Shahnawaz Ali Raihan

Slogans of azaadi filled the air as over 300 Indians braved a drizzle to gather in front of the Indian high commission in London last Wednesday to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.

The Telegraph spoke to two students from Bengal, studying in the UK, who took part in the demonstration called by South Asia Solidarity Group and the SOAS India Society, a students’ fourm.

Budhaditya Bhattacharyya

Age: 24

Occupation: PhD student at the University of Durham

Hails from: Burdwan

I do not usually attend protest meets. But because Indian classical music, which I am pursuing, is a syncretic tradition, I felt what is happening in India runs contrary to my ethos.

I left the reading room at British Library early and walked to the protest spot, about 40 minutes away. The sun sets in London around 4pm, so it was dark when I reached India House at 5pm.

The atmosphere was charged. A couple of extra placards were lying around. I picked one that said “I support a secular India, not a Hindu rashtra.”

The protesters had gathered on the pavement opposite the high commission. A Met Police van was posted with two constables who were asking us to move back if anyone came down on the carriageway.

Amid the azaadi slogans, we read out the preamble to the Constitution in chorus from a placard. Someone had brought a dafli and was playing it to the beat of the slogans.

An elderly lady had come in a wheelchair.

Three or four passers-by asked what the protest was about and when we explained, they expressed their support for the cause. Even some taxi drivers honked as they passed and gave us a thumbs up.

I am happy that the protests are happening everywhere.

Shahnawaz Ali Raihan

Age: 37

Occupation: Research scholar at St Antony’s College,

University of Oxford

Hails from: Kaliachak in Malda

Zor se bolo azaadi/ Hum kya chahtey azaadi

I could hear the cries of azaadi as I walked briskly towards the protest venue in Aldwych. I had taken a train from Dorset but the two-hour journey took five because of a signal failure.

By the time I reached with my friend Sharbatanu Chatterjee, who works as a research assistant at the University College, London, the protest had begun. It was raining but despite the chill, the crowd kept swelling.

It was surprising how so many people had gathered on such short notice. Most slogans were in Hindi, but a big group of people from Kerala raised slogans in Malayalam too.

Among those who addressed the crowd were Dalit poet Meena Kandasamy and writer-academic Ananya Vajpeyi from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

Once the flames of protest fanned out in India, it did not take long for them to reach Britain as well. There have been protests in Oxford, Cambridge and at the Parliament Square in Westminster but Wednesday’s event registered the biggest footfall.

The UK newspapers and TV channels are now covering the events in India extensively. An elderly English lady I met on the train caught on when I mentioned I was travelling to take part in the protest.

The events back home have been discussed among us Indian students through the week.

England has strong race laws and if any white supremacist leader, irrespective of his office, made comments stereotyping and targeting a community by its dress, he would be put behind bars. In India, we have the Prime Minister making such utterances!

But it is reassuring to see how the protests have grown into a humanitarian one.