London School of Economics hit with allegations of anti-India smear campaign and Hinduphobia
"Instead of identifying and punishing the wrongdoers who initiated this hateful campaign, the LSESU cancelled my candidature undemocratically without providing any proof or evidence of the allegations against me. The decision is a gross violation of the principles of natural justice," said Karan Kataria.
FollowKaran Kataria, an Indian student hailing from Haryana, has claimed that he was disqualified from the London School of Economics (LSE) Students' Union elections as part of a deliberately orchestrated smear campaign because of his Hindu and Indian identity.
Karan, who is pursuing a postgraduate law degree at the university, said his peers motivated him to contest the post of General Secretary of the LSE Students' Union (LSESU). However, last week, he was informed that he had been disqualified over "baseless allegations" and without being given a chance to present his case.
The allegations against Karan ranged from being Islamophobic, homophobic, queerphobic to being a Hindu nationalist. "Following this, multiple complaints were lodged against me. Many false accusations were made to discredit my image and character when, to the contrary, I have always advocated for positive change and social harmony," he said.
"Instead of identifying and punishing the wrongdoers who initiated this hateful campaign, the LSESU cancelled my candidature undemocratically without providing any proof or evidence of the allegations against me. The decision is a gross violation of the principles of natural justice. The LSESU conveniently disqualified me without hearing my side of the story or revealing the votes I received," he added.
"When I started my postgraduate studies at LSE, I sincerely hoped to strive for and further fulfil my passion for student welfare. But my dreams were shattered when a deliberately orchestrated smear campaign was launched against me solely because of my Indian and Hindu identity," he further said.
The 22-year-old student comes from a middle-class farming background and describes himself as a first-generation university-level graduate in his family. Soon after arriving in the UK for his Master's from the LSE Law School last year, he was elected as his cohort's Academic Representative and also a delegate to the UK's National Union for Students (NUS).
Karan claimed that on the last polling day, Indian students were bullied and targeted for their national and Hindu religious identities. "The students raised this issue, but the LSESU brushed it aside by not acting against the bullies. The silent treatment of the students' complaints about such unacceptable behaviour also justifies the accusation of Hinduphobia against the LSESU," he said, adding, "As a social sciences student, I strongly believe in upholding democratic values and respecting the personal opinions are ideologies of others. However, LSESU's actions show an authoritarian, undemocratic, xenophobic and biased mindset that cannot digest social harmony, diversity and an engaging Indian-Hindu student."
An LSE graduate, Tejashwini Shankar also levelled allegations of religious bias.
Taking to Twitter, Tejashwini said: "I have been targeted and taunted based on my religious identity and for supporting a friend in the student union elections. The Student Union refuses to take appropriate action."
The LSESU, meanwhile, issued a statement on Monday to say that the body operates in a fair and democratic manner and has a firm zero-tolerance stance towards any form of harassment and bullying. It has also ordered an external review of this year's elections.
Unfortunately, this year the election rules have been breached by a candidate, resulting in LSESU taking the difficult decision to disqualify them from this year's Leadership Race for the position of General Secretary, reads the statement, pointing to a breach of the rule for candidates to keep a "reasonable distance" of around 2 metres from anyone who is casting their vote.
As a matter of course, LSESU always undertakes a review of how our elections have been delivered. We are confident that all decisions were followed according to due process and best practices. However, given the impact this experience has had on some of the candidates involved, we will be conducting an external review this time around and will endeavour to update the community accordingly, the statement reads.
