IIT Gandhinagar, India’s most prestigious engineering college, has met with a grave controversy after it came to light indicating that its Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Department is propagating Islamic theology and ethnography through PhD research topics. The row broke out after social media users brought to light a list of thesis topics based on Islamic themes, triggering widespread controversy regarding ideological bias in state-run educational institutions. Thesis topics like “Fishing With Faith: Islam, Indigenous Knowledge, and Ecological Sustainability in Lakshadweep”, “Robes of Authority: Sunni Ulama, Sartorial Tradition, and Embodied Piety in Malabar”, “From Gods to Jinn: Ontological Rewriting and the Islamization of Spirits in Kerala”, and “Speech Mediation and Ritual Efficacy in Mosque Speeches in Kozhikode” have been pointed out by critics as soft promotion of Islamic theology instead of objective cultural studies.
Adding fuel to the fire, a purported email from Associate Professor Nishaant Choksi warning students against sharing internal departmental communications has gone viral. In the email, Choksi labels the sharing of screenshots about these thesis topics a violation of the institute’s “honour code” and warns of disciplinary action. He stated, “This is a breach of our honor code, and any students found engaging in such activities will be reported to SSAC.” The issue has now escalated beyond academic boundaries. Screenshots of alleged WhatsApp conversations among students suggest that Hindu students are being silenced for questioning the apparent theological bias. One such message claims that students were discouraged from speaking about the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians, mostly Hindus, were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists. Allegedly, students were told that raising such issues could be labeled “Islamophobic” and might lead to academic penalties.
These incidents also raise sharp double standard: whereas Hindu students seem to be discouraged from condemning terror attacks on their own community, solidarity marches were held on campus after the Hamas terror attack on Israel in 2023. A “Sham-e-Azadi” event was apparently held in solidarity with Palestine, and even entrance exams apparently included passages on the Palestinian cause. There have even been reports of a second-year student named Mohammed Luqman proposing an AI research paper on Islamic theological themes, with faculty members reportedly advising students against discussing it outside or facing action. These episodes have generated growing calls for a top-level inquiry into IIT Gandhinagar’s HSS department. Critics allege that academic freedom cannot be a fig leaf for ideological indoctrination, one that is being funded with public money.
