Former President of the Oxford University Student Union, Anvee Bhutani, has termed Rashmi Samant's book, A Hindu in Oxford, as a false narrative.
Taking to Twitter after Samant’s book announcement, Bhutani said, “When Rashmi resigned, I ran, was elected, and served a successful term as an Indian Hindu President of Oxford University Students Union. Racism exists in Oxford, but Rashmi was not bullied because of her race, religion, or nationality. This novel propagates a false narrative.”
Rashmi Samant, who was elected as the first female Indian Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) President in February 2021, announced her new book, A Hindu in Oxford, via Twitter on Saturday, August 5.
The book describes the events following her election and subsequent resignation over the allegations of anti-semitic, racist and transphobic comments.
“At 22 years of age, as the first Indian Female President of the Oxford University Students Union, my historic election victory rapidly transformed into a distressing nightmare of bullying, harassment, & threats. It was declared that “Oxford students are not ready for a Hindu President”, compelling me to step down from my rightfully elected position,” Samant said in a tweet on August 5.
In her tweet, she added that efforts have been made for centuries to “gaslight historically oppressed communities and perpetuate institutional discrimination, with Hindus being among the timeless victims.”
The tweet, which has over 1.7 million views, 12,000 likes and 4000 retweets, has received mixed comments from the netizens.
Background
In February 2021, Rashmi Samant became the first Indian female president of the Oxford University Students Union. However, soon after, she was asked to quit the position amid allegations of insensitive social media posts she had made in the past.
Reportedly, 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.
After receiving allegations that Samant was removed for “racially-motivated reason”, the university also clarified that the decision had nothing to do with Samant’s religion or race.