Professor denied entry: Against freedom of speech, federalism, says Congress; BJP labels her ‘anti-India’

After an Indian-origin professor from the UK invited to a conference by the Karnataka Government was denied entry at Bengaluru airport, the ruling Congress said it was an assault on freedom of expression as well as federal principles, while the BJP labelled her 'anti-India' and said she was unwelcome.

Professor Nitasha Kaul, a Kashmiri Pandit faculty at the University of Westminster, had arrived here from London, where she is based, to attend the two-day Karnataka government-organised conference titled 'Constitution and National Unity Convention-2024', on February 24 and 25. The author sought to rubbish the claims of the BJP, saying she was neither "anti-India" nor "part of a gang".

"I am what authoritarians fear- a thinking woman," she wrote on micro-blogging site 'X.'

Karnataka ministers said on Monday that the incident shows how individual rights as well the rights of the state governments are being trampled upon, while the BJP labelled the professor, who is an Overseas Citizen of India, "a known terrorist sympathiser" and claimed that she "disseminates anti-India propaganda".

"Denied entry to India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values. I was invited to a conference as esteemed delegate by Govt of Karnataka (Congress-ruled state) but Centre refused me entry. All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI)," she said on social media platform X on Sunday, sharing pictures of the invitation extended to her by the Karnataka government and other conference related communications.

State Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa said on Monday that the denial "is a fresh demonstration of how the rights of state governments are being repeatedly trampled".

"It is a stark reminder of the multiple challenges to the constitutional idea of India. All patriotic Indians must reflect on these threats and unite to reclaim our Constitution," he remarked.

It is the right of the Karnataka Government to both organise a convention on the Constitution and to host experts who can meaningfully contribute to how the state's development and national interest can be furthered, he said. "Our rights (and hence the federal principles enshrined in our Constitution) were once again undermined by the Government of India."

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra condemned the Karnataka government for inviting the professor.

"Highly Disgusting of the @siddaramaiah govt to whitewash the crimes of 'TUKDE TUKDE GANG' by inviting its sympathiser Nitasha Kaul for a talk on 'Constitution & Unity of India',” Vijayendra said on X.

The Shikaripura MLA opined that it is "highly condemnable" and an "unpardonable crime" that the Congress government in Karnataka invited the professor.

He also commented that it was "equally disgusting" that all the top leaders of the Congress party attended the conference, which went on without the professor.

"What is more worrisome & annoying of the @siddaramaiah govt is its indulgence in unwanted expenditures involving crores of rupees when our state & the farmers are already in distress owing to unprecedented drought & severe water crisis," Vijayendra said, without elaborating on what the cost of the conference was and what percentage of farmers would have benefitted from the amount spent.