Last week, it was a proud moment for the entire nation when we learned that Rashmi Samant was elected president of the Student Union at Oxford University. She became the first Indian to become an elected president at Oxford.
However, one of the world’s finest and prestigious universities globally stands in cultural shame as accusations and allegations against Rashmi Samant have surfaced regarding her illicit activities online. She has been accused of making racist remarks in the past.
Considering how her victory was celebrated by many Indians, it also becomes vital to probe the subject further as and when new developments come up, and this is what we have discovered. Hence, it becomes relevant to investigate the discussion that happened on the campus, which eventually caused the postgraduate student to quit.
What Exactly Did Samant Do?
According to various sources, Samant has been criticized for making “insensitive” and “racist” comments online on her Instagram profile, which allegedly includes references to the Holocaust.
Also read: Rashmi Samant Becomes The First Indian Woman To Head Oxford Students’ Union, Makes History
Samant, who received 1,966 of the 3,708 votes in the election, wrote an open letter to the University and apologized for her inconsiderate and rather ignorant actions in the past. She said,
“Instagram was a campaign page so it got sent to everyone, you had to scroll down really far to see the posts. I don’t know who found them. I don’t want to judge others because I know how it hurts to be judged.”
The posts were circulated and criticized online immediately after her terrific win at the University, after which many demanded her to step down from the position. We were not able to access any of the said posts as they have been taken down now. She further said,
“I come to you with an apology and a willingness to learn. I earnestly seek your help in making amends for my mistakes.”
Some of the Remarks
In one of the pictures where she was posing in front of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial in 2017, she captioned – “the memorial casts a hollow dream of the past atrocities and deeds.”
She has explained that being a non-native English speaker who was young, she only tried to make a pun.
Similarly, in front of a Buddhist Temple in Malaysia, she captioned “Ching Chang,” which many South Asian students found offensive, although she later explained how she was referring to herself being a vegetarian in a predominantly non-vegetarian area.
What Can One Learn From This?
While Rashmi Samant’s election was contested considering the rightful low-tolerance policy for discrimination in the Oxford Students’ Union, Samant’s quit was a lawful move. However, it also brings in questions of the surmounting cancel culture and low-tolerance towards a willingness to learn.
Yet, it is also important to note that most leaderships come from a lack of self-reflection. Rashmi Samant’s case is a collective disappointment, but it also ensures that people running for power should probably be more careful and aware about political correctness and cultural sensitivity in public spaces and platforms
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Times of India, VarthaBharathi
Find the blogger: @axelredwit
This post is tagged under: who is the first indian to get elected to Oxford, first indian to quit oxford student union body, oxford student union, university of oxford, the elections at oxford, where is rashmi samant from, why did she quit, racist allegations against rashmi samant, what is rashmi samant studying, where is rashmi samant now, what comments did rashmi samant make, what were her comments on instagram, did rashmi samant quit instagram, did rashmi samant make harsh comments, holocaust, buddhism, buddhist temple in malaysia, racial stereotypes, ethnic stereotypes, cancel culture, offensive racist comments, backlash form students, criticism of rashmi sawant, how did rashmi sawant respond to her allegations, what was rashmi sawant’s campaign manifesto
What a pathetic propoganda and complete ignorance of the attack and abuse that Rashmi Sawant had to face. It was a targeted attack on this young talent for being a Hindu, Oxford has become a den for Hindu haters, remove this rubbish tarnishing a your talent as Rashmi. Why one has to be apologetic for being a Hindu which is the most tolerant and inclusive religion and way of life. have some shame and conscience. What is Oxford uni doing agains the Hindu hater and the bully faculty who abused insulted and threaten her? where is the code of conduct in gutter?
Such an idiot writer you are , you should be ashamed of yourself of defaming an indian just to prove your point and hiding the true story.
You pathetic creature should actually be cleaning toilets in UK as that is your true self and don’t deny it . You have just made this post and proved it here .
We all can really see what you all are trying to do here but let me make this really and extremely clear to you that “jai shree Ram!”
The problem is brits have left our country long ago, but still somewhere inside our mind, we are still slaves of those british. For example I agree hitler mercilessly killed thousands of people, but so did british in India. They killed millions and if we take in consideration the effect which followed leaving of brits the number will go even higher. The world never spoke about the mercilessness of brits, it always spoke about hitler as how brutal someone can be. And here we go, an Indian student is trolled for a post years back. According to those brits in Oxford we indians should take revenge of what they did to India in past. ♂️