India, July 30 -- It was a warm blue Sunday afternoon in London, with tourists flowing around Trafalgar Square. From here it should have been easy to look away. But the Indian students and graduates who gathered under Nelson's Column on the afternoon of 26 July could not. Everybody had been shaped in India. Their families still lived there, and many said they would pack their bags willingly if holding on to a job or visa in Britain became too difficult. Some were already planning their return.

The gathering had been called by the UK arm of the Students' Federation of India, SFI-UK. Across the square, cries and slogans rose that had travelled straight from home. "Jo sarkar shiksha de na sake, woh nikammi hai," they chanted: a government t...