Writer, poet and activist Nitasha Kaul was allegedly detained by the Immigration authorities at the airport in Bengaluru on Friday, February 23. Nitasha recounted her ordeal on social media and said that after detaining her in a holding cell for nearly 24 hours, she was deported to London. Nitasha, who is a professor from University of Westminster, and a Kashmiri pandit by birth, is known for her strident takes against the Sangh. She was invited by the Karnataka government to deliver a lecture at a conference on the topic ‘The Constitution and the Unity of India’. The conference was held on February 24 and 25. Nitasha said that she had a valid UK passport and an OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card.
Upon arrival at the Bengaluru airport, she was detained by the Immigration authorities without giving reason, Nitasha alleged. Nitasha said that authorities unofficially suggested that she was being refused entry to India for her criticism against RSS, the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The officials informally made references to my criticism of RSS, a far-right Hindu nationalist paramilitary from years ago. I have traveled to India numerous times since. I was invited by a state govt, but refused entry by the central govt,” she wrote.
Detailing her plight, Nitasha said that she was subjected to harassment by the authorities who denied her basic necessities. Despite making several calls to the airport authorities, they refused to make food, water, a pillow and a blanket easily accessible to her, she alleged. She shared a photo of her sleeping on two paper reams due to the lack of a pillow.
“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 said.
Reacting to the Union government’s action against her, she said, “Unless this is fixed, I join the ranks of the Tibetan exiles and Ukrainian exiles, and others throughout history who have faced the arbitrary exercise of brute unreasoning power.”
Criticising the Union government, she said, “How can the world's largest democracy be threatened by my pen & the word? How is it ok for the centre to not allow a professor to be at a conference on Constitution where she was invited by the state govt? To give no reason? Not the India we cherish, is it?”
In 2019, Nitasha served as one of the key witnesses at a United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding the human right violations in Kashmir following the revocation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
In her criticism against propaganda movie The Kashmir Files, she wrote on The News Minute that the movie collapses Kashmir’s history and politics into an Islamophobic morality tale that is palatable and profitable to Hindutva India. “It should offend all Indians, Hindus, Muslims, Kashmiri Muslims, men, women and others who have ever cared for humanity across religious lines. Yet, the very fact that the movie, backed by those who control the state, makes such an effort to malign solidarity among Kashmiris across Hindu-Muslim divides and traduce solidarity between Indians and Kashmiris is, perhaps, reflective of how such solidarities for justice and peace are urgent and growing.”