How the Humanities are Impacting IITs and How to STEM the Rot

IITs, once focused purely on STEM excellence, are increasingly integrating humanities and social sciences, sparking debates over whether this is academic progress or a vehicle for leftist ideological capture.
Incidents at IIT Bombay and IIT Gandhinagar highlight controversies, with workshops, protests, and faculty activism accused of promoting Marxist, Islamist, and anti-India narratives while suppressing dissenting voices.
Critics argue this politicization fosters intolerance, Hinduphobia, and campus polarization, distracting from research and collaboration, damaging morale, and eroding institutional culture.
Global reputation, academic rigor, and public legitimacy are at risk if IITs are seen as ideological battlegrounds instead of neutral centres of scientific innovation and technical excellence.
Solutions suggested include keeping humanities elective, adding Indic knowledge traditions, diversifying faculty ideologies, ensuring institutional neutrality, protecting STEM focus, and if all fails, even removing humanities to safeguard IITs’ core mission.

The Indian Institutes of Technology have, for decades, stood as pillars of STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics — education in India. They have produced the engineers, coders, researchers, and data wizards who power not just Indian innovation but Silicon Valley itself. Their admission processes are brutal, their alumni world-class, and their campuses designed to incubate brilliance. For the longest time, their ethos was clear: produce brilliant engineers.

However, a new syllabus is now in effect on campus. Alongside thermodynamics and tensor calculus, you might find “Postcolonial Resistance and Subaltern Agency” or “Critical Perspectives on Capitalism.” Welcome to the bizarre era of humanities at IIT — where technical rigor clashes with ideological fervor.[1] Some call it progress. Others call it a Trojan horse for leftist activism.

The stakes are high. Will the inclusion of humanities turn IITs into ideological battlegrounds, where young minds are indoctrinated into a woke agenda? Are these elite campuses being politicized at the cost of their global reputation for excellence? Most importantly, can India’s top STEM institutes stay apolitical without sliding into intellectual sterility?

How Politics Entered the Portal

Adding liberal arts to STEM isn’t a bad idea per se. In fact, most elite institutions around the world encourage cross-disciplinary fluency. Ethics in AI, the philosophy of science, the sociology of technology — these aren’t fringe concerns anymore.

India’s Ministry of Education states that a multidisciplinary education, as envisaged in the New Education Policy, will develop social, physical, intellectual, emotional, and moral capacities of human beings in an integrated manner. “This aims at developing critical thinking, versatility, adaptability, problem solving, flexibility, and analytical and communication skills in the learners.”[2]

But in the Indian context, particularly at the IITs, the integration of the humanities hasn’t been an entirely smooth ride. It has opened the door to a slow but steady ideological capture — primarily from faculty who wear their left-liberal stripes on their sleeves. Workshops on anti-capitalism, PhD entrance questions about “Hindutva,” and public lectures on caste or religious politics — these are no longer rare occurrences.[3]

Meanwhile, the STEM faculty members are so engaged in quantum theory, plasma research, or semiconductor chip development that they do not have the time to provide a different socio-political perspective to students. Thus, students are exposed to just a predominant and deliberately cultivated viewpoint, and unsurprisingly, they develop an inclination towards wokeism.[4]

Exhibit A: A prominent example of the peddling of the Leftist agenda comes from IIT Bombay, where a flyer promoting a workshop titled “South Asian Capitalism(s)” sparked outrage.[5] The flyer included cartoons depicting sitting political leaders (Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath) under the caption “We Fool You,” and security forces under “We Shoot You.” The imagery was borrowed from Marxist propaganda, and the backlash was swift. The institute issued a denial, severed ties with the co-hosting organisation, and tried to douse the fire. But the damage was done — the perception that the humanities at IIT had taken a hard political turn had gone viral. Observers responded that this episode typifies the kind of ideological bias and political provocation that arises when humanities departments overstep their boundaries.[6]

Exhibit B: IIT Gandhinagar faced a massive backlash over promoting Islamic theology through its Humanities department. Just seven days after the Palestinian Islamic terror group Hamas carried out a terror attack in Israel on 7th October 2023, a Sham-e-Azadi march was held on campus to extend support and solidarity to Palestine.[7] Allegations emerged of ideological bias, suppression of dissenting voices — particularly Hindu students — and threats of disciplinary action against those questioning the agenda. While talking about the Pahalgam attack [8], wherein Islamic terrorists selectively killed Hindus, was barred, candle marches were taken to show solidarity with Palestinian Muslims.

Exhibit C: IIT Bombay professor Anupam Guha combines academic work (in AI policy and labour) with public manifestations of political ideology. His positions align with Marxist, far‑left, and Islamist perspectives as he publicly criticises policies such as Article 370, voices opinions on subjects like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and takes partisan public stances on controversies. In doing so, he is deploying his institutional affiliation (and thus taxpayer‑funded resources) in support of ideological activism.[9]

Exhibit D: Ayushman Goel (name changed) is an AI scientist at one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies. An IIT alumnus of the 2018 batch, he has observed firsthand the impact of the humanities stream on his alma mater. According to Goel, during the leftist protests against the CAA, the leftist students and faculty invited lumpen outsiders to join them, turning his campus into a battleground. But more worrying is his claim that the leftist and Muslim professors at the IITs only recruit Muslim faculty members. “The Left’s aim is complete capture of the IITs so they can be turned into clones of JNU, Aligarh Muslim University, and Jadavpur University, which are hotbeds of anti-India activity,” he says.

Assuming these claims have at least partial validity, what are the potential consequences — academic, cultural, reputational — for IITs if humanities/social sciences become arenas of ideological contest rather than balanced inquiry?

Intolerance and Trenchant Hinduphobia

One of the central criticisms is that humanities departments are dominated by staff with Marxist and Islamist political/ideological orientations, with critics arguing that these perspectives are overrepresented.

Take the controversial question posed by IIT Bombay’s Humanities and Social Sciences Department in its PhD entrance exam. The question reads: “What is Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony? Is Hindutva a form of hegemony or counter-hegemony? Discuss.”

On the surface, it appears to be a standard academic task, requiring candidates to apply Gramscian theory to modern Indian politics. However, the question raises a deeper issue: why is Hindutva, a civilizational movement grounded in India’s indigenous traditions, consistently framed through Marxist lenses of power and domination? Why do Indian academics refrain from asking similar questions about institutions like the Catholic Church, which Gramsci himself criticized as “the largest reactionary force in Italy”?[10]

Critical thinking depends not merely on being given content but on being exposed to conflicting arguments, being encouraged to critique assumptions, and engaging with dissenting or minority perspectives. A lack of ideological diversity can lead to echo chambers, stifling of dissent, self‑censorship, or fear of speaking up, especially for those whose viewpoints are less prevalent within the department. Since the Left is highly intolerant of diverse views and Marxism is just another form of fascism [11], the real sufferers are the Hindu students who face victimization and discrimination, potentially impacting their future careers.

Campus Polarization and Conflict

When academic institutions start being seen (or see themselves) as ideological battlegrounds, tensions between “left” and “right” wing students or faculty increase. Events, lectures, guest speaker sessions, protests, or debates become flashpoints. Student body divisions coalesce around identity, ideology, or political affiliation, rather than purely academic lines. Such polarization distracts from research, collaboration, and collegiality, harming student morale, peer relations, and the pedagogical environment. Moreover, this leads to an increased administrative burden, including policing events, resolving complaints, investing in approvals, and oversight.

Reputation and Global Standing

IITs compete globally — not only in student and faculty recruitment, but also in research funding, collaborations, publications, industrial partnerships, and rankings. Global peers and collaborators typically expect academic freedom, balanced scholarly inquiry, strong technical outcomes, and a stable institutional environment. If IITs become seen as politicised, with ideological controversies, accusations of biased teaching or research, or internal dissent and conflict, their attractiveness diminishes. Potential collaborators shy away; international rankings suffer if technical output or publication metrics decline; students (especially international or out‑of‑state) prefer institutions perceived as more neutral or stable.

Lowering of Academic Standards

When faculty prioritize political or ideological goals over rigorous scholarship, compromises in academic rigor and research standards are inevitable. For example, in admissions or exams, questions might unduly lean toward certain ideologies; evaluation standards might shift; or selection of PhD students or evaluation of theses may become influenced by ideological alignment. Even more subtly, the academic culture might drift toward popularity, media visibility, or ideological correctness rather than scholarship, critical analysis, and methodological precision.

Institutional Legitimacy

Because IITs are largely publicly funded, their stakeholders include students, parents, the Government, industry, and the general public. If taxpayers perceive that their funds are being used for ideological activism rather than technical and scientific excellence, or that IITs are straying from their core mission, public trust will erode. This could lead to political interference, policy changes, budget cuts, or regulatory pressures. Institutional legitimacy could suffer if critics succeed in framing humanities departments as misaligned with IITs’ founding purpose.

Toward Solutions: How to Remain Apolitical

Given both the potential risks and possible benefits, the challenge for IITs is to navigate a middle path that preserves their core identity in technical excellence, while allowing for a broader curriculum that includes humanities, social sciences, ethics, and cultural studies.

Curriculum and Course Design: One of the primary levers is how curricula are structured. Humanities and liberal arts courses in IITs should be elective rather than mandatory for STEM students, unless the subject is directly relevant (for example, ethics of technology, communication skills, science and society). This allows students who want a deeper exposure to the humanities to take courses, while those focused strictly on technical mastery need not divert their attention.
Include Indigenous Courses: The inclusion of Indic subjects is essential to counter the overemphasis on Marxist and Islamist frameworks. Courses should incorporate topics such as Indian philosophy (including Vedanta, Nyaya, and Yoga), classical texts (Upanishads, Mahabharata, and Arthashastra), and the contributions of notable Indic thinkers like Chanakya, Shankaracharya, and Ramanuja. These subjects can foster critical thinking by exploring indigenous concepts of ethics, governance, and societal harmony, which are relevant to India’s context. For instance, studying Kautilya’s Arthashastra could provide insights into statecraft and economics, while Indian aesthetics (Natyashastra) could enrich cultural studies.
Faculty Hiring, Evaluation, and Diversity: Hiring committees for humanities departments should consider not only scholarly credentials (such as publications and teaching effectiveness) but also evidence of openness to diverse perspectives, a willingness to engage respectfully with dissenting views, and the ability to maintain pedagogical balance. Diversity in ideological, political, cultural, and social backgrounds among faculty is important, as it helps ensure that no single viewpoint dominates the curriculum, discourse, or departmental culture.
However, Goel says faculty members should be thoroughly vetted and screened for extra-territorial loyalties. “Since IITs are funded by the Indian taxpayer, is it permissible for faculty members on government payrolls to be affiliated with communist or missionary organizations? The Centre must ensure that public resources are not misused to support organizations with radical agendas.”
Governance, Oversight, and Institutional Policies: IIT administrations should adopt mission statements or charters that reaffirm core values, including technical excellence, scientific inquiry, freedom of thought, pluralism, transparency, and institutional neutrality with respect to ideology. Such statements can guide decision‑making and serve as benchmarks when controversies arise. Accreditation bodies, government regulators, or independent academic panels could periodically assess whether institutions are being true to their charters or if they are becoming tools of Marxists and missionaries.
Student Engagement and Rights: It is essential to ensure students have channels to express concerns, dissent, or differing viewpoints without fear. Feedback mechanisms (surveys, course evaluations) should include questions regarding ideological balance, whether students feel their views are respected, and whether the content consists of multiple perspectives. Transparency is key: students should understand how event approval works, how guest lecturers are selected, and how dissertations are evaluated, among other key processes. Processes for raising grievances should be transparent, fair, and timely.
Protecting and Strengthening STEM Core: IITs have built their global reputation on excellence in engineering, applied science, basic science, and technological innovation. If institutional priorities shift — such as faculty hiring, funding allocations, and resources — toward the humanities, social sciences, policy, activism, or ideological research, there is a risk that the technical core may be impacted. Therefore, the inclusion of humanities should not come at the cost of diluting the core technical strengths of IITs. Technical research output should remain a priority in institutional strategy, as should recruitment and retention of faculty in STEM fields. Since the IITs make substantial contributions to India’s technological growth, their decline would have a detrimental impact on the country’s future.

Implementation Challenges and Potential Pitfalls

Defining what constitutes “political” or “ideological” content is challenging. Many subjects in the humanities, by nature, deal with politics, power, justice, and identity — so drawing boundaries is complex and often contested.

Ideological neutrality is a contested ideal. What one group sees as “balanced,” another may see as suppression of necessary critique. Central authorities or governments may have their own ideological agendas, which can influence what is permitted or censored.

Measuring outcomes (such as whether STEM quality or research output is harmed, or whether students’ critical thinking is preserved) is difficult. Changes in curriculum, faculty hiring, and culture often take years to manifest in measurable outputs.

Conclusion

The integration of humanities, social sciences, and liberal arts into the IIT system reflects broader global trends and aspirations in education. However, the concerns about ideological capture, politicisation, loss of focus, reputational risk, and internal polarization are not without merit. The evidence shows that controversies have emerged, high‑profile incidents have occurred, and perceptions of bias against Hindu students are increasing.

In this backdrop, the Government should first implement policies against politicization; secondly, it should monitor their implementation for a period of 12 months. If the situation does not improve because of stonewalling by the Left cabal, it is a given that their agenda is not academics but a power grab. Under such circumstances, it makes no sense to allow freedom of speech and expression to a group that is determined to take these freedoms away from national life once the Left attains power.[12]

Hence, the only option that remains is the obvious one – surgically remove humanities from the IITs. The Left in India has ruined a number of academic institutions; it should not be allowed to have any presence in scientific and technical universities.

Goel says currently just 1 percent of students at the IITs are studying humanities subjects, and only 10 percent of the faculty are woke or Islamist. “And yet they have disproportionate visibility and influence because of their nexus with the media, secular parties, and NGOs. If their numbers increase, they will turn the IITs into Breaking India Bastions,” he says.

Maintaining IITs as centres of global excellence requires deliberate effort. To preserve their legacy of technical leadership, the institutes must ensure that humanities enrich rather than erode their core mission.

Citations

[1] IITs focus on Humanities courses to promote synergistic thinking among students (Education Times, 2024); https://www.educationtimes.com/article/campus-beat-college-life/99735273/iits-focus-on-humanities-courses-to-promote-synergistic-thinking-among-students

[2] Multidisciplinary and Holistic Education (Ministry of Education, Government of India, 2022); https://www.education.gov.in/en/nep/multidisciplinary-holistic-education#:~:text=A%20multidisciplinary%20education%2C%20as%20envisaged,creative%20combinations%20of%20various%20disciplines.

[3] Communist Faculty, Pro-Terrorist Speakers: How IITs Are Turning Into Playgrounds For Radical Ideologues (Swarajya, 2025); https://swarajyamag.com/commentary/communist-professors-pro-terrorist-guest-speakers-how-iits-are-turning-into-playgrounds-for-radical-ideologues

[4] ibid

[5] Communist Faculty, Pro-Terrorist Speakers: How IITs Are Turning Into Playgrounds For Radical Ideologues (The Daily Californian, 2025); https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/iit-bombay-withdraws-from-institute-for-south-asia-studies-conference-cites-offensive-flyer-the-institute/article_326cae47-45c1-4d98-b091-63a6df1ddab2.html

[6] Why is IIT Bombay organising an event on South Asian Capitalism(s)? (Kanwal Sibal on X, 2025); https://x.com/KanwalSibal/status/1966001749359198329

[7] Academic Jihad? IIT Gandhinagar Humanities Dept accused of promoting Islamic theology, Hindu students gagged for condemning Pahalgam attack (OpIndia, 2025); https://www.opindia.com/2025/05/iit-gandhinagar-humanities-dept-sparks-outrage-over-promoting-islamic-theology-under-the-garb-of-ai-project-deepfaith/

[8] From Paris to Pahalgam: Why the World Must Unite to Defeat Radical Islam (StopHindidvesha.Org, 2025); https://stophindudvesha.org/from-paris-to-pahalgam-why-the-world-must-unite-to-defeat-radical-islam/

[9] Humanities professor at IITB faces backlash for far-left activism: How India’s elite technical institutes are becoming breeding grounds for Marxist-Leftwing ideology (OpIndia, 2025); https://www.opindia.com/2025/06/humanities-professor-at-iitb-faces-backlash-for-far-left-activism-indias-elite-technical-institutes-becoming-breeding-grounds-for-leftwing-ideology/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

[10] From Gramsci to IIT Bombay: How India’s Academic left uses Marxist frameworks to target Hindutva but spares the Vatican (Organiser, 2025); https://organiser.org/2025/09/17/316151/bharat/from-gramsci-to-iit-bombay-how-indias-academic-left-uses-marxist-frameworks-to-target-hindutva-but-spares-the-vatican/

[11] Marxist historians are perpetrators, not victims of intolerance (Daily O, 2015); https://www.dailyo.in/politics/marxism-vedic-age-aryan-invasion-theory-romila-thapar-irfan-habib-indian-history-7183

[12] How Hitler Used Democracy to Take Power (Time, 2024); https://time.com/6971088/adolf-hitler-take-power-democracy/