Free World: On the Deportation of Francesca Orsini
23 October 2025 | The Hindu
The free movement of people and ideas is integral to a globalised world. But India continues to send out conflicting signals on this count. On the one hand it wants to welcome technology, capital and know-how from all corners of the world but on the other, it is also trying to insulate itself, feeling insecure about an alleged global conspiracy against it. The deportation of Francesca Orsini, a scholar of Hindi and South Asian literature and professor emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, from Delhi airport on October 20, 2025 has to be seen in this context. She held a valid five-year e-tourist visa but was blacklisted in March 2025 for violation of visa conditions. Ms. Orsini had allegedly engaged in academic activities during a visit in October 2024, which were, technically, a violation of the terms of her tourist visa. Her influential work, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism, has significantly contributed to the understanding of Indian literary and cultural history. She is one among the many foreign scholars who have devoted their lives to researching and writing on various aspects of India. The argument about violations may well be true, but also evident is the arbitrariness in deportation decisions. Foreign business leaders visiting India routinely make political statements praising the government, which can be termed a violation of visa conditions….