Indian student leader forced to step down, says she faced racist abuses over social media posts

The first Indian woman to be elected president of Oxford University’s students' union said she was subjected to racist abuse within hours of her election to the post.

Rashmi Samant was forced to resign within days of her election last month following claims of anti-semitism and transphobia in her old social media posts.

Last week India's foreign minister said in parliament that he would raise the matter with Britain.

Samant, a 22-year-old postgraduate student from south India, told The Times on Saturday (20) that she received abusive messages, some of which were anonymous.

“It started getting quite racist, especially the anonymous ones — all about my skin colour and where I come from,” she said.

“It was almost a cyber lynching. Everything about me: my character, my reputation, everything.”

Samant, pursuing her master’s in energy systems at Linacre College, was a surprise winner in the elections until the students traced old social media posts and accused her of hypocrisy and racism.

Students said her 2017 Instagram post from the Berlin Holocaust memorial, was insensitive to Jews and other victims of the Holocaust.

Samant said she apologised for her posts by publishing a statement in the Cherwell student newspaper. But her apology was "torn to shreds" and the abuse went on forcing her to resign two days later.

On her old social media posts, she has no regrets and said, “I think what truly matters is the intent and the kind of person you are.”