Liberation strongly condemns renewed repression by the reactionary government in India led by prime minister Narendra Modi and the Delhi state government against pro-democracy forces. Protests were sparked after the Modi government recently moved to strike 130 million voters from the electoral rolls, sparking outrage across the country.
The so-called Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process has led to millions of names being deleted from electoral rolls, depriving Indian citizens of their fundamental right to vote. In West Bengal, Muslims and other minorities who do not typically vote for PM Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been stripped of their voting rights.
A mass mobilisation was planned for Saturday 10 October at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar observatory, calling for safeguards to the electoral system and the removal of election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. In an unprecedented crackdown, Delhi police detained thousands of people – including students, parliamentarians, activists and leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India, the two giants of the Indian Left – on their way to Saturday’s protest.
This follows months of sustained campaigning by students in and aligned with the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) which brought down discredited education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July in light of the 2024 and 2026 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) medical exams scandal. Pradhan’s downfall has been widely interpreted as signalling the “beginning of the end” for the autocratic and demagogic prime minister Modi. Building on this victory, the student movement and other progressive forces have continued to agitate for a reversal of the reactionary National Education Policy (2020) as well as against further erosion of India’s secular democratic framework.
Liberation stands in solidarity with the progressive democratic movement in India. We condemn these attacks on democratic rights and the constitutional right to peaceful protest. We believe that the right to vote and express one’s political opinion is integral to democracy. We call upon the British government to use its influence to demand an end to repression. We demand that the Indian authorities immediately release all those arrested, who are fighting for people’s rights. We regard the use of force, arbitrary detentions, and the denial of access to detained activists – including those requiring medical attention – as wholly unacceptable.
We will support protests in Britain planned by Indian organisations, including the Students’ Federation of India (UK branch) as well as longstanding Liberation affiliate the Indian Workers’ Association GB.
Liberation stands in unwavering solidarity with the people of India in their fight in defence of people’s democracy. [Ends]
Liberation Executive Council
12 October 2026
