The academic community in Kerala is yet to come to terms with the unexpected denial of entry to renowned UK-based anthropologist Filippo Osella, who has researched on various aspects of Kerala life for over 30 years. He was deported on Thursday after his arrival at Thiruvananthapuram airport when he came for attending a conference on Kerala’s coastal communities.
The conference, being organised jointly by University of Sussex, UK, CUSAT and CDS, was conducted on Friday in his absence. The organisers are clueless about the reason why a scholar of his repute has been denied entry into the country.
“It was quite an unfortunate incident. We all missed him very much. Many young scholars had come for the conference hoping to hear him and to get his feedback on their works. It is a great loss to them,'' said well-known scholar T.T. Sreekumar. “He has been studying about Kerala among many other places in the world in details for the past three decades. Why he has become a pariah all of a sudden we don't know. We all are still flummoxed,'' Sreekumar said.
It is learnt that Osella, who arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram airport by an Emirates flight on March 24, was escorted out of the aircraft to people waiting for him outside. He was taken to the immigration desk where he was told that he was not allowed to enter India. According to reports, the authorities did not give any reason but it appears the decision was preplanned because they had already made arrangements for his deportation via a Dubai flight.
According to Dr J. Devika of CDS, Osella had all proper approvals from the government. “His research visa is still valid. Then why this action,'' she asked. Osella holds a one-year research visa for India that would expire in mid-April.
The reason behind this deportation, according to some, could be his Pakistan visits. “But he is known in the academic circles as a South Asian expert and being a South Asian expert there is nothing unusual in his visits to Pakistan,'' Devika said.
Government officials confirmed to The Week that Filippo was deported on grounds of violating visa conditions during his earlier visits to the country which had put him on the radar of the union home ministry and intelligence agencies.
According the sources, Fillipo had visited India earlier on several occasions and applied for visa under a given category but it was noticed that after travelled into the country, he engaged in activities that were in violation of those particular visa rules. MHA officials refused to divulge more details of his earlier visits but pointed out that his deportation was due to his earlier violations.
The visa violations did not happen once, but several occasions when he indulged in activities in the country that were not part of the conditions mentioned under the categories of visas he had applied for.
According to the Union home ministry, there are strict conditions regarding the activities permitted on any given visa whether it is medical, business visa, research visa, conference visa, missionary visa, project visa, or employment visa. The rules say that foreign nationals shall be required to strictly adhere to the purpose of visit declared while submitting the visa application.
However, a foreign national, other than a Pakistani national, coming to India on any type of visa is allowed to avail activities permitted under tourist visa.
“Clearly, he had violated the visa conditions which prompted his deportation this time,” said an official.
Osella's association with Kerala began in the late 1980s. His study on Malabar Muslims is highly rated in the academic circles. His studies, mostly of the socio-anthropological nature, have never created any controversies yet.
Sindhu Napolean, a scholar who is part of the research programme also expressed disappointment in the incident. “I am also working in the Forecasting with Fisher's project led by Professor Osella. He is a great scholar who has done remarkable scholarly works about Kerala. If this is going to be the fate of good scholars, I don't know where we are heading,'' said Napolean.
-with inputs from Cithara Paul, Namrata Biji Ahuja