Karan Kataria said he was motivated by his peers to contest for the post of the general secretary of the LSE Students’ Union.
Karan Kataria, 22, comes from a middle-class farming background (Twitter)
By India Today World Desk: An Indian student has claimed that he was disqualified from the London School of Economics (LSE) Students’ Union elections due to a deliberately orchestrated smear campaign against his Indian and Hindu identity.
Karan Kataria, who is from Haryana and is pursuing a postgraduate degree in law at London university, said he was motivated by his peers to contest for the post of general secretary of the LSE Students’ Union (LSESU). However, he was disqualified last week over what he believes are baseless allegations, reported news agency PTI. He was not given a chance to fully state his case, Kataria claimed.
“Unfortunately, some individuals could not bear to see an Indian-Hindu leading the LSESU and resorted to vilifying my character and very identity in what was clearly in line with the alarming cancel culture which is uprooting our social communities,” he said.
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“When I started my postgraduate studies at the LSE, I sincerely hoped to strive for and further fulfil my passion for the students’ 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 said.
Kataria, 22, 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 last year, he was elected as his cohort’s academic representative and also as a delegate to the UK’s National Union for Students (NUS).
“Despite receiving immense support from students of all nationalities, I was disqualified from the general secretary election of the LSE Student Union. The allegations against me ranged from being homophobic, Islamophobic, queerphobic, and Hindu nationalist. Instead of identifying and punishing the wrongdoers who initiated this hateful campaign, the LSESU conveniently disqualified me without hearing my side of the story or revealing the votes I received,” he alleged.
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“Moreover, on the last day of polling, Indian students were bullied and targeted for their national and Hindu identities. The students raised this issue, but the LSESU brushed it aside by not acting against the bullies. The silent treatment to the students’ complaints about such unacceptable behaviour also justifies the accusation of Hinduphobia against the LSESU,” he added.
The LSESU issued a statement on Monday and said 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 said 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,” the statement said, pointing to a breach of the rule for candidates to keep a “reasonable distance” of around two 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 practice. 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 said.
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Published On:
Apr 4, 2023
