I stood up against religious politics in India and paid the price

I am a Bangladeshi Hindu who had studied in India from sixth grade to a PhD. As a proud Bangladeshi, I have never hidden my nationality. As a practising Hindu, I have never let my religion define my socio-political beliefs. Yet, as a student in India, these identities were exploited in a display of stark xenophobia that is all too common in South Asia, to rob me of the life I had worked hard to build over decades. Facing persecution as a religious minority whose loyalty to the nation is questioned in Bangladesh, and demonisation as a Bangladeshi “termite” and “infiltrator” in India, my unified identity is being divided by fundamentalist politics and forced to clash, to rob me of any sense of belonging. 

After completing my Master’s in economics at South Asian University (SAU) in Delhi, I stayed on to undertake my PhD. there. Sponsored by every member state of SAARC – thereby giving each a stake and say in it despite it being located in India for convenience – SAU is a unique intergovernmental public university that aspires to the best ideals of regional co-operation, collaboration and harmony. I was drawn to these ideals even more as a student of economics. However, Covid-19 gave me a taste of how they are lies we tell ourselves, to create a false narrative of peace and prosperity that hides the reality of discrimination, division and devastation. With the university administration determined to vacate halls of residence during the first wave of the pandemic, I, along with other members of the hall committee, took the initiative to organise a crowdfunding campaign to procure essential life-saving kits for students stranded on campus. As borders closed and flights were suspended, I, like other international students, had no choice but to remain on campus.

In spite of having obtained a written permission from the Dean of Students to stay in my room in the hall of residence, the dean instigated a fabricated case of overstaying against me. I was punished without being given a chance to defend myself, as was my right under the regulations of the university. When I submitted my formal appeal to the then Acting President of SAU on August 2nd 2022, they recognised the merits of my case and forwarded it to the new Dean of Students. They, in turn, gave me verbal assurances that my appeal would be addressed fairly. However, in reality, the new dean withheld my appeal and never forwarded it for consideration. The punishment of an arbitrary deduction from my scholarship stood. In November 2022, I took part in a protest organised against this practice. The collective protest was about a policy-level decision affecting many students, particularly and disproportionately students from other SAARC countries. Instead of addressing our legitimate concerns, raised in a non-violent way respectful of our code of conduct, the Proctor singled out five students, including me, for punishment. Once more, the regulations were flouted. There was no inquiry or investigation, nor were we provided the opportunity to explain our side of the story. I was the only one of the five to be suspended, with my suspension being reduced to a further fine in exchange for writing a letter of regret under duress. Additionally, in January 2023, I was informed that the new dean had instructed the finance office to deduct a significant portion of my scholarship without notice or a given reason. 

Unlike our Indian counterparts, international students had no access to external funding opportunities despite being held to the same academic and higher behavioural standards. For an institution that was supposed to be equal for all members of SAARC, this ensured that it bred Indian hegemony and discrimination designed to reduce non-Indians to a permanent state of vulnerability. Any attempt to make a case for equality was systemically rejected and removed, as, for instance, the university did by updating the code of conduct and forcing students to sign an undertaking, to outlaw demonstrations after our November 2022 protest. In fact, members of staff who supported the protesting students, were quietly sidelined. My repeated letters and petitions to the university administration, seeking clarification and requesting that due process be followed, went unanswered. Each time I was ignored, not only was my dire financial situation worsening, but I was also losing faith in an institution I deeply respected. My last desperate attempt was to go to the office of the dean, whose open hostility left me humiliated. I never recovered the strength to approach them again. 

At the same time, a clique of members of the faculty centred around the dean, waged a steady campaign of harassment and intimidation against me. Their hostile behaviour extended beyond arbitrary administrative decisions. Certain students were emboldened by this too. I found myself targeted systematically and relentlessly, not because of any misconduct on my part, but because I refused to stay silent in the face of injustice. This character trait was ultimately my undoing at SAU. On February 26th 2025, during Mahashivratri observance, a group of students affiliated to the RSS who neither were devotees who were fasting nor had followed the proper procedure to have any institutional authority, stormed into the mess hall to enforce a supposed religious restriction on non-vegetarian food. Armed with threats and the protection of the dean, they surrounded and physically confronted a female student who was the Mess Secretary. I intervened, pushing aside the chief provocateur. My action was an instinctive response to protect a fellow human being from clear aggression. For that, the group attacked us. The obscenities accompanying the beating they gave us were caught on camera. 

During the subsequent proctorial inquiry, I asked for fairness, not leniency. The ringleader, whose ideological and political affiliations were well known, admitted to not having the written authority required for any member of that group to make demands about removal of food. He further admitted that he was operating under the protection of verbal communications with the dean. Instead of investigating the dean or him for misconduct, the university reinstated all the students – except me. Charging me with having hurt religious sentiments and instigating violence, they used the letter of regret I had written in 2022 as proof of me being a troublemaker, and the charges levelled at me by the aggressors of being anti-administration, anti-university and anti-India, to expel me. 

I am being denied my right to an education, and because of it, a livelihood. Since being expelled, I have followed the university’s procedure for appeal. There has been no response from the university. I have written to the Director General of South Asia at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Commission of Bangladesh in India, and have contacted the media in Bangladesh. There has been no acknowledgement. For all the talk from Muhammad Yunus about reviving SAARC for domestic sovereignty and regional co-operation, and of his government’s distrust of India and enthusiasm for communalism, there has not so much as been any intention to show support towards me, let alone ensuring justice for me. A Bangladeshi media who is never shy to express anti-Indian sentiments, has been silent when a Bangladeshi has been abused in India. Injustice towards a Muslim is a national issue. Injustice towards a Hindu makes the Hindu a national embarrassment. As the leaders of India and Bangladesh play a game of political identity oneupmanship, violently bigoted ideologies are taking root in the populace, emboldening people to act unlawfully in the name of nationalism. The injustice stemming from their immunity guarantees that citizens with integrity are being marginalised and made to suffer.●

Sudeepto Das is a student of economics.