An Indian-origin professor at Britain’s Westminster University was detained and then deported as soon as she reached Bengaluru airport.
The professor was invited by the Congress government of Karnataka to participate in an event.
Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based Kashmiri Pandit professor, claimed in a series of posts on Will not be allowed.
There has been no immediate statement on this from the Karnataka government. The government had organized a two-day ‘Constitution and National Unity Conference-2024’ on February 24 and 25 in which Kaul was invited as a speaker.
Kaul’s bio on the social media platform states that she is, among other things, a novelist, writer and poet.
“He has been barred from entering India for speaking on democratic and constitutional values,” Kaul said, sharing photos of the invitation and other conference-related letters given to him by the Karnataka government.
I was invited to a conference by the Government of Karnataka (a Congress ruled state) as an honored delegate but the Central Government refused to allow me entry. All my documents and current UK passport are valid.
Kaul said in his post on ‘X’ that authorities have informally indicated that he has been denied entry to India because he has criticized the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the past.
BJP’s Karnataka unit reacted to the development, calling the professor an ‘anti-India element’ and part of the ‘Break India Brigade’.
She also criticized the Karnataka government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for inviting Kaul. The BJP posted the titles of some of Kaul’s articles on X, calling him a ‘Pakistani supporter’.
Let us tell you that Nitasha Kaul has also been writing and speaking on the issue of Kashmir. He testified before the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding human rights violations in Kashmir following the removal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Apart from this, she has also criticized The Kashmir Files. Born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Nitasha moved to London in 1997.
After 2002, she was Assistant Professor of Economics at Bristol Business School for five years and is now Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at the University of Westminster.