IIT Gandhinagar is facing Right-wing backlash for allegedly promoting Islamic theology.
The institute is trending on X after some users cited the thesis topics of selected students of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) to make allegations of "Islamisation" on the campus.
The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Sunday issued a media release to express concern about a “troubling disregard for the cultural and national sentiments of students — particularly those from the Hindu community”.
The topics, which were shared with the students of HSS as part of their dissertation defence invitations, were apparently “selectively” leaked to cause a stir.
The issue erupted on April 28 after an X user, Eminent Intellectual, listed some of the research topics and posted: “This will make you proud. India has its own AI finally! IIT Gandhinagar has come up with this unique architecture that will beat ChatGPT and Deepseek through the power of Kerala. It’s called Deepfaith. Thank you @iitgn for using your taxpayer funded ‘autonomy’ just like our Supreme Court to make this country a better place for us all. *AI = Ayatollah’s Intellect,” the user wrote.
The topics included indigenous knowledge of the people of a Muslim-dominated locality on fishing and ecology, Islamic rituals and Islamic clothing.
“Students do anthropological and social studies on themes related to religious practices and rituals. About 20 students have studied Hindu traditions like the Brahminical system, Vedas and temple management. We have been targeted for no fault of ours,” a student, who did not wish to be identified, said.
Manish Kumar, associate dean of student development, said the campaign against the institute lacked academic merit. “Anybody can raise an issue on any research topic or findings. However, established ways for engaging academically could have been pursued. We welcome feedback and constructive criticism through appropriate means,” Kumar said.