"The Spell Has Been Broken": Diaspora Takes India's Voting-Rights Protests to London, USA

LONDON: "The spell has been broken and more and more young people are coming out on the streets despite the repression meted out."

That was the message from Neha Bora, president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), to members of the Indian and South Asian diaspora who rallied outside the High Commission of India in Aldwych on Tuesday evening. They gathered in solidarity with a youth - and student-led movement in India that is demanding the removal of the country's Chief Election Commissioner and the scrapping of a nationwide voter-roll revision that critics say has disenfranchised millions.

The "Emergency Protest" on October 13, Tuesday, was organised by the South Asia Solidarity Group, Cambridge South Asian Forum Against Hindutva, the Indian Workers' Association, the SOAS Ambedkar Society and Strive UK, according to Clarion India. Scores of people, including young adults and some children, gathered on the pavement outside India House, chanting slogans and listening to speakers. Banners read "Diaspora Stands with Indian Students' Protests!" and "Scrap SIR / Gyanesh Must Go!", while other placards declared "130 Million Voters Deleted" and "Fight Hindu Fascism". Protesters also held placards criticising the BJP-led government and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The rally amplified the demands of the "Jantar Mantar 2.0" protests in India - the impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, fresh elections in states where organisers allege polls were held on falsified rolls, and an end to police brutality and sexual violence against protesters, journalists and lawyers.

"This is not just about one corrupt official. It is a mass uprising against a fascist, Hindu supremacist regime in India," said Mukti Shah of the South Asia Solidarity Group. "It has disenfranchised millions, bulldozed the homes of hundreds of thousands, while its foot-soldiers commit lynchings and pogroms with impunity. For us in Britain it is especially important because this regime is a key player in the global far-right which is increasingly active in this country."

Shah told this reporter that the group is in touch with the movement's organisers in India and will continue to protest in solidarity with them.

"The spell has been broken"

Neha Bora, president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), sent a message to the London protest. "The spell has been broken and more and more young people are coming out on the streets despite the repression meted out," she said. "As long as the memory of the anti-colonial freedom struggle remains alive, we know that people will come onto the streets once again in their millions and drive the vote thieves and dictators from power."

In a statement read at the demonstration, the South Asia Solidarity Group described the SIR as an instrument for the mass disenfranchisement of Muslims, Dalits, rural and urban working people and others unlikely to vote for the BJP, Clarion India reported. The group drew a line from the current movement to the 2019–20 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, recalling its own demonstrations outside the High Commission at that time, and called for the release of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam and all political prisoners held under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. It also likened internet shutdowns and the heavy security presence in Delhi to tactics long used in Kashmir.

A speaker identified as Adil said many people in India felt unable to raise their voices. Another young speaker said it was shameful that people had to take to the streets "to ask for voting rights". The protest ended with the slogan "Inqilab Zindabad".

The London rally was not the only one in Britain. The Students' Federation of India (SFI) UK also organised gatherings in Cardiff, Leeds and Edinburgh during the week.

Rallies across the US and Australia

In the United States, Hindus for Human Rights said it held four solidarity demonstrations last weekend, in New York, the Bay Area, Atlanta and Washington DC. The group has called further rallies this week outside Indian consulates and at public landmarks: Chicago (15 and 17 October), San Francisco (15 October), Philadelphia and Los Angeles (17 October), and Austin and New York (18 October). Rallies are also planned on 18 October in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

In a message to supporters, the organisation claimed that more than 15,000 protesters and at least 16 journalists had been detained since the protests began, and said commentators were comparing the crackdown to Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–77, "except this time, the emergency is undeclared."

What is happening in India

The protests are led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is not a registered political party but a caricature of one. Political communications strategist Abhijeet Dipke launched it online on 16 May 2026 as satire of the political establishment, its name parodying the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Earlier this year, it led a movement over NEET-UG exam irregularities that culminated in the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Its new target is the SIR, a door-to-door revision of electoral rolls that Gyanesh Kumar announced nationwide on 27 October 2025. The Election Commission says the exercise aims to make the rolls accurate by removing deceased, permanently shifted, duplicate and non-citizen voters while keeping eligible citizens on them. But Election Commission data showed that around 13.3 crore (133 million) names had been deleted from draft voter lists so far, with nearly 71.5%  (about 9.5 crore) removed after being marked absent, permanently shifted or deleted for "other" reasons.

During earlier phases, opposition parties alleged that the revision hit minorities, migrants and economically weaker sections, while the BJP defended it as necessary to remove bogus or illegal entries.

Formal attempts to remove Kumar have so far failed. In April, the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker refused to admit an opposition notice of motion to remove him, the first time such notices had been submitted in both houses.

On the streets, the confrontation has escalated sharply. Delhi Police detained thousands of protesters on Saturday, October 10, the date of the CJP's first protest call. Thousands joined a march on Monday after the clampdown foiled the weekend demonstration, and the same day police removed Jantar Mantar - Delhi's traditional protest site - from its designated demonstration sites, redirecting protests to Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground.

On Tuesday, CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde were among about 20 volunteers detained after entering Jantar Mantar to "reclaim" it. Cases have been registered against them. The movement and allied student groups have said the protests will continue despite the detentions.