Image-building or face-saving?

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

 In this week’s newsletter let’s turn the spotlight inward, on the ‘View of India’ in recent times.  

In the latest episode of our Worldview series, our Diplomatic Affairs Editor Suhasini Haider zooms into the question on many people’s minds — is India being singled out over its handling of protests?   

The question is prompted by reactions from many international rights bodies and others to how Indian authorities are responding to the ongoing Gen Z-led protests, demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner of India, over very serious concerns about the disenfranchisement of some 13 crore people. As thousands of young Indians took to the streets in a peaceful protest to register their anger, Delhi police responded with sweeping detentions, including of ID-wearing journalists who were there simply to cover the agitations in the national capital.  

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on October 10, 2026, said it was “concerned” by reports of “mass detentions” at the Delhi protests demanding that CEC Gyanesh Kumar resign. The UN body urged Indian authorities to ensure that the right to peaceful protest is respected and that all those detained “arbitrarily” be released immediately and unconditionally.   

The government responded sharply, calling the concerns “misplaced” and calling the OHCHR’s statement “unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of India”.  New Delhi also accused the office of the UN Human Rights Chief of “extreme selectivity” and “double standards”, referring to other protests in our neighbourhood.