Hyderabad: Members of the Indian diaspora, including those from the Telugu community, staged fresh protests in London and Dublin against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in India, expressing solidarity with protesters in the country and raising concerns over the alleged police action in Delhi.
It was won for us. It was fought and won for us by the blood and sweat of freedom fighters and revolutionaries.
Hundreds of Indians joined the protest, demanding electoral integrity and the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, according to SFI-UK. Addressing the gathering, SFI-UK president Dr Aparna Vinod said, “We have regressed back in history and we are protesting for our right to vote, the most basic right of any democracy. This right to vote was not given to us. SFI-UK alleged that right-wing groups attempted to disrupt the demonstration, but protesters stood their ground and continued raising slogans against what they described as an assault on Indian democracy. The SFI’s Leeds unit staged another protest outside Indian High Commission in London. In Dublin, several members of the Indian diaspora gathered near the Spire for a separate demonstration organised by the South Asia Collective, Ireland.
In London, the UK unit of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) organised demonstrations on Friday outside the Indian High Commission and near the Gandhi statue in Parliament Square.