An alarming disinformation campaign on X began by targeting Muslim students at IIT Gandhinagar, then escalated into hate and vilification of the Ambedkarite reading circle, faculty members, the HSS department, and the institute as a whole.
In late April 2025, a coordinated wave of disinformation hit social media platforms, targeting postgraduate students and faculty members, particularly Muslim students, from the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Department of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN).
It began as a satirical online post by a pseudonymous right-wing user. At the heart of the X post was a project called “DeepFaith,” allegedly an AI-powered Islamic research initiative funded by institutional sources and involving Muslim students with “Islamist” leanings.
According to details provided by an MA student (they) from the HSS department of the institute who spoke on condition of anonymity, it is a coordinated social media attack that falsely accused postgraduate students, particularly Muslim students, in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Department.
They have confirmed that no such project called ‘DeepFaith’ is funded by the institute.
According to a report by India Hate Lab (IHL), post-Pahalgam attack, between April 23 and 29, numerous incidents of hate speech against Muslims (including students) were recorded across several states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
Prominent far-right voices, among them BJP MLA Nandkishor Gurjar and members of Hindu nationalist organisations, have used inflammatory and dehumanising language against Muslims.
They called for social and economic boycotts, encouraged violence, and urged Hindus to arm themselves. At various rallies, speakers issued threats to drive Muslims out and propagated conspiracy theories linking the community to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The X hate campaign against IITGN students also took place during this interval.
How did it begin?
The disinformation traceably began with a post dated April 28, 2025. A particular post cherry-picked a few real MA thesis titles submitted by Muslim students in IITGN’s Society and Culture programme and distorted them to fit a fabricated narrative.
These students were mockingly dubbed “Ayatollah’s Intellects (AI),” and their legitimate ethnographic work was rebranded as part of a so-called AI-based Islamic initiative called “DeepFaith.”
The account insinuated that the students were part of a secretive, institutionally-funded mission to promote Islamic ideologies through technological and academic means.
One of the prominent X handles running this campaign made a hateful tweet about Kashmiris and called for an internet shutdown in Kashmir post-Pahalgam.
Soon, multiple coordinated posts picked up the narrative. Some posts included the names, photographs, and personal social media handles of the students in question.
This was followed by a flood of inflammatory posts, many calling for the “protection” of Hindu students at IITGN and falsely alleging religious indoctrination, ideological policing, and institutional bias.
A critical turning point in the campaign occurred when an internal departmental email from the HSS faculty, which was meant only for students and staff, was leaked outside the IITGN community.
This email had invited attendees for thesis defences and included names of students, thesis titles, and their supervisors.
In an effort to address the violation, Prof. Nishaant Choksi, a faculty member at IITGN, circulated another internal email condemning the breach.
He labelled it a serious violation of the institute’s honour code, data ethics, and academic trust.
Another X post alleged that the “honour code” meant IITGN faculty were ideologically policing Hindu students.
The IITGN student clarified to Maktoob, “The ‘honour code’ reference clearly pertained to data ethics and internal confidentiality, not to any religious or ideological disciplining.”
They added that the MA in Society and Culture programme is a recognised research-intensive course that encourages students to undertake fieldwork across diverse themes such as religion, identity, livelihood, literature, migration, and tradition.
Several of the current theses involve ethnographic studies conducted across Indian states like Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Maharashtra. Some of these happen to study Muslim communities. However, such research is neither unusual nor secretive. It falls squarely within the scope of globally accepted anthropological research.
They remarked, “All the work is ethnographic and needs no AI or any other form of technological development.”
Hate campaign and risks faced
Photos of students circulated online were accompanied by inciting commentary labelling them “radicals,” “jihadi interns,” and “Islamist researchers.”
Calls were made to investigate and “clean up” the department. Faculty members, especially those perceived as supporting minority students, were named and targeted with abusive messages.
“Students and faculty members named in the posts are getting death threats. Plus, they will face significant barriers in future, particularly those seeking research fellowships, international placements, or academic travel,” the student speaking to Maktoob pointed out some related concerns.
A recent statement released by the ABVP wing of Gujarat criticises the “cultural insensitivity of IITGN.”
In addition to repeating claims made by some X handles, it questions the reading of a book named Riddles of Hinduism as anti-Hindu. It must be noted that this is a very important work of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar; it is part of the syllabus at Indian universities in courses that aim to build critical thinking around Indian philosophical traditions.
Another X post alleged that IITGN has an “Islamic Studies” department. The institute has no such department. However, it must be noted that books considered pious by Hindus, like the Gita and Upanishadic texts, are part of the syllabus under departments like Philosophy in Delhi University, BHU, etc. Texts related to Hindu philosophy form a huge part of undergraduate and postgraduate ‘Indian Philosophy’ syllabi.
Speaking to Maktoob about the X campaign, Professor Manish Kumar, Associate Dean, Student Development, said that the faculty, students, and researchers generally engage in constructive dialogue.
However, a small group of students decided to go for anonymous online posting through their external channels.
Now, the issue with all this, as pointed out by Professor Kumar, is, “Look at the abstract of the thesis defended by the student and at the same time look at the art around it which is being posted on X. The art is very catchy and gets attention on that platform, but it is far removed from the original work. The connection of the people making this post popular on social media with academic pursuits in different fields is unclear.”
He pointed out that there is an academic committee in place, a process of presenting work, and an evaluation committee with people from multiple departments for academic assessment of the research work. In such a scenario, logically speaking, the claims made by X posts make no sense. There are multiple avenues available within the institute to address academic matters, which could have been used. For instance, the matter could have been raised during the defence itself, which is open to the student community.
Aishwarya AVRaj is an independent journalist.
