Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, which has been in the news for controversies related to its professors , has dismissed one of the professors Ashish Xaxa. This information has been given by the institute itself through an RTI reply.
Earlier, an RTI was filed asking the IIT about Dr. Ashish Xaxa, in response to which IIT Gandhinagar said that he has been relieved of service.
It is worth mentioning that OpIndia had shed light on the activities of Dr. Ashish Xaxa through a report in May 2025. He has been very active on social media and had made several controversial posts which raised questions about the conduct of IIT professors. After that, he deactivated the account. However, the account was reactivated later.
On social media, he is always seen reposting posts of Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi etc. Pro-Palestine posts were also posted from his handle. He also keeps reposting posts of people like Mohammad Zubair and Dhruv Rathi.
In one post, he tried to instigate the people of India by saying that people need to take to the streets to reclaim democracy.
This professor has a special hatred for Gujarat. Recently, he had made some posts in which he had abused the state and its people. At one point, he had called Gujarat a ‘hellhole’ and at another, he had said that Gujarat is a ‘scam society’. At one point, he had said that Gujarat is a mine of corruption. In one post, he had also commented that ‘Gujarat is synonymous with disaster’.
Ashish Xaxa even reposted a post, in which two publications were posted – Colonizing Kashmir and Colonizing Palestine – and urged people to read them. The ex-professor was clearly implying that India has ‘colonized’ Kashmir.
In another one of his X posts, he wrote, “If not Rahul Gandhi, then who else?”, looking at the Congress scion as India’s saviour.
In one post, a user mocked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and wrote – How can she be asked to resign? Tell her that India is an ‘Onion of States’. This post has also been reposted by the ex-professor.
An internet user also accused the professor of behaving in an inappropriate manner with him and then blocking him. This post has also gone viral.
So this person @XaxaSpeaks whom I have never known in real life nor interacted with online, comes to my account – abuses me and blocks me.
— Neena Rai (@NeenaRai) April 26, 2025
This guy works for @HSSiitgn as a professor in “indigenous and development studies”.
Wonder what development is he teaching his student… pic.twitter.com/0QrKVyWjlQ
While trying to find out more about him, it was discovered that some of his papers have also been published in other countries. The latest publication is from the year 2025. The article titled ‘Covid-19 and the Indigenous Migrants Question in Urban India’ was published in ‘Governing the Crisis: Narratives of Covid-19 in India’ published from London.
In his article, Ashish Xaxa wrote about the problems faced by workers working in other states due to the sudden outbreak of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Initially in the piece, the death rate was said to be high due to lack of adequate medical facilities, poverty and water problems and lack of enough doctors, but INDI coalition-ruled states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were highly praised. Apart from this, INDI Alliance leaders like Hemant Soren and Bhupesh Baghel were also highly praised for their handling of Covid irresperctive of the situation in the state.
If we look at the facts, at that time all the states were making efforts and all of them had given up all other concerns and focused on the pandemic. But mentioning one or two states creates a narrative, which may not be noticeable at first glance. It has been written, quoting ‘sources’, that Soren personally paid attention to these matters! (So what did the rest of the Chief Ministers do?)
The original story in Gujarati can be read here.
