'India needs to grow a thicker skin': Shashi Tharoor on deportation of Hindi scholar Francesca Orsini

Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday reacted to the deportation of Hindi scholar Francesca Orsini, saying that the Indian establishment "needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind and a bigger heart." Orsini was deported from Delhi for allegedly violating visa conditions.

Tharoor’s remarks came in response to a column written by former BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta. In his piece, Dasgupta stated that while the State must ensure visa compliance, it has no authority to evaluate a professor’s academic work. “India must guard against any impression it has closed its doors on foreign scholars,” Dasgupta said.

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

Sharing Dasgupta’s post on X, Tharoor expressed his agreement with the former MP. “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. “Official India needs to grow a thicker skin, a broader mind & a bigger heart,” Tharoor added in the post.

Francesca Orsini, a professor emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, was deported from Delhi airport on October 21. Officials said she was sent back for allegedly violating visa conditions. She had flown in from Hong Kong and was denied entry into India upon arrival.

Authorities said Orsini was travelling on a tourist visa and had been blacklisted in March after being found in violation of visa rules. “This is a standard global practice that if a person is found violating visa conditions, he/she can be blacklisted,” news agency PTI quoted a source as saying.

As per government guidelines, foreign nationals are required to strictly follow the purpose of their visit as declared during the visa application process.

Orsini, an Italian national, previously taught at the University of Cambridge before joining SOAS, University of London. She is recognised for her extensive work as a Hindi scholar and is the author of The Hindi Public Sphere 1920–1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism.

Her deportation has drawn sharp criticism from several historians and intellectuals, who have expressed concern over the treatment of foreign academics visiting India.