New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is facing the heat for a controversial reference to IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti while speaking in Parliament.
As many as 215 academicians have written an open letter to Priyanka, objecting to her ‘gau mutra expert’ remark targeting Kamakoti, PTI reported.
According to the big group of academicians who signed the letter, including vice-chancellors and former vice-chancellors, mockery cannot be a substitute for reasoned engagement.
“We write to express our disappointment over your reported remark describing IIT Madras Director Professor V Kamakoti as a ‘gaumutra expert’. Whether intended as sarcasm or political rhetoric, such a characterisation raises concerns that go far beyond one individual. Professor Kamakoti is the head of one of India’s foremost scientific and technological institutions,” the letter said.
“Like every academic, he is entitled to present hypotheses, discuss traditional knowledge and participate in scientific conversations. To dismiss a scholar through a label rather than engage with the substance of his views risks undermining the very scientific temper that our Constitution calls upon every citizen to develop,” they continued.
“Scientific temper is not merely scepticism towards unconventional ideas; it is equally the willingness to examine claims objectively before accepting or rejecting them,” the academicians lectured.
Last year, Kamakoti sparked a major public and political debate after endorsing the medicinal and anti-infective properties of cow urine at a goshala (cow shelter) in Chennai.
Wayanad Lok Sabha MP Priyanka made the remarks during her speech on The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Although she did not mention any name, her remarks were clearly directed at Kamakoti.
Kamakoti, a Padma awardee, was recently named among the six-member task force on exam reforms constituted by the Centre after the NEET paper leak row.