More and more foreign scholars are being denied visas to go to India. Measures “seem to fit a larger pattern” Indian authorities using various means to restrict the freedom of researchers, according to an academic advocacy group.
In London, the Times Higher Education evokes the case of Lindsay Bremner, professor of architecture and urban planning at the University of Westminster, and that of Filippo Osella, professor of anthropology and South Asian studies at the University of Sussex. These two researchers obtained a visa, but a few hours after arriving in India, they were turned away. Neither got an explanation. Everyone had been coming to India for many years for their work. Filippo Osella even had to take the plane he had come with under police escort.
Even academics of Indian origin, with Overseas Indian Citizenship (OCI), may be refused entry to the territory. the Times Higher Education mentions one (without naming it). She said officials threatened to revoke her travel rights in direct connection to her criticism of the government “based on false allegations of clandestine activities”.
“I believe they are trying to threaten and intimidate me because I have made statements critical of the national government and state governments [de la fédération indienne] in the media.”
According to Professor Bremner, it “seems to be a trend” beyond personal cases. For Professor Osella, there are many examples, but many researchers prefer not to make noise so as not to compromise their chances of returning to India one day and not to endanger local collaborators.
Daniel Munier, senior advocacy officer for the Scholars at Risk Network, said measures “seem to be part of a larger pattern spread over several years” of the Indian government which intends to use “various means of restraining and punishing academic or public activities which they find objectionable”.