New Delhi: Rashmi Samant’s journey from Karnataka’s Udupi to Oxford University garnered national and international attention, but not for the reasons she might have hoped. In 2021, she had to resign as president-elect of the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) after her old social media posts came under fire for being “transphobic”, “racial”, and “anti-Semitic”. But cut to 2023, and her life has taken a remarkable turn.
Samant’s debut book, A Hindu in Oxford, which chronicles her experiences at the prestigious institution, has garnered attention within political circles, particularly the Right wing.
The book, published by Garuda Press, was launched in Delhi last week by senior RSS leader Sunil Ambekar and Union minister Smriti Irani, following a previous launch at the National Law Institute University in Bhopal by Union minister Bhupender Yadav.
“This book and writing about this experience is just my way to get over the trauma of what I had to face — and I did survive. And I want to send out a message that we as Indian people have never taken discrimination as an excuse not to excel”, she told ThePrint.
Samant, the first Indian woman to be elected as Oxford University’s student union president, was compelled to step down in February 2021 after calls for her resignation by the Oxford Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) and Oxford LGBTQ+ Campaign, citing her old social media posts.
One such Instagram post contained a photo from Malaysia with the caption “Ching Chang,” while another showed her posing outside the Berlin Holocaust Memorial with a caption that read, “The memorial CASTS a HOLLOW dream of the past atrocities and deeds.”
In response, Samant lodged a counter-complaint, asserting that she was bullied and harassed because of her Hindu identity, with the matter even becoming a topic of discussion in the Indian Parliament.
In June 2021, Samant’s lawyer tweeted that they were “pleased with the outcome” of the Oxford probe, but the precise findings were never made public. Her book also sheds no further light, except mentioning a “favourable” decision. She also wrote about being asked to maintain “strict confidentiality” despite being “humiliated in public”. She titled this section “gagged”.
Now, back in India, Samant is executive director of an insurance broking firm and has gained a prominent platform for her views, evident in her social media posts where she is occasionally seen alongside RSS and BJP leaders.
However, she insists that her book has found appreciation beyond the BJP and RSS.
“Recently, a member of the Mahila Aayog of the Congress also praised the book and shared it to her story on social media. So, I think people who love Bharat have been promoting the book,” she said.
“I have no qualms if people in power, if people who are dictating policy and discourse in society want to take it forward— be it the Sangh Parivar, which has been doing so much service in society, or the BJP,” she said.
On speculation that she might be joining politics, Samant says she is not “constitutionally fit” as the legal minimum age for contesting elections is 25. She is only 24.
Also Read: Oxford societies claim Rashmi Samant was asked to resign because of views, not religion
Crusader against ‘Hinduphobia’
Samant claims her book tells not just her story but that of all Hindus.
“We cannot be insulted anymore. If you’re coming at us, then you better come at us with facts and not with ad hominem attacks which are rooted in Western supremacy,” she told ThePrint.
According to Samant, Islamophobia and hatred against other communities is defined, but the same cannot be said about Hinduphobia.
“The IHRA (International Human Rights Association) defines anti-Semitism and it’s a part of the British legal system which is used from time to time to address hate speech against the Jewish people. Islamophobia is defined within legal structures and it is adopted by police departments,” she said.
“Unfortunately, Hinduphobia is not even recognised by words or dictionaries. If the same statement was made against a Jewish person or a Muslim, there would have been immediate action because it is defined for each of these faiths,” she added.
Samant said that Hinduphobia comes under the “broader spectrum” of hate speech, and there was therefore a lack of nuanced understanding and specific measures needed to address discrimination against Hindus effectively.
“The onus is on us to lobby for these definitions to be adopted by international human rights associations and legal structures across the world,” she said. “I think it’s a shortcoming of our own faith that we haven’t lobbied for it.”
‘Realised Oxford is not such a great place’
Samant said that neither of her parents have a university degree and her introduction to the name “Oxford” was through the eponymous dictionary.
When she learned it was one of the world’s best universities, she said, it ignited a desire in her to study there. She got her chance after completing her mechanical engineering degree from the Manipal Institute of Technology.
“I had no guidance, no one to show my essays to, but I landed in Oxford,” she added.
During the book launch last week, Samant said within three months of entering the university, she decided to run for elections, but did not anticipate winning.
She called her victory “historic” and that it was celebrated as a diplomatic success between the UK and India.
Samant, however, claimed her mindset shifted soon after she began her degree.
Initially, she said, she felt a sense of accomplishment as a first-generation university graduate who had made her way to Oxford independently, but later realised that she had been influenced by the Western constructs embedded in the education system in India, which was Macaulay’s legacy.
“A couple of months down the line I started realising how there was this bloody colonial history (in Oxford). They weren’t addressing it for what it was and there was no healthy debate on the kind of human rights violations which have happened across the world in the name of colonisation. It was just being glorified,” she alleged.
“And I think that’s when I started realising that, okay, this is not such a great place after all and that these constructs need to be addressed, because academia being top down, whatever gets discussed there, whatever gets theorised there, ultimately ends up in every campus, including Indian campuses,” she added.
Samant also spoke in length about why she felt Oxford was glorifying colonisation and “slavery”.
“We’ve all had to walk past streets where slave owners are celebrated. Cecil Rhodes, for example, still has a statue on Oriole Street. Christopher Columbus, until recently, was in the centre of the All Souls library. At least now his statue has been removed, though his name remains on prestigious scholarships, despite other alumni offering to donate funds to change this,” she said.
She further recounted her experiences of alleged bullying and harassment, including racist comments and jokes.
Samant detailed various incidents, such as a “racist” essay written about her by a history professor, as well as accusations of extremism based on a photo of her mother holding a ‘Jai Shri Ram’ placard. There were also claims, she said, that her hometown, Udupi, was associated with Hindu extremism.
After Samant came out with her complaints about racism and Hinduphobia on campus, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had also raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha in March 2021. “We can never ever turn our eyes away from racism wherever it is,” he had said, adding that such matters would be taken up with the UK when required.
Notably, during the thick of the controversy, various societies at Oxford University had denied Samant’s charge that she was asked to resign as the students’ union president due to her religious beliefs. Instead, they said it was due to her problematic views.
However, while speaking to ThePrint, Rashmi claimed that these societies were not officially affiliated to the university.
“The three societies were Oxford India Society, Oxford South Asian Society, and Oxford Hindu Society. They weren’t registered with the University of Oxford at the time. Now, I don’t know why that particular statement was amplified, even if it was put out on Instagram,” she said.
Drawing parallels with Modi & Sunak
Samant is not just all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but also draws parallels between her situation and his vilification after the 2002 Godhra riots. She also critiques the BBC documentary, The Modi Question, labelling it as biased storytelling.
“Prime Minister Modi was cleared by the Supreme Court, the highest court of this country— something that all other democracies need to respect. But the BBC, which is a state-owned, state-funded media of the United Kingdom, came up with a documentary of opinions and which did not take the Supreme Court verdict into account, whilst telling a story of the Godhra riots,” she told ThePrint. “These are the kinds of biased narratives, biased storytelling, to set popular perception among people.”
Samant also highlighted the lampooning of Indian-origin British politicians like Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel in the British media, claiming that this was part of a recurring pattern of ridicule directed at Hindus, including her.
“Rishi Sunak was ridiculed by the British media. Preeti Patel was ridiculed. There was a cartoon of her as a cow (actually, a bull) in the Guardian. Hindus get ridiculed on a daily basis. There was a very defamatory article about Rishi Sunak in Critic Magazine where they also took my name, saying that somehow being proud Hindus is advancing some kind of Modi rule in India. I think we’ve been facing ad hominem attacks.”
The 16 August Critic Magazine article, titled ‘Britain’s Hindu nationalism problem’, claimed “Samant’s tall tale doesn’t quite add up” and that her “self-pity is grounded in extreme Hindu nationalism”.
‘Want to be part of growth narrative’
Samant is currently serving as the executive director Punarnava Insurance, an insurance broking firm. Her father is the chairman of the company.
“Entrepreneurship runs in my family,” she said. “The countless conversations with my grandfather during my childhood helped cultivate my appetite for risk”.
Samant said she wants to eventually venture into the renewable energy sector, but for now is keen to bring innovation to the work her company does.
“Our primary focus lies in strategic risk management, a field that is still in its infancy in Bharat when compared to contemporary economies. I aspire to be a part of the growth narrative that transforms how we perceive and manage risk through sophisticated financial instruments,” she said.
“I hold great optimism for our nation, especially considering its remarkable agility and power to reinvent and take the rest of the world by surprise.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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