• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

An Indian-origin professor in the United Kingdom (UK), Nitasha Kaul, who was invited by the Karnataka government to speak at the 'Constitution and National Unity Convention', in a series of tweets claimed that she was denied entry to India after landing at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. 

Kaul alleged that the immigration officials at the KIA in Bengaluru made references to her criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) but had not cited any valid reason for denying her entry, except that they were following orders from New Delhi.

ALSO READ: Indian-Origin Academic Nitasha Kaul Claims 'Denied Entry To India', Turned Back From Bengaluru Airport

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Kashmiri-Pandit Nitasha Kaul, who is a professor at the University of Westminster in the UK wrote, "Denied entry to India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values. I was invited to a conference as (an) esteemed delegate by (the) Govt of Karnataka (Congress-ruled state) but (the) Centre refused me entry. All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI).”

“My travel and 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 further wrote.

Kaul claimed that she had spent 12 hours on a flight from London to Bengaluru and that she was not given any easy access to food and water and also refused basic facilities. 

“I am a globally respected academic & public intellectual, passionate about liberal democratic values. I care for gender equity, challenging misogyny, sustainability, civil & political liberties, rule of law. I am not anti-Indian, I am anti-authoritarian & pro-democracy,” she wrote on the microblogging site. 

Following Nitasha’s series of tweets, the BJP Karnataka also reacted to her claims and slammed the Karnataka government for inviting the author. “Congress party has disgraced the Indian Constitution by inviting a Pakistani sympathiser who wants India's break up. Don't you have any shame left CM @siddaramaiah? Are you trying to challenge the constitution & threaten the unity & integrity of India?

“It is now apparent that the Congress party is now using Karnataka as its laboratory to prepare ground for its divisive agendas, potentially undermining national unity & integrity," it further wrote. 

Who Is Nitisha Kaul?

- Nitisha Kaul who has a BA Honours in economics from SRCC, Delhi University, is a professor of politics, international relations, and critical interdisciplinary studies at the University of Westminster in London.

- She has also completed her Joint PhD in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Hull, UK (2003).

- Kaul’s first book was a scholarly monograph on economics and philosophy titled ‘Imagining Economics Otherwise: encounters with identity/difference’ (Routledge, 2007)

- She served as an assistant professor of economics at the Bristol Business School from 2002 to 2007. In 2010, she reportedly worked as an associate professor of creative writing at Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan.

- According to her official website, Kaul is also the co-editor of a special Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) volume in 2018 on 'Women and Kashmir', which was the first ever such collection to bring together work on Women and Kashmir by Kashmiri women scholars themselves.