'Too Much Of A Headache': Ashoka Co-Founder Mulls 'Moving Away' Amid Mahmudabad Row

Last Updated:June 04, 2025, 10:10 IST

"Ashoka is too much of a headache. Is it worth the effort," Sanjeev Bikhchandani wrote in his email.

Ashoka University co-founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, co-founder of Ashoka University, has candidly expressed his growing displeasure with continuing with the institution, describing it as “too much of a headache" and revealing that he has considered moving away. This came in response to an alumnus’s critique regarding the university’s handling of the situation involving Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad.

Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a professor and head of the Department of Political Science at Ashoka University in Haryana’s Sonipat, was arrested last month over his social media post on Operation Sindoor press briefing by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Command Vyomika Singh.

In an email shared on an internal mailing list, Bikhchandani addressed the alumnus’s concerns about the university’s perceived lack of support for Professor Mahmudabad. “Pramath, Ashish, and I have seriously discussed the option of walking away. Ashoka is too much of a headache. Is it worth the effort," he wrote on his email.

The controversy surrounding Professor Mahmudabad has sparked broader discussions about academic freedom and the role of activism in educational institutions. “A political opinion expressed on Facebook or Twitter (X) or Instagram is not academic scholarship. Consequently, any public outcry about a political opinion an academic may express on social media is not an attack on academic freedom, even if the person expressing that opinion has a day job as an academic. If a regulator or the government or law enforcement goes after you for a social media post, it is not an infringement of academic freedom. It might be an infringement of freedom of speech; however, there are provisions within the Constitution and the law where you can find protection," Bikhchandani said.

Lashing out at Mahmudabad, Bikchandani further said, “You are a grown-up adult. You are responsible for your actions and any consequences thereof. Ashoka is not obliged to support you for political opinions you express in your personal capacity. You did not seek Ashoka’s consent before posting on social media, you cannot now present Ashoka with a fait accompli and expect support. Cruel as it may sound, you make your choices—and you live with the outcome."

Mahmudabad had in his social media post praised India’s strategic doctrine and the outcome of Operation Sindoor, but criticised ‘symbolic optics’ and the treatment of minorities. He later said his post was misunderstood.

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