'We are treated badly': First Indian to head students’ body makes explosive claims about Oxford University

Rashmi Samant, the first Indian who was elected as the President of the Oxford Student Union (SU), has alleged in her new book titled ‘A Hindu in Oxford’ that the institute was racist towards Indians and was Hinduphobic.

Sawant was elected as the first female Indian Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) President in February 2021.

The book details the events following her election and subsequent resignation over the allegations of anti-semitic, racist and transphobic comments.

Speaking to ANI news agency, Sawant claimed that Indians face a “lot of discrimination and hatred” and they aren’t given a platform to express their grievances in public domain.

She further said that the professors specifically targeted her at the university, claiming that they questioned her holding the office of president citing her religious and ethnic backgrounds.

'Oxford is Hinduphobic'

She said that when she stepped down from her post in February of 2021, the matter would have reached the stage of “conviction” “if they had not found somebody who looked an Indian to take over (from her)”.

After Sawant stepped down, Anvee Bhutani, an Indian Hindu, was subsequently elected as the President of the Oxford University Students Union.

Responding to Avnee’s claims that she didn’t face any discrimination, Sawant said, “Avnee is doing a disservice to the movement (on campus) by playing down the trauma that somebody else has lived through.”

“She has no proof to back her claim.It was an act to defame me and to play down the seriousness of racism abroad for ulterior motives. During the British era also we saw a lot of people from Bharatiya origin who used to defend the British as it was something positive for the Indian people. All they are doing is lying and lapping up to the expectations of the British,” she said.

Samant stepped down in 2021

Just months into being elected, Samant had to resign after her old social media posts surfaced online that allegedly were racist and anti-semitic in nature.

According to reports, Samant was accused of racism after she captioned a photo of herself in Malaysia with the words 'Ching Chang' and also posted an insensitive caption on a photo of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.

While Samant claimed that she was removed due to “racially-motivated reason”, the university clarified that the decision had nothing to do with Samant’s religion or race.

(With inputs from agencies)

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