Pinarayi Vijayan seeks PM's intervention in deported British professor case

Thiruvananthapuram, March 30

Finally, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to intervene in the case of veteran anthropologist and sociologist Filippo Osella who was deported as soon as he landed here last Thursday. On Wednesday the Kerala Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to look into this issue with the utmost urgency.

Vijayan in his letter requested Modi to ensure that such a thing does not happen again and appropriate instructions are issued to all concerned for that.

"Our country has a rich tradition of welcoming scholars and social scientists, who do conduct extensive field studies in various places covering diverse aspects of our social life and economy. These scholars have produced valuable research publications. We need to continue this tradition of being friendly and welcome these scholars," wrote Vijayan.

A Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies at the University of Sussex, the 65-year-old Osella is an expert on Kerala and arrived here to take part in a seminar. However, he was immediately put on the same flight that he arrived in back to Dubai even when he had all the legal documents and a track record of engaging in studies in Kerala for several decades.

Despite numerous pleas as yet there has been no word on why he was deported.