What happened
A group of 215 citizens, scholars and academics— including vice-chancellors of major universities and directors of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—issued an open letter to Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The open letter condemns Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s remarks in the Lok Sabha on July 28. The open letter alleges that, during discussion of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra referred to IIT-Madras Director V. Kamakoti as a “gaumutra expert.”
What the open letter argues
The signatories argue that dismissing a scholar through a label rather than engaging with the substance of the scholar’s views undermines scientific temper—a citizen’s habit of reasoned inquiry and evidence-based thinking expected in constitutional public life.
The open letter frames the concern as an ethical and constitutional problem in public discourse: public debates should evaluate ideas and arguments rather than reject expertise through tagging.
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