About 100 people took to the streets on Saturday (March 26) in support of Vimal Pandya, the Rotherhithe resident threatened with being deported despite being thanked by the Queen for supporting the community in lockdown.
The demonstration in Rotherhithe was joined by local MP Neil Coyle, who spoke out in support of Mr Pandya, who is currently appealing a Home Office decision to send him back to India after more than eleven years in the UK.
Coyle said: “There’s brilliant community support and I think it stands in a massive contrast to have the Royal Family, the Queen, thanking you Vimal for your support during a time of crisis and the government saying ‘not good enough’, somehow, for this community.
“It’s a disgusting, despicable situation for the Home Office to be in. Let’s hope we have V for Victory and we win the case against the Home Office as soon as possible.”
Rotherhithe shopkeeper receives letter from the Queen for outstanding community service
Many of the people at the demonstration came up to Mr Pandya to thank him for his efforts. He worked for years at Halai General Stores off Rotherhithe Street until he was barred from having a job with the Home Office.
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.
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.
Speaking at the demonstration on Saturday, Mr Pandya said: “I’m very emotional but happy to see all this support. It’s been difficult [not being able to work] but I am so grateful to everyone that has helped me.”