Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday voiced strong support for journalist and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and veteran journalist Swapan Dasgupta's recent column, which criticises the Indian government's handling of the entry denial to Professor Francesca Orsini, a renowned Hindi scholar based in the UK.
In his article in TOI, Swapan made this point: while the state must ensure compliance with visa regulations, it has no right to question the academic credentials or scholarship of visiting professors.
Tharoor agreed with Dasgupta, criticising the decision to turn away international academics at Indian airports, calling it an "unwelcome mat" that India is effectively rolling out at its borders. He also warned that such actions cause far greater damage to India's image than any critical article published in overseas academic journals ever could.
"Rolling out an ‘unwelcome mat’ at our airport immigration counters to deport foreign scholars and academics because of trivial visa violations is doing us far more damage — as a country, a culture and an internationally-credible nation — than any number of negative articles in foreign academic journals could ever accomplish," Tharoor wrote.
"Official India needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind & a bigger heart," he added.
What did Swapan Dasgupta's article say?
{{/usCountry}}"Official India needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind & a bigger heart," he added.
What did Swapan Dasgupta's article say?
{{/usCountry}}Dasgupta's column, titled ‘Orsini furore shows perils of visa vigilantes’, dives into the controversy sparked by Orsini's deportation from India.
The UK-based professor was denied entry into India upon arrival from Hong Kong last month. Francesca Orsini, a professor affiliated with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, was reportedly sent back from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, over alleged visa violations.
The article also argues that the denial was more likely to be seen as a punitive response to Orsini's criticism of the current government. Dasgupta said that the move risks creating the "bad optics" of a nation closing its doors to global knowledge and collaboration.
Who is Francesca Orsini?
Orsini is a noted historian, a leading scholar of Hindi and Urdu literature. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Venice and a PhD from London, as per the SOAS website.
She is currently employed as Professor Emerita of Hindi and South Asian Literature at the School of Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics.
Orsini is popularly known for her book 'The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism' and reportedly last visited India back in October 2024.