Actor Chetan Kumar’s OCI cancelled days after his arrest for criticizing Hindutva

Popular Kannada actor and Dalit activist Chetan Kumar’s (popularly known as Chetan Ahimsa) Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card has been cancelled by the Union Government.

The actor on April 14, Saturday received a letter dated March 28 from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) directing him to return his OCI card within 15 days of receiving the letter.

The actor is a US citizen and is based out of Chicago. He received his OCI card in 2018 before becoming a Person Of Indian Origin (PIO).

Asking him for an explanation as to why his OCI should not be cancelled, the notice mandated him to file his reply within a stipulated time.

Chetan, in his reply, said that he has lived in India for many years where he has been involved in social work and making films, also working as a professional actor in the Kannada movie industry. He also mentioned that he is married to an Indian citizen.

However, his OCI was still cancelled as the Ministry of Home Affairs stated the actor’s reply was ‘unsatisfactory’.

Chetan has been a harsh critic of right-wing politics. He was arrested on March 21 by the Bengaluru police for tweeting “Hindutva is built on lies” and sent to 14 days of judicial custody.

Chetan was earlier issued a show-cause notice by the FRRO in June 2022 asking him why they should not cancel his OCI card. According to the notice, Chetan made derogatory comments against judges and committed other anti-national activities.

This was in connection with his tweets against Hindutva and Brahminism ideologies.

Chetan said that this action was taken to create an atmosphere of fear and give a warning to anyone who questions the government. “This seems to be an act of the Union government, with support from state-level lobbies, to silence activists and create an atmosphere of fear in the country,” Chetan told TNM.

The actor says that the issue began when he took on Brahminism.

In June 2021, two cases were filed against Chetan over a video he posted denouncing Brahminism. In the video, Chetan said that Brahminism is the root of caste inequality in Indian society. He had clarified that he was not against Brahmins as a community but against ‘Brahminism’.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had then written to the FRRO demanding that Chetan’s OCI be cancelled.

Chetan was also arrested in February 2022 for ‘insulting’ Judge Krishna Dixit, a Karnataka High Court judge who at that time was part of a three-judge bench presiding over the Hijab ban issue that rocked the state for many months.

The actor had critisised the judge referring to a 2020 order in which Justice Dixit had questioned the behavior of a woman who had alleged rape.

However, Justice Dixit's comments were subsequently deleted from the order due to the public debate they sparked and were widely regarded as regressive.

The FRRO is responsible for administering foreigner registration and immigration-related services for visitors to India and it comes under the purview of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), headed by BJP leader Amit Shah.

According to the Consulate General of India, an OCI card holder can live and work in India indefinitely but is not eligible to vote or hold any government post/office, or undertake any missionary work, mountaineering, and journalism work without prior permission from the Government of India.

OCI should not be confused with dual citizenship which means that an Indian citizen cannot simultaneously hold the citizenship of any other country.

An OCI card holder need not apply for VISA for entering India. However, upon cancellation, the person needs to leave the country. They will be blacklisted by the government and thereby banned his/her/ their entry into India.

OCI is also different from NRI (a Non-Residential Indian). An NRI status is granted to Indian citizens who live abroad but still have family in India.

On the recommendations of a High-Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora, the Government of India decided to register persons of Indian origin of a certain category, as has been specified in Section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as OCI holders, by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003.

This is not the first time that the OCI of people who have been critical of the government stood to be cancelled. In 2019, British-born writer Aatish Ali Taseer, son of late Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer and Indian journalist Tavleen Singh, stood to lose his OCI after he wrote an article critical of Prime Minister Modi in Time magazine.

Reportedly, the reason given by the government was that Aatish has concealed the fact that his father was of Pakistani origin.