Bengaluru: A professor at London’s University of Westminster has claimed she was denied entry into India Sunday after she landed here for the Karnataka government’s conference on the Constitution.
According to Nitasha Kaul, a professor of politics and international relations, and critical interdisciplinary at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the School of Social Sciences at Westminster, immigration authorities at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru told her that they could not do anything as there were “orders from Delhi”.
In a long thread on X (formerly Twitter), Kaul recounted her ordeal after being denied entry even though she was officially invited to speak at ‘The Constitution and Unity of India’ conference being held in the city between 24 and 25 February.
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
According to a photo shared in her post, Kaul got an official invitation for the event from Karnataka’s social welfare minister H.C. Mahadevappa through a letter dated 5 February.
“We would be privileged if you could spare time to attend the conference as an esteemed delegate. Your unique vantage point, and body of work will undoubtedly enrich the conference and enable us to achieve our collective goals,” the minister wrote.
ThePrint has reached H.C. Mahadevappa and the Chief Minister’s office by calls and texts. This report will be updated if and when their responses are received.
In her post, Kaul said she was given no reason by immigration “except ‘we cannot do anything, orders from Delhi’”. She repeated this in her statement to ThePrint.
“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,” Kaul said in her thread on X.
Kaul claimed in her post that she was kept in a holding cell for 24 hours and her movement was restricted by constant CCTV monitoring. The academic also posted several pictures of her trying to sleep on a pillow of tissue paper boxes as she claimed that she was denied pillows and blankets and had “no easy access to food and water” for several hours.
In her response to ThePrint’s queries, Kaul said she was back in London. “As I mentioned on Twitter/X the authorities provided no information whatsoever except to say that ‘Delhi said to deny entry’. They refused to say under which law, and for what reason,” she said. I took the next British Airways flight back to London, after 24 hours. I have a metal plate in my arm, and upper limb and other health issues, but, systemically, there was no kindness or understanding. Only individual people in their individual capacity commiserated, helped, and empathised.”
The Karnataka government held a conference on the Constitution of India that saw the participation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Saturday. In his speech, Siddaramaiah spoke of the dangers of insulting the Constitution and the idea of social justice. Those who defame the Constitution should not be tolerated, he said.
“If the Constitution is protected, we will all survive,” Siddaramaiah had said.
‘Not the India we cherish, is it?’
In her post, Kaul said that while her family’s originally from Srinagar, she was born in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh — a state she referred to as “the land of saffron to the ‘saffronisation’ heartland”.
The academic added that she was denied permission to speak several times since 2014 despite having been invited.
I've always dismissed such threats as petty (since 2014, disinvite from arranged talk at Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, withdrawal of already publicised lecture on gender at JNU etc all without any official reason/explanation). When I was speaking on AI & Buddhism in a third…
— Professor Nitasha Kaul, PhD (@NitashaKaul) February 25, 2024
Sharing her old posts criticising the right-wing ecosystem, she said: “Banning academics, journalists, activists, writers from India in spite of all valid documents is pathetic” and that this was akin to “academic silencing”.
“How can the world’s largest democracy be threatened by my pen & 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 asked, tagging the CM, the social welfare minister, and the Union External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar.
Kaul said in her post that she was not anti-Indian but anti-authoritarian and pro-democracy but was denied entry for her views against the right wing ecosystem.
“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 wrote.
“Rightwing #HindutvaTrolls have for years threatened me w death, rape, ban etc. 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, a pious temple-going dezhor-wearing retired Hindi teacher & my sole surviving parent,” she added.
Asked by ThePeint if she got any help from the Karnataka government, Kaul said: “Yes, to my knowledge, they tried their best. In the holding cell, where you wait until the next flight (which in my case was 24 hours later) no one is allowed to visit, you are under guard of the CISF, and it is not easy to access even food and water, let alone have anyone visit”.
This is an updated version of this report.
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