 "Who is Nitasha Kaul, the Indian-origin professor in Britain, who lost her OCI status for ‘anti-India’ activities?")
Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic of Indian origin, revealed on Sunday that the Government of India has cancelled her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status, accusing her of “indulging in anti-India activities”.
Kaul, a Kashmiri Pandit British citizen, currently works as a professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in London.
The OCI, or Overseas Citizenship of India, is a special status offered to people of Indian origin who have taken up foreign citizenship. It grants them a multiple entry, life-long visa for visiting India, allowing them to travel and stay without restrictions, as per the Ministry of Home Affairs.
So, what led to the revocation of Kaul’s OCI status? What exactly did she do? Here’s everything you need to know.
‘Punishing me for work on anti-democratic policies’
On May 18, Professor Nitasha Kaul took to social media to share a notice from the Indian government informing her of the cancellation of her OCI status. She posted an image showing a section of the official letter she had received.
Know that arresting academics in #India for speaking against hate is closely tied to removing access to country & family for academics outside India.
— Professor Nitasha Kaul, PhD (@NitashaKaul) May 18, 2025
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
“IMPORTANT NOTE - 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,” Kaul wrote on X.
The portion of the letter visible in the image suggested that the decision was based on her “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 document purportedly added.
This development follows an earlier incident in February 2024, when Kaul was denied entry into India upon arrival at Bengaluru airport. She had been invited by the Congress-led Karnataka government to speak on “democratic and constitutional values” at a state-organised event in Bengaluru.
Kaul alleged that immigration officials denied her entry after “informally” making “references” to her “criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)”.
Girish Bharadwaj, a leader of the Karnataka wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, also raised objections over her invitation to the event. He wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging the ministry to cancel Kaul’s OCI status.
The Indian-origin professor then claimed she was deported to London, after being held in detention for 24 hours “under direct cctv w restricted movement, a narrow area to lie down and no easy access to food and water”.
Who is Nitasha Kaul?
-Kaul was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, into a Kashmiri Pandit family that had migrated from the old city in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
Here is one of my early life memories, in Pahalgam, with my grandparents.
— Professor Nitasha Kaul, PhD (@NitashaKaul) April 26, 2025
Being a Kashmiri is a special inheritance, but being one and working on the region's politics and international relations, and also writing political fiction about lives marked by the tragedy of conflict,… pic.twitter.com/j5exU3XfbL
-She was raised in New Delhi and completed her schooling at St Thomas’ School. She then pursued a BA Honours in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi.
-In 1997, at the age of 21, she moved to England to pursue higher education. She completed a Master’s in Economics specialising in Public Policy, and a joint PhD in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Hull, UK, as per her CV linked on her X profile.
-From 2002 to 2007, Kaul worked as an assistant professor of economics at the Bristol Business School.
-In 2010, Kaul, who is also an author, served as an associate professor in creative writing at the Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan.
-Kaul is currently the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster in London.
-Her academic research focuses on right-wing politics, postcolonial neoliberal nationalism, the Hindutva project in India, and the history and politics of Kashmir.
-She also identifies as a ‘Kashmiri novelist’. She has authored multiple books that include Residue, Future Tense, and Imagining Economics Otherwise.
-Her debut novel Residue, explores the intersection of economics and philosophy. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize, making it one of five works from Asia to receive that recognition.
-Residue and Future Tense explore themes like “identity, trauma and displacement” in Kashmir.
With input from agencies
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