Controversial Gita poster at IIT Mandi sparks row; director orders inquiry

IIT Mandi has ordered an inquiry into a controversial Bhagavad Gita-themed poster on its campus that said Shudras should "serve higher classes", with Director Laxmidhar Behera attributing it to students' interpretation of the scripture and distancing the institute from its contents. Behera himself has a longstanding association with the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He teaches a three-credit Gita course at IIT Mandi and is the founder of the proposed Bhaktivedanta University, which describes itself as an ISKCON initiative.

"Some students have interpreted the Gita in some way. I have instituted an enquiry committee. It was a student-based event," Behera told PTI on Sunday, asserting that he and the institute stood against caste discrimination. In an email to the IIT Mandi community on Sunday, titled "Outright condemnation of recent poster display within campus", Behera said he was "shocked" to learn about the poster displayed during Janmashtami celebrations on September 4 and stressed that it had not been endorsed by the institute "in any manner".

"I have personally fought against caste-based discrimination in any form in every forum. I have instituted an enquiry committee in this matter such that the institute campus is never used for any such violation of social harmony. I fully empathise with members of our community who have been hurt by this incident," he wrote. Behera said the institute was committed to upholding "the values of equality, social justice, scientific temper" and other principles enshrined in the Constitution. "The institute strongly condemns any form of caste based discrimination," he said in the email, seeking cooperation from the campus community to "stand together against such biases/discrimination in any form".

Behera told PTI that the poster was prepared as part of a student-led event and that a committee comprising faculty members and representatives from different social categories, including Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, has been constituted to look into the matter. The controversy erupted over a poster titled "Bhagavad Gita - The Timeless Wisdom", which was displayed outside the institute's auditorium and divided society into Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. It described the role of Brahmanas as to "spread God's message", Kshatriyas as to "protect society and spirituality", Vaishyas as to "drive economy, support others" and Shudras as to "serve higher classes". The poster also carried a verse from the Bhagavad Gita which said the four divisions of human society were created according to the "three modes of material nature and the work associated with them".

Also read IIT Kanpur-ISKCON MoU on student well-being triggers controversy, institute deletes post

I've not seen poster: Director Laxmidhar Behera

Behera said he had been away from the campus and returned only on Saturday, and came to know about the controversy on Sunday morning. "I have not seen the poster. I don't want to take a side here and let the panel decide," he told PTI. Behera's official IIT Mandi profile says he has taught the "universal principles of peace through Bhagavad Gita" to young people for 27 years. Also identified as "HG Lila Purushottam Das", he is the founder of the proposed Bhaktivedanta University, which its website describes as an ISKCON initiative. The IIT director said ISKCON strongly opposes caste discrimination and teaches equality. "ISKCON is the only organisation that strictly and strongly speaks against caste-based discrimination. In ISKCON, pujaris are also from the Shudra community. Muslims are also pujaris," he claimed. "We are against casteism in all forms. All occupational duties are according to guna and karma," he added.

Behera also pointed to the representation of marginalised communities at IIT Mandi during his tenure, claiming that when he joined the institute, there were no faculty members from the OBC, SC and ST communities and that their numbers had since increased substantially. An electrical engineering professor whose areas of specialisation include robotics and artificial intelligence, Behera has courted controversy over his views in the past. In 2023, he asked students to pledge not to eat meat while claiming that landslides and cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh were occurring because of cruelty to animals. A year earlier, soon after his appointment as IIT Mandi director, a video surfaced in which Behera claimed to have helped rid a friend's family of "evil spirits" by chanting holy mantras. IIT Mandi's Indian Knowledge System and Mental Health Applications Centre also organised a conference in June featuring sessions on the Bhagavad Gita, Ayurveda and reincarnation, among other subjects. Behera, who was one of the general chairs of the conference, was also a co-organiser of a session titled "Reincarnation, OBEs and afterlife communication".