Rashmi Samant, hailing from Udupi, Karnataka, who became the first Indian woman to be elected as president of the Oxford University Students’ Union (OUSU), stepped down from that post and returned to India, reportedly due to accusations of making “racist” and “insensitive” remarks online and on other forums, including a reference to the nuclear holocaust.

   Rashmi completed her degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Manipal University and joined the M.Sc., course in energy systems at Linacre College, Oxford University. She won a landslide victory in the OUSU election and got elected as the President on February 11, 2021. She secured 1,966 votes out of a total of 3,708 votes.

   However, she faced a lot of criticism after she won the election and subsequently went to her native place Udupi. Now after her sabbatical, she is expected to be back in the university. Although there were reports that she....