New Delhi: Professor Nitasha Kaul, a prominent UK-based academic and Kashmiri Pandit scholar, has had her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status revoked by the Indian government, sparking widespread controversy online.
The decision, announced on Sunday, followed Kaul’s earlier denial of entry into India in February 2024, a situation she publicly described as an example of “transnational repression”. The Indian government’s cancellation notice cited her alleged involvement in “anti-India activities,” accusing her of “malice and complete disregard for facts or history.”
Professor Kaul, a political economist and writer at the University of Westminster, London, swiftly responded to the revocation on social media platform X, denouncing the action as a “bad faith, vindictive, cruel example” of transnational repression.
Know that arresting academics in #India for speaking against hate is closely tied to removing access to country & family for academics outside India.
Idea is to send a signal — don’t dare challenge us within & don’t dare analyse what’s going on to convey to audiences outside. https://t.co/Gn4DgZRBH2
— Professor Nitasha Kaul, PhD (@NitashaKaul) May 18, 2025
“Know that arresting academics in India for speaking against hate is closely tied to removing access to country and family for academics outside India,” Kaul said in her post on X.
She openly stated that the cancellation was, in her view, retaliation for her scholarly work criticising the Indian government’s policies, particularly what she views as “anti-minority and anti-democratic measures”. In her own words, “Idea is to send a signal — don’t dare challenge us within and don’t dare analyse what’s going on to convey to audiences outside.”
Her February 2024 denial of entry at Bengaluru airport, during a scheduled academic event organised by the Karnataka state government, generated considerable controversy.
The invitation to speak drew vehement opposition from the state’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who claimed that the invitation “threatened the unity and integrity of India”. This led to a formal request from the Karnataka VHP leader to the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, for the cancellation of Kaul’s OCI card.
The cancellation of her OCI status, which allows foreign citizens of Indian origin visa-free entry and several rights akin to those of Non-Resident Indians (but without conferring dual citizenship), is based on the grounds of “disaffection towards the Constitution of India.”
Under the OCI rules stipulated by the High Commission of India in London, the government of India can cancel an OCI registration of any individual on certain specific grounds including “if it is satisfied… the overseas citizen of India has shown disaffection towards the Constitution of India as established by law”.
OCI status allows foreign citizens of Indian origin to enter and stay in India without a visa and grants them rights similar to those of Non-Resident Indians, though it does not confer dual citizenship. The cancellation of Kaul’s OCI has drawn criticism from several academic and human rights circles, who argue it sets a worrying precedent for overseas scholars and intellectuals critical of government policy.
This decision has drawn sharp criticism from academic and human rights groups, who see it as a disturbing precedent impacting freedom of expression for those who critically analyze Indian government policy. The High Commission of India in London is yet to formally comment on the situation.
