“On February 11, 2021, Rashmi Samant, a 22-year-old from Karnataka’s Udupi, was elected as the first Indian woman president of the Oxford University Students Union. However, the MSc student of energy systems at the Oxford University was forced to resign within five days, following outrage over some of her past social media posts that were perceived as anti-Semitic and racist. Though Samant offered an apology for “unintentionally” hurting sentiments, she was forced to step down. Samant now feels that she has been unfairly targeted and even her family has been unnecessarily dragged into the whole affair by Internet bullies, including a faculty member. These posts included a holocaust reference on a post during a visit to the Berlin Holocaust Memorial in Germany in 2017 and an Instagram caption on a picture of herself in Malaysia that read “Ching Chang”, which upset Chinese students. Amid an uproar over the posts, Samant released an open letter of apology. However, the Oxford Students Union Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) and Oxford LGBTQ Campaign demanded her resignation saying she had hurt the sentiments of various communities. Eventually she stepped down from her post. However, she said that the Cancel Culture got to her.
#RashmiSamant #OxfordUniversityStudentsUnion #UK #SJaishankar
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
