Indian activists who helped change the face of modern Britain

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Metropolitan elite
The two friends from the Punjab, who had been such early pioneers of the IWA in Coventry both remained affiliated with the movement but rose through the ranks to become leaders of the India League.

The group worked closely with the IWA, however its leadership and members were comprised of the metropolitan elite, Dr Nikita Ved said.

Established in 1928 by Krishna Menon, it included left-wing luminaries such as Bertrand Russell, Aneurin Bevan and HG Wells.

Dr Ved, from The 1928 Institute said Hansrani and Singh, "two avid adventurers from a sleepy hamlet in India's Punjab" had used all their worldly possessions to reach England.

Despite having a limited education, she said they rubbed shoulders with "literary greats and English elites", while Singh's granddaughter Baroness Sandip Verma went on to sit in the House of Lords and is the Chair of the UN Women group.

Hansrani and Singh had helped hundreds of Indian families set up in England, she added.

"Our generations owes a lot of our right and liberties to our forebear's sacrifices - and it is this that we must not forget."

I lived in the UK for four years; lots of people from India and that's where I learned to appreciate Indian food and learned about the culture