'I am what authoritarians fear': UK academic Nitasha Kaul after denied entry into India

A UK professor of Indian origin was denied entry into India to attend a state government-organised conference on Constitution.

A professor of Indian origin in the United Kingdom who was denied entry into India has hit back at those calling her names on social media, saying the humiliation was not hers but that of a “ridiculous insecure regime.”

UK professor Nitasha Kaul said she was denied entry to India and was harassed for hours at Bangalore airport.

A controversy erupted Sunday after Nitasha Kaul, a London-based Kashmiri Pandit professor, claimed she was denied entry upon landing at Bengaluru airport and was subsequently deported without being given any reason by immigration officials except “we cannot do anything, orders from Delhi”.

She further claimed that she received no notice or information in advance from the Indian government that she would not be allowed to enter the country.

Kaul was invited by the Karnataka government as a speaker at a two-day 'Constitution and National Unity Convention -2024'. Her bio on the social media platform states that she is a novelist, writer and poet, among other things.

Who is Nitasha Kaul, Indian-origin UK-based professor denied entry to India?

The Karnataka BJP was quick to label the professor an "anti-India element" and a part of what it called a ‘Break India Brigade’. The BJP also went on to label Kaul a "Pakistani sympathiser" and posted headings of a couple of her writings on X.

“Highly Disgusting of the @siddaramaiah govt to whitewash the crimes of ‘TUKDE TUKDE GANG’ by inviting its sympathizer Nitasha Kaul for a talk on ‘Constitution & Unity of India’,” BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said on X.

“A known terrorist sympathizer & one who constantly spews venom & disseminates anti-India propaganda in connivance with the enemies of the Indian state is accorded a RED carpet welcome by the @INCIndia ruled Karnataka govt is Highly Condemnable & an Unpardonable crime,” the Shikaripura MLA said.

Hitting back, Kaul on Monday said in a post, “I am not married to a Pakistani, not Muslim convert, not a pawn of China, not a puppet of West, not a commie, not a jihadi, not Pak sympathiser, not terrorist supporter, not anti-India, not part of a gang.”

“I am what authoritarians fear- a thinking woman.”

“My experience was harrowing, but the humiliation is not mine, it is that of a ridiculous insecure regime,” she added.