The Galgotias 69 Saga: A Feature of India's Authoritarian Assault on Critical Thinking and Academic Freedom

At the glittering India AI Impact Summit 2026 held in New Delhi, what was pitched as an ode to India's rapid technological advancements turned into a memefied fiasco. A private institution from Greater Noida, Galgotias University, seen in the public sphere as closely aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), displayed "Orion", a robotic dog that they claimed had been created by their Centre of Excellence. 

Professor Neha Singh told the state-run broadcaster DD News during a viral interview about the robot as an exemplar of indigenous innovation, claiming, "You ⁠need to meet Orion. This has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University. She went on to share that it is "mischievous" and has the ability to transform itself.

However, social media detectives quickly revealed the truth - Orion is the Unitree Go2, which is a commercially available robotic dog made in China that can be purchased for approximately $2,800. It is also frequently used in research around the world. 

The situation became more embarrassing when Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, shared the video clip on his official social media account before the backlash began. Alongside a video of the robodog, he wrote, “Bharat’s sovereign models are performing well on global benchmarks.” The post was later deleted.

Immediately after this revelation, Indian government officials ordered Galgotias University to leave their booth; electricity to the area was cut off; and the IT Secretary warned Galgotias of potential legal ramifications due to misinformation. Galgotias University apologized for their actions and stated that the reason their professor represented their robotic dog as an original development by their university was because she was "overzealous." They also denied attempting to represent the robotic dog as one of their own creations, despite their previous representation.

On X (Twitter), this erupted into global outrage and memes for its sheer "Global Embarrassment", for what many view as a case of "Optics Over Accountability". Memes turned the line used by the University spokesperson, "your 6 can be my 9", (a reference to the University's changing reasons/excuses) into a viral campaign. While there was certainly much humor and ridicule generated by the incident, one cannot help but see that the real issue is deeper than just a funny or ridiculous example of how some institutions are run in India. 

The University's failure to respond to the crisis in a clear, transparent manner is merely another example of a larger problem with how higher education is being managed in India; specifically how the government, through the creation of an authoritarian structure, married to an unregulated environment where favors are curried through proximity to the ruling political establishment, has created an environment in which critical thinking is vilified and discouraged from developing in a meaningful way, creating institutions that have become nothing more than echo chambers for the masses.

Schooling in contemporary India often focuses less on thinking deeply, more on repeating facts by heart. Instead of exploring ideas, learners get pushed toward fixed responses, praised when they follow rules without asking critical questions. Such habits go beyond outdated teaching methods - they serve control, not curiosity. The approach to pedagogy as rote learning and mechanized photocopying stands deeply in contrast to the argumentative traditions that thrived in precolonial India.

Since Prime Minister Modi took office in 2014, space for open thought has steadily shrunk even further. Questions once welcome in classrooms now draw penalties instead. In places such as Rajasthan and Gujarat, school books highlight BJP programs - or even applaud dictators like Mussolini and Hitler - yet treat ideas like critical race theory and disagreement as dangers. A classroom should open minds; over the past decade, it has turned into a space that shuts them.

Look at the National Education Policy 2020. Some call it forward-looking, though others label it “neoliberal fascism.” On paper, it supports critical thought - yet quietly replaces real inclusion with silence. Market-driven logic mixes with religious values here, mirroring the ideology of Hindutva, shaping education to forget past struggles. 

Dissent gets pushed aside under this blend. Places such as Jawaharlal Nehru University feel the pressure. So does Jamia Millia Islamia. Students speaking up against the authoritarian creep often lose their standing. Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, a Dalit PhD scholar and student leader at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), was suspended for two years in April 2024 for alleged "anti-national activities" and "repetitive misconduct," including protesting the National Education Policy and sharing a documentary. Academics and students are penalized for challenging state influence on learning.

In August 2023, agents from India's Intelligence Bureau descended on the campus of Ashoka University to interrogate Associate Professor (later Assistant Professor) Sabyasachi Das following the publication of his explosive research paper, “Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy.” The study presented evidence suggesting possible manipulation of the 2019 general election results—irregular patterns in closely contested constituencies that disproportionately benefited the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including targeted voter suppression against Muslim communities enabled by lax election oversight.The paper triggered a ferocious backlash: BJP leaders and supporters unleashed vicious attacks, branding the work flawed and politically motivated. Rather than defending academic freedom and standing firmly behind its faculty member, Ashoka University swiftly distanced itself from Das, launching an internal probe and effectively abandoning him under intense pressure.

Outrage erupted among students and a significant portion of the faculty, who condemned the administration's capitulation and demanded Das's reinstatement—yet their protests and appeals fell on deaf ears. Facing institutional betrayal and an environment of fear, Sabyasachi Das had no choice but to resign.This episode starkly exposed the precarious state of academic independence in India, where even rigorous scholarly inquiry into electoral integrity can provoke state scrutiny, political intimidation, and institutional surrender.  

Data tells its own story. India’s score for academic freedom fell sharply over the past decade. India’s academic freedom score declined from 0.58 (among the top 50 percent globally) in 2015 to 0.22 in 2024 and plunged further to 0.16 in 2025, with 0 being most restricted and 1 being most free.. This drop lines up with similar trends in nations that have fallen into the fascist trap including Brazil and Hungary.According to V-Dem's 2025 report, India ranks in the bottom 15 percent of 179 countries in academic freedom.

Here, the Galgotias spectacle is reflective of a broader cultural rot. Why can a university boldly call a $2,800 imported tool an original idea while skipping basic reviews? Questioning things - checking facts, doubting bold statements - is missing here, worse, it gets shut down fast. Not one teacher spoke up against the story, too worried about consequences in a place that watches lesson plans and values silence over truth. One instructor took the blame alone, yet the problem spreads wider: think of a space where knowing less is enforced on purpose, keeping control intact, much like Henry Giroux once described.

Not just schools feel this pressure. Out in the open, speaking up gets called unpatriotic, while teachers end up pushed toward methods that mock public education as breeding grounds for state control. Far from Indian classrooms is Paulo Freire’s idea - where learning means challenging injustice. What exists instead? A country chasing high-tech dreams yet caught in low-level dishonesty, as voices on social media put it: "The foundation of scholarship here is crumbling."

It is critical to consider here the continual propaganda the Galgotias University participates in, projecting itself as the exemplar of Modi's education vision and of the National Education Policy. In February 2021, it organised a two-day national seminar titled “National Education Policy 2020: A Gateway to Academic Excellence” on 17–18 February 2021. The event, attended by Minister of Education, Government of India, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, projected itself as aiming to support the implementation of NEP 2020, envisioned as a step toward building a self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat), and included a pledge to fully implement the policy, positioning the university as the first campus to realise 100 percent NEP 2020 in its true spirit.

Also worth interrogating are the linkages of the University with the far-right extremist group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghh (RSS). 

Senior leaders from the RSS are noted as having visited the campus and delivered talks to students. Among them was Alok Kumar, Akhil Bharatiya Sah-Prachar Pramukh, who delivered a talk at Galgotias on community engagement and national development.

Mukul Kanitkar of the RSS-afiiliated Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal deliverd a talk on campus on Viksit Bharat (the slogan of "Developed India" deployed by the Hindutva propaganda machinery and global development).

It is also significant to interrogate the lofty rankings claims, claims of research productivity, and claims of innovation that are continually propped up by the University.

One day, nobody will remember the Galgotias spectacle, yet what it showed should stick around. 

The AI Impact Summit was sold around the themes of “people, progress, planet” – dubbed the “three sutras” (note the deployment of Sanskritic symbolism to signal indigeneity). 

Yet, what the Galgotias fiasco renders visible is an infrastructure built on the superficial projection of AI and digital innovations while erasing spaces of critical thought and dissent. 

Shallow claims to Indigeneity, decolonisation, and sovereignty do well to serve Hindutva's propaganda infrastructure, but do very little to actually create the structural environment that fosters innovation, authentic decolonisation, Indigenous innovation (itself a Brahminical propaganda when considered in the context of Indigeneity and Adivasi lifeworlds in India), and Global South transformation.

Fixing India’s thinking life means changing everything - classes built on questioning instead of copying, space to speak freely in schools, stepping away from blind obedience. Learners ought to do more than invent things; they need tools to challenge ideas, making school a way to fight back when truth gets twisted. Progress won’t happen unless learning stops pretending and starts pushing back. If not, each try feels like chasing echoes with a machine pup at heel.