UK Professor Nitasha Kaul Denied Entry To India; Here's Why (image:twitter.com/NitashaKaul/)
Is Professor Nitasha Kaul”s denial of entry to India and then deportation point to academic silencing emerging in the country? On Sunday, Nitasha Kaul, a UK-based professor of Indian-origin and a critic of RSS, alleged that she was denied entry by the immigration authorities at Bangalore airport and was sent back to London based on “orders from Delhi”. She was invited by the Congress led-Karnataka government to speak at an event titled, ‘Constitution and National Unity Convention -2024’ organised on February 24 and 25.
Nitasha Kaul, in a series of tweets detailed the ordeal she encountered at the airport. She had reached India by a British Airways flight from London on February 23 and she was made to wait for 72 hours. She stated that the immigration officers gave her no exact reason why is denied entry. “My travel & logistics had been arranged by Karnataka & I had the official letter with me. I received no notice or info in advance from Delhi that I would not be allowed to enter,” she said in the tweet.
IMPORTANT: Denied entry to #India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values. I was invited to a conference as esteemed delegate by Govt of #Karnataka (Congress-ruled state) but Centre refused me entry. All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI). THREAD 1/n pic.twitter.com/uv7lmWhs4k
— Professor Nitasha Kaul, PhD (@NitashaKaul) February 25, 2024
She described herself as “anti-authoritarian”, “pro-democracy” and “not anti-Indian” and recollects the online threats and harassments she encountered for her remarks against the Hindutva ideology. Asserting her contribution as an academic and public intellectual, she wrote: “Decades of my work speaks for me. The officials informally made references to my criticism of RSS, a far-right Hindu nationalist paramilitary from years ago. I have travelled to India numerous times since. I was invited by a state govt, but refused entry by the central govt.”
She then, in the tweet, asked about the academic silencing, signaling the Modi government”s silencing of their critics in the diaspora and banning them from India: “This is also about what knowledge-making can do! Banning academics, journalists, activists, writers from India in spite of all valid documents is pathetic. The evidence is in public. In the country, academic institutions are being forced to toe the line (I have published on this), and outside the country now too, academic silencing?”
Nitasha Kaul, teaches politics, international relations, and critical interdisciplinary studies at the University of Westminster in London. Aside from an academic, she is a poet and novelist, writer. The state government is yet to release any explanation on the issue.
