Why UK-Based Hindi Scholar Francesca Orsini Was Deported From India

Francesca Orsini, a scholar of Hindi and a professor emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, was deported from New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport over alleged visa violation. Orsini was deported on Monday, soon after she arrived from Hong Kong, according to sources. Orsini was deported back over alleged violation of visa conditions. Orsini had reportedly last visited India in October 2024.The Hindi scholar has been blacklisted by Indian authorities for allegedly violating the terms of her tourist visa, according to sources. "Francesca Orsini was on a tourist visa, but she has been violating visa conditions. This is a standard global practice that if a person is found violating visa conditions,

he/she can be black listed," a source aware of the matter told Times Now. Orsini was earlier placed on India's blacklist in March 2025 after it was found that she had engaged in activities inconsistent with the conditions of her visa during her previous visit. Blacklisting prevents an individual from re-entering the country for a specific period or permanently, depending on the gravity of the violation. Such actions are coordinated between the Ministry of Home Affairs and immigration authorities.According to sources, Orsini claimed that she had valid five years e-visa, which allowed her to arrive and leave India. However, she was deported because her purpose of travel did not match her visa category. When it was pointed out to the official that she was visiting on a tourist visa to meet friends, the official maintained that a prior pattern of visa violations had been observed and that she had reportedly engaged in research activities during an earlier visit on the same visa, sources aware of the matter told Times Now. Reacting to her deportation, historian Ramachandra Guha termed Orsini a great scholar of Indian literature, "whose work has richly illuminated our understanding of our own cultural heritage." "To deport her without reason is the mark of a government that is insecure, paranoid, and even stupid," Guha wrote on X.Mukul Kesavan, another historian, said the "visceral hostility" of the NDA government to scholars and scholarship is something to behold. "A government ideologically committed to Hindi has banned Francesca Orsini. You can't make this up," Kesavan wrote on X.The scholar is known for her book, The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism.