19-05-2025
Indian-origin British academic Nitasha Kaul claims her OCI status cancelled, says punishment for questioning Modi govt's ‘anti-democratic policies'
Indian-origin academic and author Nitasha Kaul, who teaches at the University of Westminster in London, said Sunday that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status has been cancelled for her work on the government's 'anti-minority and anti-democratic policies'.
Sharing a snapshot of the official letter from the government on X, she said, 'A bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of #TNR (transnational repression) punishing me for scholarly work on anti-minority and anti-democratic policies of #Modi rule.' The picture she shared also indicates that the government had noted her 'indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history'.
'Through your numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms, you regularly target India and its institutions on the matters of India's sovereignty,' the document purportedly added.
IMPORTANT NOTE – I received a cancellation of my #OCI (Overseas Citizenship of #India) *today* after arriving home. A bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of #TNR (transnational repression) punishing me for scholarly work on anti-minority & anti-democratic policies of #Modi rule.
— Professor Nitasha Kaul, PhD (@NitashaKaul) May 18, 2025
In February last year, Kaul was denied entry into India after she arrived at the invitation of the Karnataka government to speak about 'democratic and constitutional values' at an event. She then claimed she was deported to London, after being held in detention for 24 hours 'under direct cctv w restricted movement, a narrow area to lie down and no easy access to food and water'. She was supposed to speak at a conference titled 'The Constitution and Unity of India' in Bengaluru on February 24-25, 2024.
Born in Gorakhpur, the British-Indian professor is the director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at Westminster's School of Social Sciences. She has a BA Honours in Economics from SRCC, University of Delhi, a Master's in Economics specialising in Public Policy, and a joint PhD in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Hull, UK, as per her CV linked to her X profile.
She has also authored multiple books, including Residue, Future Tense, and Imagining Economics Otherwise. Both Residue and Future Tense deal with the themes of 'identity, trauma and displacement' in Kashmir. Residue, her debut novel, was one of five works from Asia to be shortlisted for the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize.
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