No IIT in Ranchi, no speech in IIIT-Ranchi: Govt hits back at Sam Pitroda

The government has hit out at Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda and threatened legal consequences for alleging that he was disrupted while addressing students of “IIT Ranchi”.

The education ministry pointed out that there was no Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the Jharkhand capital in the first place and that Pitroda had made a “baseless and reckless statement”.

There is an Indian Institute of Information Technology in Ranchi, the ministry said on Wednesday (February 26).

Also read: ‘No land, home, stocks in India’: Sam Pitroda dismisses BJP allegations

No event at IIIT Ranchi

But IIIT Ranchi has no record of Pitroda being invited to deliver any lecture, either in person or via video link, it said, adding that his claim he was disrupted while speaking was an attempt “to malign the image of an extremely reputed institution”.

The ministry said it “condemns the statement (by Pitroda) and reiterates that any such attempt to malign the image of the premier institution will face legal repercussions”.

The government reaction came after Pitroda claimed on X that there was a disruption during his “IIT Ranchi lecture” during a podcast shared on February 22.

Also read: Congress distances itself from Pitroda's remarks on China, BJP attacks Oppn

The disruption

“Recently I was speaking at Ranchi IIT to several hundred students... and someone hacked in and started showing pornography,” said Pitroda, a veteran in the Congress.

“... (we) had to turn it (video stream) off. Now is that democracy? Is that fair? I don’t think so... I think institutional independence is at the core of democracy,” he said.

Satyanarahyan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Sam Pitroda, is based in the United States. He has been a telecommunications engineer, an entrepreneur, and an adviser to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. He is no stranger to controversy.

Also read: Phone, laptop, server hacked; blackmailed for cryptocurrency: Sam Pitroda’s mail

Pitroda on China

His comments that India should change its mindset and its “confrontational approach” vis-à-vis China triggered a furious pushback from the BJP and made the Congress distance itself from him.

A BJP leader has accused him of illegally acquiring 12.35 acres of government land in Bengaluru. On Wednesday, Pitroda said he does not own any land, home, or stocks in India.

In a statement on X, Pitroda said, “In light of recent reports in the Indian media, both on television and in print, I wish to categorically state the following: I do not own any land, home, or stocks in India. Additionally, during my tenure working with the government of India — whether with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the mid-1980s or with Dr. Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2014 — I have never taken/received any salary.”