A week after noted Hindi scholar Francesca Orsini was deported from Delhi for allegedly violating visa conditions, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has criticised the government’s stance, saying that the Indian establishment “needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind and a bigger heart.”
Tharoor’s remarks came in response to a column by former BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta, who argued that while the state must ensure compliance with visa rules, it “has no business assessing a professor’s scholarship.” He also cautioned that India must avoid creating the impression that it is closing its doors to foreign academics.
Sharing Dasgupta’s post on X, Tharoor wrote that he agreed with the sentiment.
“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,” he said, adding, “Official India needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind and a bigger heart.”.
For once, I agree with @Swapan55!
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… https://t.co/8bA8y8pziy
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 2, 2025
Francesca Orsini, Professor Emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, was deported from Delhi Airport on 21 October after arriving from Hong Kong. Authorities said she was travelling on a tourist visa and had been blacklisted in March for violating visa conditions.
A government source told PTI that her deportation followed “standard global practice”, explaining that individuals found in breach of visa terms may be blacklisted.
According to the Government of India’s visa guidelines, foreign nationals are required to adhere strictly to the declared purpose of their visit when applying for entry into the country.
An Italian national, Orsini previously taught at Cambridge University before joining SOAS. A distinguished scholar of Hindi literature, she is the author of The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism.
Her deportation has sparked strong criticism from academics and historians, who have described the move as detrimental to India’s reputation as an open and intellectually vibrant society.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
