Why is India’s parliament discussing an Oxford free speech row?

As with almost every country around the world, India is busy dealing with the Covid crisis. But its parliament briefly turned its attention away from the pandemic in the last few days to another issue playing out thousands of miles away: a row at Oxford University involving an Indian postgraduate student. This no ordinary campus bust-up: the fallout could have big implications for the relationship between India and Britain.

Rashmi Samant, who is the first child in her family to go to university, made history last month when a landslide victory saw her become the first Indian woman to head up the Oxford Student Union (OSU). But her victory was short-lived. Within days she was forced to resign after old Instagram posts were dug up. The offending posts – which included a picture at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, a photo of her during a visit to Malaysia along with the words, ‘Ching Chang’, and a post that separated ‘women’ and ‘transwomen’ – saw her condemned for ‘xenophobia’ and ‘transphobia’.