Probing tweet on BJP, IIT-B says 136 were using campus wi-fi when it was released

The institute has set up an inquiry committee, which is taking help of their computer centre to try and locate the sender.

A day after a tweet from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay’s management school, Shailesh J Mehta School of Management, about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attracted flak, an inquiry into the incident revealed that 136 people were online using the campus wi-fi when the tweet was released.

Main gate of the IIT Bombay Powai in Mumba. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

The institute has set up an inquiry committee, which is taking help of their computer centre to try and locate the sender.

“A meeting was called for on Monday itself and the management has made it very clear that such tweets in the name of the institute will not be acceptable. As an education institute, we endorse no political party or viewpoint,” said a spokesperson for the institute.

On Monday afternoon, in response to a tweet by author/commentator Shefali Vaidya, the institute’s official handle—@SJMSoM, IIT Bombay said, “Because Hinduism and Hindutva are not the same. Being religious and being stupid are two different things. People here maybe religious but not stupid enough to vote for #BJP.”

The tweet immediately received flak from other handles, and soon, the message was deleted. Late evening, the handle was deactivated by the institute. Meanwhile, the original tweet had received a lot of flak from many BJP supporters, all demanding action against the person who uploaded the tweet.

An IIT-B spokesperson had said the handle was not the institute’s official Twitter handle and was managed by a group of students without the knowledge of institute authorities. The account has close to 8,000 followers and is officially recognised by Twitter.