Haryana Chief Minister writes to London School of Economics after student claims discrimination

Chandigarh: In response to a letter sent by the chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, asking the school to take action against alleged prejudice against an Indian student, the London School of Economics (LSE) has said that it is looking into the claims.

A smear campaign attacking Karan Kataria's Indian and Hindu identities, a 22-year-old postgraduate law student from Haryana, let him to claim that he was disqualified from running in the student union elections.

"The SU (student union) has informed us that a candidate was disqualified from the leadership election for breaking election rules, and we understand an external review of the election proceedings will take place in due course," stated the letter read.

Kataria posted a "thank you" note on Twitter for Mr. Khattar and said, "I am a proud Bharatiya, and your support means a lot to me and my family."

Karan Kataria, who is pursuing a postgraduate law degree at the public research institute, was contesting the post of General Secretary of the LSE Students’ Union (LSESU) after serving as his cohort's Academic Representative and also a delegate to the UK's National Union for Students (NUS).

"Unfortunately, some individuals could not bear to see an Indian-Hindu leading the LSESU and resorted to vilifying my character and very identity in what was clearly in line with the alarming cancel culture which is uprooting our social communities," Kataria said in a public statement.

According to Kataria, LSESU cancelled his candidature ‘undemocratically’ without providing any proof or evidence of the allegations against him. While maintaining that it conducts elections fairly and democratically with a clear set of policies and procedures, LSESU said in a statement that ‘a candidate’ breached election rules which led them to disqualify the individual.