July.