Indianness is established not by birth or passport but by one’s “contribution to an equalitarian society”, believes US-born Kannada actor-activist Chetan Kumar Ahimsa, a staunch critic of Hindutva and defender of Dalit and Adivasi rights whose Overseas Citizenship of India card has been scrapped.

In an interview with journalist Karan Thapar of The Wire, released on Friday, Chetan said his allegiance lay with India although he is an American passport holder and the withdrawal of his OCI card means he has to leave India unless he gets relief from the courts. He said he was “moving (the high) court”.

“My allegiances lie here and my Indianness is not derived by passport. Indianness is not derived by birth; Indianness is derived by your contribution to an equalitarian society,” he said.

“I identify as an Indian, I identify as a Kannadiga, I identify by ideology rather than (by) birth which wasn’t my choice.”

The 40-year-old, a Yale scholar who has since 2006 worked in India variously as a village schoolteacher, theatre and film actor, and rights activist, was arrested last month over a tweet in which he said that Hindutva is built on lies.

On April 14, he received a letter telling him his OCI card — a sort of perpetual visa to stay in India — had been revoked by the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO). He was given 15 days to leave India.

“I am not disillusioned at all. I understand when the system is threatened... because I said that it was creating an atmosphere of fear,” he told Thapar.

“The system is also afraid of the ideology we stand for (and) when it is threatened, they (those part of the system) will throw the kitchen sink at us and we are prepared to fight through the law by doing nothing illegal (but) by standing with what is just and the courts will uphold that.

“The people of Karnataka and the people of India and the activists on the ground and anybody who believes in a true India for Indians and under the Constitution’s Preamble will stand with us.”

Chetan said he wanted to spend the rest of his life in Karnataka, fighting for the causes he believes in.

“I didn’t have the privilege of being born in Karnataka and India, but I will spend my entire life in Karnataka and give my last breath to the people of India,” he said.

While Chetan is ready to take the legal battle for his OCI card up to the Supreme Court, he admitted it would break his heart if he didn’t receive relief.

“It will definitely break my heart but it will not break my spirit and we will continue to keep fighting,” he said, adding that he had faith in the Indian judiciary.

“The courts are making very sensible statements when it comes to the same-sex marriage issue; (the) courts have been upholding democratic rights…. And I do believe they see this (withdrawal of his OCI card) as arbitrary, as spurious, and a political act.”

Chetan believes that comments he had made in 2021 against Brahmanism — and not the Brahmin community — had put him in the crosshairs of the Sangh parivar.

“We have been questioning the JDS (Janata Dal Secular), the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka,” he said.

“When I brought up the Brahmanism issue as a system scourge — and not against any community — and as a mindset scourge, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad did write to the FRRO office, and Brahmin lobbies felt that they were targeted unjustly,” he said.

A police case was registered on the issue but Chetan wasn’t arrested. However, in February last year, he was arrested over an old tweet about a Karnataka High Court judge who was hearing a challenge to the hijab ban in the state’s classrooms. He got bail after a week.

“In 1938, Baba Saheb (Ambedkar) in Nashik said the problem against the workers is both Brahminism and capitalism,” Chetan said.

“He uses that word as a negation of fraternity, liberty and equality and it is just a term that I used all across intellectual discourse.”

Chetan had arrived in India in 2006 as a Fullbright Scholar and initially dabbled in Kannada theatre besides teaching at a village school near Mysore. He has since acted in a handful of films, with his good looks and fluency in Kannada turning him into an instant hit.

He subsequently affixed “Ahimsa” to his name.