The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar is once again at the centre of controversy after social media posts by Professor Amit Arora from the Department of Material Science went viral. In several posts, Arora expressed support for the terrorist group Hamas and Umar Khalid, who is accused under the UAPA in connection with the anti-Hindu Delhi riots. He also shared political content mocking the Modi government’s policies. Amid widespread backlash, Arora deleted his social media account.
On May 27, 2020, Arora shared comments about the Ram Mandir on X. This came a few months after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on the Ayodhya Ram Mandir dispute and the Ram Mandir trust was being established.
In one of his posts, Amit Arora wrote, “Ram Lalla is in the child who is trying to wake up his mother’s corpse lying on the platform. As long as there is even one such child, Ram Lalla will never come to your temple. Go and build a Mandir.” This reflects a common leftist perspective that often portrays Hindus as inferior by linking social or economic issues to their temples or deities. While such critiques can be based on religion or sect, left-leaning views frequently target Hindus.
On April 2, 2025, Professor Arora responded to a post from a leftist account on X questioning why “Sanghis” have recently started using the term “Bharat” instead of “India” in English conversations. The post read, “What is the sudden onset of Sanghis using the name Bharat while conversing about India in English? What are they trying to do? Trying to fool everyone into believing that Bharat is a different, more developed version of India?”
Responding to the post, Professor Arora wrote, “Nope. Bharat is their Brahmanical, oppressive, and bigoted version of the actual united secular India.”
Arora has also made several remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that reveal a clear bias against him. In June 2024, he shared a photo on X mocking the Prime Minister.
https://twitter.com/MehHarshil/status/1931691917802344765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1931691917802344765%7Ctwgr%5Eb50432867f1ecac8fdf0cb52011fc6e961398fc0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2025%2F06%2Fcontroversial-social-media-posts-of-another-professor-of-iit-gandhinagar-go-viral%2F
In 2020, Arora posted a 2014 BJP campaign poster with the caption, “Nothing left to write here.” The poster promised a reduction in petrol and diesel prices once the Modi government took office.
In a recent post dated April 25, 2025, Arora quoted Modi-critical Gujarati journalist Urvish Kothari, writing, “He speaks Hindi when he goes to America and English when he goes to Bihar. His style of playing is different; the drama never ends.”
Meet prof Amit Arora of IIT Gandhinagar. Instead of teaching material science to Engineering students, he is more interested in supporting terrorist Umar Khalid, making fun of Indian war time diplomacy, crying about Islamophobia and glorifying Hamas support by American students.… pic.twitter.com/3zQJt3HlJz
— Eminent Intellectual (@total_woke_) June 8, 2025
IIT Gandhinagar has recently been embroiled in multiple controversies. A few days ago, the institute faced criticism after it was revealed that several PhD thesis topics in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Department focused extensively on Islamic studies.
Students in the HSS department were found to be conducting research on Islamic subjects as part of their annual thesis projects, raising questions about whether the institute was functioning as an educational institution or an Islamic research centre.
The issue escalated when an email from Professor Nishant Choksi went viral. In it, he threatened students with disciplinary action and penalties for disclosing details about their thesis projects and student information. Professor Choksi also attracted attention for his ties to the NGO Adilok, which reportedly has a religious agenda.
Subsequently, it was revealed that some faculty members are linked to controversial NGOs working in tribal regions, while others actively promote leftist ideologies on social media. Despite these revelations, no action has been taken so far, and new controversies involving faculty members continue to emerge.
