Rotherhithe residents are set to take to the streets against the possible deportation of a former local shopkeeper who has been threatened with being deported from the UK.
Vimal Pandya, who worked for years at Halai General Stores off Rotherhithe Street until he was barred from having a job with the Home Office, is currently appealing a government decision that would send him back to India after more than eleven years in London.
Mr Pandya went through a series of complicated and expensive setbacks with the Home Office in the years after arriving in the UK on a student visa in 2011. He has been living in the UK without permission since 2015 but has become a hugely important part of his local community in Rotherhithe, helping out dozens of vulnerable families in the pandemic and getting a letter of thanks on behalf of the Queen for his efforts.
Mr Pandya was investigated by the Home Office last year and is appealing the decision made in February to send him back to India.
So far more than 130,000 people have signed on a petition calling on the government to let him stay and a fundraiser organised to help him with his legal costs has raised over £13,000.
The Saturday, March 26 demonstration – which is set to be joined by local MP Neil Coyle – will set off from Station Road on Rotherhithe Street at 2pm, before heading down Rotherhithe Street and into the residential areas where many of those he helped live, before getting to Lavender Pond and turning back to Edinburgh Court on Rotherhithe Street.
Vimal Pandya: beloved Rotherhithe shopkeeper loses immigration appeal and has to leave the UK
Mr Pandya said he had “fire in [his] belly” and was prepared to fight for his right to stay in the UK and help more people in Rotherhithe.
Mr Pandya said: “The community has come together in an incredible way. I am very grateful and want to thank everyone who has signed and shared my petition and donated to the crowdfunding campaign. I appreciate everything you do for me.
“With all your support and help, I really hope and strongly believe my appeal will be successful and I will be able to continue to help the community in return. I have a fire in my belly and I want to achieve so much more now and do many more great things for the community and our country that has rallied and supported me so much.”
Mr Pandya added his thanks to everyone who had supported him so far.
He said: “Our home secretary, Priti Patel, always says ‘join the police force and be the difference in your community’. Despite my immigration status I did contribute and make a difference in our community, because I love my community and people around.”
March organisers said: “We wish to show that we are not prepared to wait patiently and certainly not quietly. Vimal excelled himself during the pandemic, reaching out to many many of our households, getting their provisions and providing emotional support.
Rotherhithe shopkeeper receives letter from the Queen for outstanding community service
“Today he is not able to work nor is he even allowed a role as a volunteer. His life is on hold and his destiny in the hands of the Home Office, a far cry from the jubilation felt by him and so many in his neighbourhood when the Buckingham Palace’s letter of thanks arrived for him last year.
To join the demonstration, meet outside Rotherhithe Station at 2pm on Saturday, March 26.