'India funds, Gaza burns': Protests against genocide erupt across cities in India

Thousands of protesters across several Indian cities have risked beatings, arrest and detention to demand that India sever ties with Israel as part of a global commemoration of two years of genocide in Gaza.

Protests on Sunday took place in New Delhi, Patna, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

In Rohtak, in the state of Haryana, at least six protesters were detained and allegedly beaten by both vigilantes and the police. 

By nightfall, female activists were released, but by Monday afternoon, male activists were still being held.

Since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023, India has emerged as one Israel's strongest allies. Delhi has abstained from several ceasefire resolutions, sidestepped an international call for a military embargo, and has refused to join the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague.

The Indian state has also sent combat drones, arms components and bombs to its ally over the past two years, while 20,000 Indians have made their way to Israel to ostensibly replace Palestinian workers in construction and the caregiving sector.

Though the number of protesters taking to the streets in recent days are comparatively modest compared to the mobilisations currently taking place in Italy and Spain, activists say that momentum towards a mass movement against India's continued support for Israel is slowly building.

Observers say the protests in Delhi on Sunday was among the biggest yet.

'India funds, Gaza burns'

In the capital, hundreds of people gathered at Jantar Mantar, a 3oo-year-old observatory in central Delhi, wearing or carrying keffiyehs, holding placards reading, "India funds, Gaza burns". Many also wore patches, pendants, and earrings in the Palestinian colours of red, green, and black.

Demonstrators rallied for hours in sweltering heat. They chanted for an end to India-Israel ties, they sang songs in solidarity with Palestinians, and narrated the atrocities being inflicted upon them.

In Hyderabad, hundreds of activists gathered at Dharna Chowk, a site known for protests and rallies, to express solidarity with Palestinians and call for a boycott of Israeli products.

At least 240,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded or killed since the genocide began.

One of the organisers of the protest, Priyamvada Sharma, from Indian People in Solidarity with Palestine, told Middle East Eye that protesters wanted the Narendra Modi-led government to sever ties with Israel, for Indian companies to divest from Israeli firms, and for all First Information Reports filed at police stations across the country against pro-Palestine activists to be withdrawn.

Pro-Palestine activists in India have repeatedly faced beatings or arrest for expressing opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza.

At the Delhi protest, demonstrators told MEE it was "absurd" that, two years on, the inhumanity of Israel’s operations in Gaza still had to be spelled out.

"I should not have to explain in 2025 why people getting murdered or bombed, or not having menstrual pads, or not being able to give birth, or not being able to survive is a bad thing," Saniya Rehmani, 22, who works in climate advocacy, told MEE.

"It should just be obvious that people should have a right to exist."

Another protester, 21-year-old Syed Hadi, a student from Poonch in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, said given his background as a Kashmiri, he could relate to the struggles of Palestinians.

"Being in Delhi, when groups like Indians for Palestine or BDS in India organise protests, I think it’s our moral obligation to be here and stand for our brothers who are facing the same occupation that we face," Hadi told MEE.

Complicity in genocide

The growing protest movement in India comes as more questions are being asked about India's complicity in the genocide.

In late September, the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), released a report concluding that Indian corporations and state-owned enterprises were helping sustain Israel’s war economy in Gaza through investments and partnerships across multiple sectors. 

The report, Profit and Genocide: Indian Investments in Israel, argued that Indian companies had grown increasingly tied to Israeli defence production, surveillance technology and agricultural projects.

'What Hindutva has done to Kashmir and what Zionism is doing there, both are cases of occupation.'

- Himangi, protester

The group said the business ties were central to Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza and its settlement project in the occupied West Bank and the occupied Golan Heights.

The report came just weeks after India hosted Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and signed a bilateral investment agreement. The pact is designed to bolster investor confidence and facilitate business transactions between the two states.

Protesters said the ties between the far-right ideologies and governments of Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made perfect sense. 

"Obviously, the Zionist propaganda and the Hindutva propaganda in India go hand in hand," said 21-year-old Himangi, who provided only her first name.

"What Hindutva has done to Kashmir and what Zionism is doing there, both are cases of occupation."

Likewise, Rahmani, a 22-year-old protester, said it was obvious that "fascists support fascists" and that she believed that the government's stance did not represent the people.

"Leaders don’t make the country, we do. So, we’re here to tell you that this does not matter and you don’t represent me. This government does not represent me," Rehmani said

"I will not be okay with my government, especially when we fought for 200 years to be free from colonisation.

"I will not stand for my government being okay with somebody else’s colonisation."