The move to cancel her OCI has sparked conversations around academic freedom, dissent, and the rights of overseas citizens in engaging with India’s internal policies
British-Indian academic and writer Nitasha Kaul has claimed that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status has been revoked by Indian authorities in response to her vocal criticism of the current Indian government’s policies. Kaul, who is a professor at the University of Westminster in London and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, shared a snapshot of the alleged government communication on social media platform X, stating it as an instance of “transnational repression.”
Kaul accused the Indian government of acting out of “bad faith, vindictiveness, and cruelty,” describing the revocation as a consequence of her scholarly engagement with what she terms as “anti-minority and anti-democratic” governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The letter she shared reportedly cited her “inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities” that, according to the authorities, “target India and its institutions on matters of sovereignty,” and accused her of acting with “malice” and “disregard for facts or history.”
Her debut novel Residue was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2009, and her other works include Future Tense and Imagining Economics Otherwise
This development follows a previous incident in February 2024, when Kaul was denied entry into India. She had been invited by the Karnataka government to speak at a conference titled “The Constitution and Unity of India”, but was reportedly detained for 24 hours under CCTV surveillance before being deported back to London. She described the detention conditions as restrictive, with limited access to food, water, and space.
Kaul, originally from Gorakhpur, India, holds an academic background that includes a BA in Economics from SRCC (University of Delhi), a Master’s degree in Public Policy, and a joint PhD in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Hull. Her body of work spans political commentary, literature, and scholarly research, with a focus on democracy, identity, and displacement, particularly in the context of Kashmir.