Anti-India academician Nitasha Kaul rants against GoI for cancelling her OCI card: Read why it was cancelled and how OCI card is a privilege, not right
On 18th May (local time), anti-India propagandist and British academician Nitasha Kaul took to X to rant against the Government of India for cancelling her Overseas Citizen of India card. In her post, she wrote, “I received a cancellation of my OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) today after arriving home. A bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of TNR (transnational repression) punishing me for scholarly work on anti-minority & anti-democratic policies of Modi rule.”
In a follow-up post, she recalled how she was denied entry into India when she came to speak on democratic and constitutional values, invited by the Congress-led Government of Karnataka. She wrote, “Modi BJP govt humiliated themselves & insulted non-BJP Karnataka state govt that invited me last year by ill-treating me & in spite of my 20,000 word response to their ridiculous inanity about ‘anti-India’, they have chosen to do this by a rigged process.”
She added, “Will overseas PR delegations of GOI say why ‘mother of #democracy’ denies me access to my mother? This is thin-skinned, petty insecurity with no respect for well-intentioned dissent that arrests/imprisons citizens in India & bars access to family for overseas citizens of India.”
OCI is not a right
OCI is not a right but a privilege. OCI is basically a long-term residential visa granted to persons of Indian origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on 26th January 1950 or thereafter, or are eligible to become citizens from the said date. It is also granted to those who have family members in India, for example, someone who is married to an Indian. Notably, citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country, as notified by the Government of India, are not eligible for OCI privileges.
Furthermore, the Government of India has the right to revoke an OCI card in case the card was obtained by means of fraud, if factual information is concealed, if the person shows disaffection towards the Constitution of India, may have engaged in unlawful trade or communication with the enemy state, or acted against the sovereignty and integrity of India.
Nitasha’s OCI card revoked because of her anti-India activities
In Nitasha’s case, the part of the document that she shared read, “AND WHEREAS, it has been brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history. Through your numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms, you regularly target India and its institutions on the matters of India’s sovereignty.”
The GoI categorically stated that her OCI card was revoked because of her anti-India activities. Nitasha has a long history of propagating anti-India narrative.
In May 2024, she shared a fictional story to cast aspersions on the integrity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). She claimed she had dreamt about EVMs not counting votes in India. She conjectured a make-believe story to lend credence to the conspiracy theory mainstreamed by the Congress party about the EVMs. She claimed, “Recently, at a workshop lunch, I was telling a British colleague that I’d not slept well prev night due to dreams where people were voting on EVMs but votes were not being counted. A Turkish colleague overheard & said he too used to have troubled dreams during Erdogan’s elections in Turkey!”
In February 2024, she was deported upon arrival at Bengaluru airport based on a preventive lookout circular issued against her as Indian agencies had flagged her “pro-separatist” comments and statements and anti-India line stand on Kashmir taken on various public forums. Kaul said she was detained at the airport by the immigration officials who cited “orders from Delhi” to not allow her entry into the country. She said that she possessed all the necessary documentation for her visit but faced a challenging situation. She claimed she would continue to advocate “democracy and civil liberties” despite the “adversities faced”. She ranted on X following the deportation just the way she has done now after OCI card was revoked.
She had previously spread falsehoods about the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), and participated in events organised by radical Islamic outfits such as ‘Stand With Kashmir (SWK)’, ‘Kashmir Solidarity Movement (KSM)’, and ‘Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)’.
Kaul had been at the forefront of cancelling PM Modi’s address at the Wharton School of Business. The anti-India propagandist also mocked the death of former Chief of Defence Staff (CoDS) Bipin Rawat in December 2021.
Nitasha Kaul seemed to justify his untimely death by presenting him as an ‘enemy of Kashmiris’.
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