<p>A UK-based professor was deported from the IGI Airport over alleged violation of visa conditions in October.</p><p>Francesca Orsini, who was on a tourist visa, was deported soon after she arrived from Hong Kong, <em>PTI</em> had reported. </p><p>Her deportation had triggered an outrage among academicians. Historian Ramachandra Guha had slammed the Modi government for the act saying, "To deport her without reason is the mark of a government that is insecure, paranoid, and even stupid."</p>.Citing negative impact on US-India ties, lawmakers urge Trump to reconsider H1-B visa crackdown.<p>"A government ideologically committed to Hindi has banned Francesca Orsini. You can't make this up," another historian Mukul Kesavan had said.</p><p>Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is the latest one to criticise the government over the issue. "Official India needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind and a bigger heart," he said.</p><p><strong>Who is Francesca Orsini?</strong></p><p>Associated with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, Orsini is a scholar of Hindi, Urdu and professor emerita at SOAS.</p><p>The scholar is known for her book, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism. After finishing BA in Hindi from Venice University in Italy, she studied in Delhi at the Central Institute of Hindi and Jawaharlal Nehru University before coming to SOAS for PhD.</p><p>Orsini had also served as a teacher at Cambridge. Other institutions that she had been associated with are British Academy, Steering Committee of the British Comparative Literature Association, Institute of World Literature, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.</p><p>Orsini has been on a 'Black List' in India since March 2025 for violation of visa conditions, PTI reported. She had reportedly last visited India in October 2024.</p><p><em>(With PTI inputs)</em></p>
<p>A UK-based professor was deported from the IGI Airport over alleged violation of visa conditions in October.</p><p>Francesca Orsini, who was on a tourist visa, was deported soon after she arrived from Hong Kong, <em>PTI</em> had reported. </p><p>Her deportation had triggered an outrage among academicians. Historian Ramachandra Guha had slammed the Modi government for the act saying, "To deport her without reason is the mark of a government that is insecure, paranoid, and even stupid."</p>.Citing negative impact on US-India ties, lawmakers urge Trump to reconsider H1-B visa crackdown.<p>"A government ideologically committed to Hindi has banned Francesca Orsini. You can't make this up," another historian Mukul Kesavan had said.</p><p>Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is the latest one to criticise the government over the issue. "Official India needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind and a bigger heart," he said.</p><p><strong>Who is Francesca Orsini?</strong></p><p>Associated with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, Orsini is a scholar of Hindi, Urdu and professor emerita at SOAS.</p><p>The scholar is known for her book, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism. After finishing BA in Hindi from Venice University in Italy, she studied in Delhi at the Central Institute of Hindi and Jawaharlal Nehru University before coming to SOAS for PhD.</p><p>Orsini had also served as a teacher at Cambridge. Other institutions that she had been associated with are British Academy, Steering Committee of the British Comparative Literature Association, Institute of World Literature, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.</p><p>Orsini has been on a 'Black List' in India since March 2025 for violation of visa conditions, PTI reported. She had reportedly last visited India in October 2024.</p><p><em>(With PTI inputs)</em></p>
