Rival Indian groups face off near London parliament over election policies

Hundreds of people gathered near the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Parliament Square in London on Saturday to demonstrate against election policies and officials in India.

Protests And Counter-Protests

The main protest, named "Stop Vote Chori," was put together by the Indian Overseas Congress Youth wing along with several student and diaspora groups, including the Students' Federation of India U.K. and the South Asia Solidarity Group. Activist Dhruv Rathee spoke to the crowd as the main speaker, telling those gathered that the protests aim to raise awareness and will only end when the top election official is replaced through an agreement between the government and the opposition leader. The gathering also raised national slogans and read the preamble of the Indian Constitution. At the same time, a smaller group of government supporters organized a counter-protest near the same site, shouting slogans in favor of the current administration. Metropolitan Police officers stood between the two opposing sides to keep them separated as tensions rose and both sides shouted to drown each other out. Hirdesh Gupta, who founded the India Diaspora U.K. group that called for the counter-protest, stated that their members stand firmly with the government and its goals for the country.

Background And Official Stance

This London demonstration followed a smaller protest and counter-protest held a day earlier outside the High Commission of India, as well as a series of earlier rallies that began with an emergency demonstration earlier in the week. The demonstrations are pressing demands from a political group known as the Cockroach Janata Party, which wants the removal of the election official and the cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision process for voter lists. Meanwhile, the Election Commission states that this voter list revision process is meant to clean up rolls by removing entries for people who have died, moved away, or appear more than once.

Context

Protests by overseas diaspora groups often mirror domestic political debates in India, bringing local political divisions abroad. Parliament Square in London is a common site for such demonstrations because of its central location and the presence of the Gandhi statue.