The Federation of Indian Students' Societies in Great Britain and Ireland started up in 1937. It was one of a number of organizations providing a platform for Indian students, and suspected by the British Government of encouraging Communist sympathies. The society produced a quarterly journal called the Indian Student. The Federation came up in the House of Commons on 1 July 1937 when Thomas Williams, MP, asked why Prithu Pal Singh and Dr Sadashanker Chhabildas Mehta had been questioned by the police about the Indian Student.