Streets across the world, including in Europe, are witnessing widespread unrest. While France has experienced left-wing and Islamist-linked disturbances over economic restrictions and education-related issues, protests organised by trade unions and labour federations in Spain reportedly brought down the government. In Belgium, socialist and Christian trade unions led demonstrations against austerity measures. Germany, Ireland, Italy, Albania and Portugal are among the other countries experiencing similar unrest.
According to a report published by Disinfo Lab on October 17, the attempts to foment unrest in India are not isolated incidents but are connected to international networks. The report traces the domestic mobilisation to the formation of the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP) in the name of Generation Z, or Gen Z. Subsequently, communist student organisations, including the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), extended their support to the movement.
Disinfo Lab’s report states that allegations of irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) provided the organisational foundation, ideological framework and political narrative for attempts to unleash unrest similar to that witnessed in Europe.
These efforts have continued through allegations of irregularities in electoral rolls. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, parties belonging to the INDIA bloc and Islamist groups subsequently extended their support to the protesters.
Disinfo Lab draws parallels between the protests in India and demonstrations in France, arguing that international networks of communist and socialist groups have played a role in bringing domestic unrest to the global stage.
A recent investigation by Fox News, cited in the Disinfo Lab report, found that an international network of communist and socialist groups had played a role in bringing protests in France to international attention.
Of approximately 50 organisations involved in the unrest in France, only 15 were student or youth organisations, according to the report. The remaining organisations included left-wing and communist groups associated with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), as well as political parties such as France Unbowed and the French Communist Party.
The report identifies news portals receiving financial support from Neville Roy Singham, a businessman based in Shanghai, as instrumental in amplifying the French protests internationally. Disinfo Lab argues that a similar foreign network could be identified in connection with developments in India.
On June 28, 2026, three activists, including AISA national president Neha Bora, began a 23-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. AISA is the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation. Bora, a separatist, had advocated a Bangladesh-style change of government in India.
On July 18, organisations including SFI and the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) joined a protest organised by the CJP. Disinfo Lab states that clashes subsequently erupted in Delhi and that the agitation ultimately led to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
In September 2026, the same organisations turned their attention to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, according to the report. On October 6, communist student organisations, including SFI, AISF, AISA, the Progressive Students’ Union (PSU) and the All India Students’ Bloc (AISB), announced that they would participate in a protest organised by the CJP on October 10. Their demands included the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and legal action against him.
Disinfo Lab presents these developments as part of a broader campaign in which domestic protests are connected to international political networks and subsequently amplified abroad.
According to Disinfo Lab, organisations with a long history of campaigning against India overseas extended support to the protest movement while communist student groups mobilised demonstrators within the country.
The report identifies the Indian Alliance Paris (IAP) as a key organisation in this network. Based in Paris, the organisation describes itself as a diaspora collective of Indian students, researchers and professionals in France. It argued that the protests in France and India shared similarities, according to the report.
Disinfo Lab contends that IAP’s support was not an isolated development, pointing to what it describes as the organisation’s history of campaigning against India. In 2023, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended France’s National Day celebrations as the chief guest, IAP organised a protest against his visit in Paris, the report states.
In 2021, IAP supported the EU–India People’s Roadmap, an initiative that Disinfo Lab describes as having been established to accelerate European political efforts directed against India.
The report identifies Joy Banerjee as IAP’s secretary and describes him as a former representative of the French trade union CGT. It also alleges that Banerjee has connections with the French Communist Party and France Unbowed, a left-wing political party.
According to Disinfo Lab, Banerjee has been a regular presence at events organised by the French Communist Party and signed a political appeal issued by France Unbowed in 2026. Between October 2024 and January 2026, IAP participated in ten submissions against India to the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to the report. Nine of these submissions concerned counterterrorism military operations in Bastar, a Maoist-affected region of India.
On May 6, 2026, IAP organised a press conference, alongside organisations with similar positions, calling for the withdrawal of security forces from operations against Maoist militants, the report states.
Several communist and separatist activists participated in the event, including Bela Bhatia, the wife of Jean Drèze, a left-wing economist of Belgian origin who subsequently acquired Indian citizenship. Disinfo Lab also describes Bhatia as a Maoist sympathiser. The report states that these individuals also participated in protests organised by communist student organisations in Delhi on October 10.
In June 2026, IAP signed an appeal issued by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) seeking the release of Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez. According to the report, the National Investigation Agency arrested Parvez on November 22, 2021, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with a case involving financial transactions linked to Islamist terrorism.
In September 2026, IAP also took the lead in circulating what Disinfo Lab describes as anti-Hindu information in connection with a controversy involving BAPS and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In August 2026, IAP collaborated with several organisations to prepare a ‘shadow NGO report’ concerning India for the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), according to Disinfo Lab.
The organisations named in the report include the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network (DHRD Network), International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (INSAF India), the National Council of Women Leaders (NCWL), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the South Asia Justice Campaign (SAJC). The report characterises these organisations as sympathetic to left-wing positions.
The report also presents their collaboration as another example of efforts to raise allegations against India through international institutions.
Disinfo Lab identifies several other organisations that it says supported demonstrations overseas aimed at damaging India’s international image. One example cited in the report is a series of protests organised by SFI, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in eight British cities in July 2026. The report states that these protests have continued.
Other organisations involved in similar demonstrations included the South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG), the Indian Workers Association, the British branch of Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), and the Indian Muslim Council, according to Disinfo Lab.
On July 26, SFI-UK organised a protest at Trafalgar Square in London. Left-wing and pro-Palestinian activist Greta Thunberg participated in the demonstration, the report states. Thunberg described the struggle of Indian students as ‘our struggle’, according to the report. Disinfo Lab argues that her participation helped draw international attention to protests against the Indian government in Europe.
The report links these demonstrations to what it describes as a wider pattern that protests organised by communist student groups in India receive support from overseas organisations, while international activists and groups help bring the movement to foreign audiences.
Disinfo Lab identifies Hindus for Human Rights, an organisation associated in the report with George Soros, as another major participant in the international campaign surrounding the protests.
The organisation was founded in 2019 and since repeatedly attacked India’s international image. In support of the CJP and left-wing student protests, Hindus for Human Rights organised demonstrations outside Indian diplomatic missions in Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fremont in the United States.
The demonstrations were held under the slogan ‘Stand with India’s Students’. Participants in all the cities reportedly raised the slogan ‘Main Bhi Cockroach’, meaning ‘I am a Cockroach too’.
The organisation also collaborated with groups including the Azadi Project and the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA). According to the media reports, protests were organised in several American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, against India and against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat during his visit to New York.
At the same time, organisations and leaders involved in protests within India were provided with platforms overseas, the report states. On August 5, 2026, N. Sai Balaji of AISA participated in a conference organised by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an organisation that medi reports say was established by Jamaat-e-Islami. The conference addressed the ‘crackdown on student movements in India’.
On August 9, Hindus for Human Rights organised an online discussion featuring author Arundhati Roy, AISA president Neha Bora and JNU Students’ Union joint secretary Danish Ali, according to the report. Disinfo Lab also pointed earlier about a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights, in Washington on June 1, 2023.
The report interprets these activities as efforts by communist organisations and their international partners to secure international recognition for protests in India and portray them as part of a wider movement rather than as isolated domestic incidents.
Disinfo Lab states that organisations seeking to bring the protests to a global audience relied on BreakThrough News, a New York-based media outlet, to publicise the unrest in Delhi.
According to the report, its parent company, BT Media, began giving prominence to communist protests in India from July 2026. The outlet frequently cited and promoted organisations including the CPI(M), AISA and SFI while reporting on developments targeting the Modi government, the report states.
Between 2021 and 2023, BreakThrough News received more than $1.1 million, according to figures cited by Disinfo Lab. The report links the outlet’s financial network and pro-China positions to individuals associated with Neville Roy Singham.
It further states that the United States Congress is examining the outlet’s financial connections and its role in advancing Chinese interests. As part of an investigation into the expenditure of more than $39 million in the United States in support of the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, the US House Ways and Means Committee issued subpoenas to BreakThrough News and two other organisations associated with Singham that are the People’s Forum and Tricontinental, according to the report.
On July 23, 2026, CPI(M) MP John Brittas participated in a discussion hosted by BT Live. BreakThrough News reported that Brittas described the protests as a ‘historic struggle to protect democracy’. The outlet also reported that Brittas said Neha Bora had pledged to continue her hunger strike until Gyanesh Kumar was removed from office.
On July 30, BreakThrough News published an article by Atul Chandra of the Tricontinental Research Institute titled ‘India’s Cockroach Rebellion and What Comes Next’, the report states. On August 29, the outlet reported on protests involving SFI, AISF and AISA, citing the CPI(M) and Vijay Prashad, executive director of Tricontinental.
On September 1, BreakThrough News also published allegations against India submitted to CERD, which India’s Ministry of External Affairs had rejected, according to Disinfo Lab. The report argues that the flow of Singham-linked funding to media outlets reporting critically on India is not a new development.
The Enforcement Directorate had previously found that NewsClick, an Indian media outlet, received Rs 76.84 crore from the Justice and Education Fund and Rs 1.61 crore from Tricontinental Limited, both organisations linked to Singham, according to the report.
When the Enforcement Directorate raided NewsClick in 2023, a statement opposing the action was signed by representatives of the People’s Forum, CodePink, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Tricontinental and BreakThrough News, Disinfo Lab states. The report argues that the same network of organisations associated with Singham has continued to provide international coverage of protests in India.
Disinfo Lab identifies the People’s Forum as a central institution for coordinating communist activities in India. According to the report, Singham established the organisation in 2017 with an investment of $22.44 million.
IAP co-sponsored a ‘teach-in’, or awareness programme, held at the People’s Forum in 2023, the report states. Singham also chairs the international advisory board of the Tricontinental Research Institute, an organisation associated with Vijay Prashad that received $16.76 million, according to the figures cited by Disinfo Lab.
Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, is a co-founder of both the People’s Forum and CodePink, the report states. These organisations also signed the 2024 Savera Declaration, which the report associates with the promotion of the concept of ‘Hindu supremacy’ in discussions about India.
Disinfo Lab argues that organisations within this network have extended the narrative of ‘Hindu supremacy’ into American civil rights circles as part of their international campaigning against India. The report also points to personnel links between Tricontinental’s Indian operations and communist student organisations. Subin Dennis, who wrote for NewsClick, was a former vice-president of SFI’s Delhi unit, according to the report.
It also identifies Nitish Narayanan, an SFI activist since 2003; P. Ambedkar, who was associated with SFI and previously worked for NewsClick; and Abhinav VK, who was associated with SFI until 2016 and joined the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in 2020. Disinfo Lab presents these connections as evidence of overlapping personnel and organisational networks linking communist student groups, media outlets and international research institutions.
In its concluding assessment, the report draws parallels between developments in France and India, arguing that left-wing and communist coalitions are attempting to mobilise unrest, while organisations such as IAP, SFI-UK, Hindus for Human Rights and their partners promote the protests overseas.
Communist parties in India, according to the report, express solidarity with these demonstrations, while media outlets funded by Singham and linked to networks with Chinese connections present the developments to international audiences as a global protest movement.
Taken together, these developments point to a wider pattern in which domestic protests, international political alliances and overseas media coverage converge to project India’s internal political disputes onto the global stage, potentially undermining the country’s image and credibility before the international community.
