Rukmini Bhaya Nair is a linguist, poet, writer and critic of India. She won the First Prize for her poem kali in the "All India Poetry Competition" in 1990 organised by The Poetry Society (India) in collaboration with British Council. She is currently a Professor at Humanities and Social Sciences department of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Nair is known for being a trenchant critic of the Hindutva ideology and the religious and caste discrimination that it promotes.