India deports British Hindi scholar amid growing clampdown on academic freedom
Francesca Orsini denied entry despite valid visa, joining list of foreign academics barred as Modi government faces accusations of silencing dissent
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — In yet another sign of India’s shrinking academic space, British scholar Francesca Orsini, a leading historian of Hindi literature, was denied entry into the country and deported on Monday night despite holding a valid five-year visa.
Orsini, professor emerita at SOAS University of London and author of the acclaimed The Hindi Public Sphere, 1920–1940, arrived in Delhi from Hong Kong after attending a conference in China
According to the independent media outlet The Wire, she was stopped by immigration officials at the airport and told she would be deported immediately. No reason was provided for the decision.
Her deportation adds to a growing pattern of foreign scholars — particularly those researching politics, religion, or culture — being barred from entering India under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Analysts say such actions reflect the state’s deepening hostility toward independent scholarship and global academic engagement.
In recent years, several academics have faced similar treatment. In 2022, anthropologist Filippo Osella and architecture professor Lindsay Bremner, both from the United Kingdom, were denied entry without explanation.
In 2024, Kashmiri-origin academic Nitasha Kaul was stopped at Bengaluru airport despite being invited by a state government. Her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card was later cancelled — a fate also shared by Ashok Swain, a Sweden-based professor critical of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Prominent Indian intellectuals have condemned the move. Historian Ramachandra Guha called it “the mark of a government that is insecure, paranoid, and even stupid,” noting that Orsini’s work has “enriched India’s understanding of its own cultural heritage.”
Delhi University professor Apoorvanand described the deportation as “a direct attack on scholarship,” while writer Mukul Kesavan said the Modi government’s “visceral hostility to scholars and scholarship” exposes the irony of a regime “ideologically committed to Hindi banning one of its greatest global interpreters.”
The incident comes just days after an international report ranked India among the countries where academic freedom is deteriorating rapidly, citing rising censorship and state interference in universities.
Campus events, film screenings, and lectures have increasingly been curtailed by police or right-wing groups aligned with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP.
Recent examples include the assault of a Dalit rights professor at Sri Venkateswara University, the cancellation of a Middle East seminar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the forced shutdown of a film festival in Udaipur by Hindu nationalist groups.
Scholars warn that these actions are eroding India’s reputation as a hub of intellectual inquiry and cultural openness.
Observers say Orsini’s deportation reflects a deeper ideological pattern — a state effort to control narratives of language, culture, and history while equating political loyalty with national identity.
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