Denied entry into India ‘for speaking on democratic values’: Indian-origin academic

Nitasha Kaul, a professor of politics, international relations, and critical interdisciplinary studies at the University of Westminster in London, has alleged in a series of X posts that she was denied entry into India “for speaking on democratic and constitutional values”.

According to Kaul, she was invited to a conference as a delegate by Karnataka’s Congress government, but the BJP-ruled Centre refused her entry despite her having valid documents.

She alleged that the Immigration department did not give her any reason apart from that it was an “order from Delhi”. “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 wrote in a post.

Harrowing ordeal

She went on to elaborate on her harrowing ordeal at Bengaluru airport, where she was held in a “cell”. “I spent 12 hours in a flight from London to Bangalore, several hours at immig where they shuttled me here & there, provided no info on process, then 24 hours in a holding cell (no BA flight back until next day) under direct cctv w restricted movement, a narrow area to lie down and no easy access to food and water, made dozens of calls to airport for basic things as a pillow and blanket, which they refused to provide, then 12 hours on the flight back to London (sic),” she wrote in two posts.

She also claimed that the Immigration officials informally “made references to [her] criticism of RSS”. Kaul added that she has been threatened for years with death, rape, and ban by right-wing Hindutva trolls. “In the past, authorities have sent police to my elderly ailing mother’s home to intimidate, even though I live in UK & my work has no connexion to her…,” she wrote. Kaul went on to state that she “always dismissed such threats as petty”.

Not the first time

She has also said that this is not the first time she has faced this kind of humiliation. Since 2014, she has been disinvited “from arranged talk at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library”, her “already publicised lecture on gender at JNU” has been withdrawn “without any official reason/explanation)”.

Kaul has said in a post that her origins lie in Srinagar, Kashmir, though she was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh — “the land of saffron to the ‘saffronisation’ heartland”. “This is about the threat to me & my safety, & the important impact of my work that worries anti-democratic sensibilities…,” she has alleged.

“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?” another post reads, with a bunch of media post screenshots attached.

Like “Tibetan exiles and Ukrainian exiles”

Kaul has also mentioned that unless any positive step was taken regarding her ordeal, she would “join the ranks of the Tibetan exiles and Ukrainian exiles, and others throughout history who have faced the arbitrary exercise of brute unreasoning power”.

Stressing that she would continue her work on protecting democracy, Kaul has asked in a post how “the world’s largest democracy could be threatened by [her] pen and the word”. “How is it ok for centre to not allow a professor to be at a conference on Constitution where she was invited by state govt? To give no reason? Not the India we cherish, is it?” she has summed up, tagging the Karnataka chief minister, the Ministry of External Affairs, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the post.