New Delhi: Renowned Hindi scholar and professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Francesca Orsini was barred from entering India on Monday night. According to reports, Orsini had a valid five-year e-visa. But officials at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport refused to allow her entry.
Francesca Orsini had come to Delhi from Hong Kong after attending an academic conference in China and was asked to return. The incident is rapidly going viral on social media. The opposition parties are attacking the central government over the issue.
Francesca Orsini graduated in Hindi from the University of Venice, Italy. She then did further studies at the Central Institute of Hindi and Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. She later received her doctorate from SOAS, London.
Orsini's published works include East Delhi: Multilingual Literary Culture and World Literature, and the 2002 book The Hindi Public Sphere 1920–1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism. She currently serves as Professor Emerita of Hindi and South Asian Literature in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at SOAS. She previously taught at the University of Cambridge. In 2017, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, a distinguished honour that recognises excellence in the humanities and social sciences.
Despite having a valid five-year e-visa, Francesca Orsini was reportedly barred from entering India at the Delhi airport. However, the authorities have not commented on the reason for her ban. The opposition parties are now attacking the central government over this.
TMC MP Sagarika Ghosh has criticised the Modi government on this issue. Shocking and sad. Francesca Orsini, a world-renowned scholar of South Asian literature and Hindi, was deported despite having a valid visa. She wrote on Twitter that the narrow-minded and backward-thinking Narendra Modi government is destroying the open-minded scholarship and excellence that India has always been known for.