New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday raised the issue of growing racism at Oxford University in the upper house of Parliament. Rashmi Samat, a student from South India at Oxford University, had to resign from the post of Oxford Student Union president in the wake of protests. Rashmi Samat was opposed to Jai Shri Ram's slogan and being a Hindu. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha that we are the people of Mahatma Gandhi's country, so we can never look at the issue of racism and casteism. That too in a country where Indians live in large numbers. We have strong relations with Britain. If a case comes up, we must take them up. We are keeping a close watch on this matter.
Rashmi Samat, a 22-year-old resident of Udupi in Karnataka, was elected president of the Oxford Student Union on February 11, 2021. Rashmi became the first Indian woman to achieve this position at Oxford University. According to the official website of Oxford University, Rashmi Samat had three more candidates for the post. Out of which Rashmi Samat got the highest votes. Out of 3,708 votes, Rashmi received 1,966 votes which were more than the other two candidates. Rashmi Manipal is also a former student of the Institute of Technology. After this, Rashmi Samat came into the headlines. While she was appreciated on the one hand and on news channels, she was subjected to racism in Oxford over her Hindu identity on the other.
The limit was made when Rashmi Samat on social media began to be targeted for being Hindu and Jai Sriram. There were a number of posts on social media in which Rashmi was also being targeted as a dedicated Hindu. A faculty member from Oxford also linked Rashmi Samat's parents with the controversy. A faculty member from Oxford posted a post on her social media, in which the social media account of Rashmi Samat's parents had a photograph of Lord Shri Ram, the caption on the photograph-' Jai Sriram is the same slogan.' By posting the photograph, the faculty member of Oxford, while accusing Rashmi Samat, had said that Rashmi's student council elections were funded by India's PM Narendra Modi. All these posts and photographs were based on the charge of being racially and insensitive to Rashmi Samat. She was described as racist, Islamophobic, transphobic, and anti-Semitic. After all these things and indirectly, Rashmi Samat had to leave her post.
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