The Model Minority Delusion: Indians amid Anti-immigrant backlash in UK

Dr Parvathy Poornima

The article analyses the rising anti-immigrant wave in the UK with particular focus on the Indian diaspora. It explores related themes on far-right protests, the rise in racially motivated crimes against Indians and weaponization of the violence against women and girls (VAWG) by the protestors in this context. Drawing on recent summer protests in the UK, the article tests the validity of the model minority narrative that elevates the status of Indians as accomplished amongst other immigrant and ethnic minorities in the UK. Dr Parvathy Poornima teaches at St Joseph’s University, Bangalore. She holds a PhD from JNU. She’s a full time mom navigating her career and passion with perseverance

Samuel Huntington borrows Kishore Mabhubani’s expression the West and the rest while predicting that conflict between civilizations will supplant ideological and other forms of conflict as the dominant global form of conflict in ‘The Clash of Civilizations’. Anti-immigrant rallies and demonstrations held in Britain in September 2025 confirm this forewarning. Despite immigrants contributing significantly to the UK economy, the protestors sloganized stop immigration start deportation and played a song with the lyrics making the West look like the Middle East. The narratives about job theft, reclaiming the country from immigrants and saving our children, swamped the streets.

In Britain, the Indian diaspora, comprising 3.1% of the population according to 2021 ONS data, has long been perceived as the most successful immigrant communities in terms of employment, homeownership, and professional achievement. Additionally, the representation by former PM Rishi Sunak, current parliamentarians including Shabana Mahmood, Kanishka Narayan, Shivani Raja, and others, continues to carry the legacy forward. Given the accomplishments, Indians bear the weight of a ‘model minority’ narrative originally applied to Japanese Americans, indicating people representing successful assimilation into white majority societies irrespective of racial differences. With a surge in anti-immigrant protests and simultaneous rise in racially motivated attacks, it is evident that even the most blended immigrant minorities may find their residency uncertain when populist assertions are mobilized.

Three details branch out in this context. First, the noticeable influence of the far right on the growing anti-immigrant sentiments. Second, the rise in racially motivated crimes against immigrants, especially Indians. Third, weaponization of violence against women and girls.

Far right Influence
The protests feature anti-immigrant slogans and the nationalist rhetoric of protection of British culture and identity from immigrants. UK’s far-right assertions significantly influenced the summer protests. Current public figures like Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson and Anne-Marie Watersand have been key participants in demonstrations. Reasons identified by the agitators behind the situation ranges from a collapse in trust in government policymaking related to asylum and migration, the government being unwilling to criticize anybody and ascend of Donald Trump in the US (Guardian, 2025). In addition, appearance of popular personalities like Elon Musk gave the event global visibility. Such narratives reinforce stereotypes about immigrants being threat to national culture and security that creates hostile environments conducive for racial violence.

Keir Starmer and the Labour party face numerous challenges at this juncture. Containing the rising popularity of far-right parties and taking a tough stance on unauthorized immigrants is demanding. The proposed policies, like the odds of confiscating assets from asylum seekers to mitigate the cost, and the possibility of deportation of children and families, to remove financial support for families with children under 18 if they have been refused asylum, have invited intra-party tensions and differences.

Racially motivated violence on rise
There has been a 6% increase in racially motivated crimes recorded by the police in which 33% of the victims are identified as Asian/Asian British (ONS 2025). Currently, several incidents of racially motivated violence have rocked communities. In November, an Indian student from Haryana was stabbed to death in a street attack, sparking outrage and calls for protection of international students. In October, an Indian-origin Sikh woman was raped in a racially aggravated assault in the West Midlands. In July, an Indian-origin man in his 40s was brutally attacked by a group of young men in Dublin. On the other hand, two teenage Afghan asylum seekers were sentenced to custody for the rape of a 15-year-old girl, a case that has also drawn attention to concerns over the integration of asylum seekers and the potential for racial tensions.

Racial attacks against Indians have sparked a wider conversation about the safety of ethnic minorities, and have raised questions about racial hostility and the challenges of protecting vulnerable communities in increasingly diverse societies. Indians feels less welcomed and insecure which invariably leads to exclusion and alienation of immigrants from the mainstream in the long term.

Weaponization of violence against women and girls
In addition, the anti-immigrant rhetoric Our women, our daughters are scared to walk the streets, effectively weaponizes violence against women and girls (VAWG). By invoking fears of VAWG, Tommy Robinson and others seek to magnify anti-immigrant paranoia, underpinning an account that portrays immigrants as a threat to white British women and girls. It uses the fear of sexual violence, encourages emotional reactivity than evidence based study and stereotypes immigrant men as sexual predators.

This depiction is essentially flawed and neglects more complex causes of VAWG. Violence against women is not an issue restricted to or perpetrated solely by immigrant communities, it is a pervasive quandary that surpasses national origin or race. The majority of cases of VAWG in the UK is perpetrated by men from the white majority population, highlighting that VAWG is not confined to any one ethnic or immigrant group, but is a widespread societal issue (ONS 2020).

The End Violence Against Women Coalition, a network of over 200 organizations across the UK, has strongly criticized the increasing weaponization of VAWG by far-right groups and mainstream politicians. In a statement, the coalition warned that such tactics are being used to promote a racist, anti-migrant agenda, further vilifies vulnerable groups and undermining efforts to protect women and girls from violence.

Has accomplishments been mistaken for a guarantee of immunity?
Anti-immigrant sentiment swells when migrants are blamed for lower wages in low-skilled jobs and for overburdening public services and draining resources. It is persistent when there are remnants of Brexit campaigns on curbing migration and when there is a surge in nationalism and right-wing populism despite the fact that Britain depends on managed migration and foreign investment to defuse economic stagnation, a situation that has been aggravated by Brexit.

The circumstances have taken a toll on healthcare and IT workers particularly. The changes made to immigration rules include indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) which allows citizenship applications for immigrants, being extended from 5 to 10 years, increase in skilled worker salary thresholds for visas, reducing graduate visas from two years to 18 months, a rise in the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) for employers etc. Consequently, visa issuances have dropped. As per many reports, stringent regulations are creating hostile working conditions for Indian immigrants. The UK had the maximum number of foreign students from India in 2022-23 (Migration Observatory at University of Oxford) except around 74,000 Indian students left the UK in 2025 (ONS 2025) due to changes in immigration policies.

The revised immigration rules remind us of the 90-day deadline given to Ugandan Asians for expulsion by Idi Amin in 1972 to Africanize the country. The model minority narrative misleads when Indians assume that accomplishments and integration defend them from discrimination or societal backlash even when the socio-political climate changes. Despite their success, Indians are vulnerable to racism and xenophobia. The recent cases reported substantiate that prospects of integration cannot make communities immune to hate crimes in host countries.

Anti-immigrant protests didn’t abruptly emerge in Britain. Weekly protests have been happening for some time, often going unnoticed in the media. Such protests gradually built a more noticeable and expressed opposition. In this backdrop, the protestors’ sloganing they’ve taken our jobs is not merely because of propaganda, but because the vast majority feel their concerns are disregarded and dismissed. Even high skilled Indian diaspora communities are not spared from the portrayal of the west and the other during economic stagnation and populist mobilizations.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the above article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of this website.