Denial of entry to UK professor sparks political slugfest between Cong & BJP in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): A political slugfest has erupted between the ruling Congress and the BJP in Karnataka over a United Kingdom professor being denied entry into India to attend a state government-organised conference on Constitution here.
Karnataka Ministers alleged on Monday the incident shows how the individual rights as well the rights of the state governments are being trampled upon, while the BJP described the professor at the University of Westminster Nitasha Kaul, who is also an Overseas Citizen of India, "a known terrorist sympathizer & one who constantly spews venom & disseminates anti-India propaganda."
Kaul has alleged that she was denied entry into India to attend on the invitation of the government of Karnataka the two-day 'Constitution and National Unity Convention-2024' on February 24 and 25.
"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 'X' on Sunday along with pictures of invitation extended to her by Karnataka government and other conference related communications.
Karnataka Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa said on Monday 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 said.
It is the right of the Karnataka Government to both organise a convention on Constitution and to host experts who can meaningfully contribute to how the state's development and national interest can be furthered. "Our rights (and hence the federal principles enshrined in our Constitution) were once again undermined by the Government of India," the Minister said.
"It cannot be selectively weaponised to circumscribe the rights of Indians (including diaspora Indians who are equal partners in the nation's development). If we claim to be the Mother of Democracy, we need to also steadfastly adhere to all those values underpinning our democracy," Mahadevappa said.
BJP state president B Y Vijayendra condemned the Karnataka government for inviting her.
"Highly Disgusting of the @siddaramaiah govt to whitewash the crimes of TUKDE TUKDE GANG' by inviting its sympathizer Nitasha Kaul for a talk on Constitution & Unity of India'," Vijayendra said on a social media site X'.
"A known terrorist sympathizer & one who constantly spews venom & disseminates anti-India propaganda in connivance with the enemies of the Indian state is accorded a RED carpet welcome by the @INCIndia ruled Karnataka govt is Highly Condemnable & an Unpardonable crime," the Shikaripura MLA said.
He added that it was equally disgusting that all the top leaders of the Congress party attended the conference.
"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.
Minister for Large and Medium Industries M B Patil said the incident showed "what type of democracy is there in India, how does the BJP respects the Constitution and the status of the freedom of speech and individual freedom".
"They (BJP) try to suppress them (liberties). This is not a good thing for our country because in our country Baba Saheb Ambedkar has given a world class Constitution where everyone's views are respected. There is a freedom to talk," Patil said.
Shivajinagar Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad wondered if there was any dictatorial system in the country as, he alleged, the individual's freedom of expression was curbed.
"A state government in a federal system invites an academic who is of Indian origin but she was told by the central government that she cannot enter the country just because she doesn't subscribe to your ideology. Is this dictatorship in the country today? Is there no freedom of expression or no freedom to participate in a debate on the Constitution?" he sought to know.
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Modi govt rattled by Rahul’s Great Nicobar visit; project concerns need Parliament debate: Cong
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Sunday flagged in detail concerns related to ecology, tribal rights, transparency and security, over the Great Nicobar project, and asserted that these considerations must be debated in a parliamentary forum.
The opposition party claimed that the Modi government is "rattled" and in damage control mode after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's visit to Great Nicobar last week.
In a statement, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Modi Government, clearly in damage control mode after the hugely impactful visit of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to Great Nicobar on April 28 2026, issued a press note on the Great Nicobar Island Development Project three days later."
This press note does not address any of the serious concerns that have been raised on it by local affected communities, environmentalists, anthropologists, academics, civil society experts and other professionals, Ramesh said.
"These concerns had already been conveyed in detail by me to the Union Minister of Environment, Forests & Climate Change on September 10, 2024 and in a follow-up on September 27, 2024," the former environment minister said.
During his visit to Great Nicobar, Gandhi last week alleged that the Great Nicobar project at Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was "one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against the natural and tribal heritage of the country".
The government on May 1 released a detailed statement with answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions).
"The Great Nicobar Project is a strategic initiative to strengthen India's presence in the Andaman Sea. It seeks to balance port-led growth with calibrated environmental safeguards. Protection of indigenous communities remains central to its planning," the government statement had said.
"The project combines strategic, economic, and ecological priorities. This ensures that development is sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with national interests," it had said.
In his four-page detailed statement, Ramesh spelt out the key concerns over the Great Nicobar project.
Flagging ecological concerns, Ramesh said the Great Nicobar is unique and distinctly different from all other islands in the Andaman and Nicobar group.
"The Government's claim that only 1.82% of the total land of the island group is being used for the project is irrelevant and misleading. It ignores the ecological and biological richness of the Great Nicobar ecosystem, which is unique both in the island group and in the world," he said.
"Galathea Bay, the site of the port, is unequivocally a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) is a site where port construction is not allowed. As per records of the Zoological Survey of India, Galathea Bay is home to more than 20,000 coral colonies, a key marker of a CRZ-1a categorisation. Similarly, the beach here is the most important nesting site of the Giant Leatherback turtle in the Northern Indian Ocean," Ramesh said.
The recently concluded turtle nesting season saw record turtle nesting at Galathea Bay, he pointed out.
Ramesh alleged that institutions like the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) were literally coerced to play a key role in the environmental clearance and related process for the project.
"These very institutions have now been awarded projects for biodiversity research and monitoring in Great Nicobar. There is a clear conflict of interest here," he argued.
In addition, a couple of reputed and independent-minded institutions that have been very critical of the project have been blacklisted by the Modi government, he said.
Similar is the case with the high-powered committee (HPC) constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the matter of the challenge to the project's environmental clearance granted, he said.
All the HPC's members either represented the project proponents or agencies which granted the clearances, Ramesh said.
He said the proposal for compensatory afforestation in Haryana is a travesty of ecological principles.
Flagging tribal rights concerns, Ramesh said the Nicobarese Tribal community has expressed concerns multiple times about the project and its impact on their forests, rights, and way of life.
"In November 2022, they withdrew the NoC they had granted for forest diversion saying that they were rushed to sign by concealing the extent of tribal areas to be affected by the project. Representatives of the Nicobarese community also stated in a recent press conference that they were being forced to voluntarily surrender their land for the project," he pointed out.
The claims stand even more exposed in the matter of the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), that lives a life of hunting and gathering in the deep forests of Great Nicobar, Ramesh said.
The Shompen are a primarily uncontacted community and there are no non-Shompen speakers of their language, he pointed out.
"It is not clear then how the project authorities have taken their informed consent, which is both ethically appropriate and legally mandated," Ramesh said.
Pointing out that government release has claimed that the airport in Great Nicobar will eventually handle 10 million passengers annually, Ramesh said this appears prima facie to be a huge over-estimation given that the current airport at Port Blair handles 1.8 million passengers annually.
"The deliberations of the Forest Advisory Committee for granting the project's forest clearance were not made public. The report submitted by the High-Powered Committee that examined the clearance granted to the project was kept confidential. The field report prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) that pronounced the status of the site of the port from CRZ-1A to CRZ-1B overnight, remains confidential," he pointed out.
Ramesh also flagged security concerns about the project, saying no less a person than the courageous former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) himself has argued in an article that "the security capabilities of ANC (Andaman & Nicobar Command) need to be addressed separately and must have no linkage with the developments contemplated for GNI (Great Nicobar Island)."
"There is thus no need to link India's legitimate security imperatives with the so-called 'development project' - complete with a township, high-end tourist infrastructure, and large transshipment terminal - that the Modi Government is intent on bulldozing through and on which it is now trying to muzzle genuine and much-needed debate hiding behind "security considerations", he said.
"These considerations must, at the very least, be discussed and debated in a Parliamentary forum," Ramesh said.
