In the narrow, crowded lanes of Dharavi – both before and after the Maharashtra elections – Rahul Gandhi framed his visits as a fight for the soul of India. Declaring the battle over Adani’s controversial redevelopment plan as one between crony capitalism and social justice, he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being the force behind the acquisition of vast tracts of land to benefit corporate players at the expense of the poor. He assured the people of Dharavi that Congress is on the side of the poor.
But a troubling contradiction is playing out in Hyderabad. The Congress-led government in Telangana through its Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure corporation (TGIIC) is facilitating the auction of 400 acres of land that belongs to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) – including the iconic Mushroom Rock site – to private bidders. This is not a fringe parcel next to the university; it is land that forms part of UoH’s notified campus. Its auction is more than a bureaucratic transaction – it is a direct assault on one of India’s premier public universities and what it stands for.
After the Supreme Court stepped in, the Congress government in Telangana formed a panel to speak to all stakeholders and resolve the issue. AICC in-charge for Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan also arrived in Hyderabad on the weekend to speak to the panel. Rahul Gandhi, however, is yet to break his silence.
Public universities are engines of equity
India’s public universities were never meant to be commercial ventures. They are democratic spaces where generations of Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, first-generation learners, and women have found not just education, but a voice. Institutions like UoH have played a dual role – contributing to nation-building while also serving as critical spaces of resistance and reflection. These campuses nurture dissent, equip students from the margins to challenge dominant norms of power with counter hegemonic narratives.
Privatising these spaces – whether through self-financing courses, fee hikes, corporate partnerships, or selling land – threatens their very purpose. It shrinks physical and intellectual space. It makes education less accessible and less inclusive . And it compromises academic freedom. Faculty become cautious, student activism is curbed, and the university drifts from its social mission toward a market logic. What were once autonomous zones of critical inquiry have been increasingly becoming the extensions of state and corporate surveillance.
The cost of selling public space
The Telangana government’s move to auction UoH land epitomises this creeping commodification. It disregards the university’s ecosystem – its biodiversity, its need for expansion, and its democratic character. Notably, no one expected a sale deed, mutation, or registration process, as the land was originally allocated for a public university during a critical juncture in Andhra Pradesh’s political history – between the Jai Andhra and Jai Telangana movements. It is interesting to note that it was the Congress government which allotted this 2,300 acres of land under survey number 25 for academic and research purposes.
In contrast, leading global institutions recognise the importance of having expansive campuses. Cambridge University, where Rahul Gandhi himself studied, spans over 3,500 acres. Harvard University in the US where he discontinued his education due to security reasons is even larger. These campuses are not luxurious indulgences – they are essential spaces for collaboration, inquiry, and innovation. Why, then, are Indian public universities like UoH being forced to function in constricted, contested terrain?
Democracy’s conscience keepers
The University of Hyderabad is not just a place of learning – it is a space with a conscience. In 2016, it became a national symbol of caste resistance following the institutional murder of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula. The student-led protests that followed demanded justice, ignited public debate, and reshaped discourse around caste discrimination. Rahul Gandhi himself visited the campus twice to stand with the students and he endorsed the idea that university is a knowledge and to impose any idea on them to accept cause tremendous pain. The decision of his party in Telangana to impose corporate ideas disrupts their vision of a free and inclusive campus.
Again, in 2019-2020, when the Congress party was electorally marginalised and the BJP government rammed through draconian legislations such as the Citizenship Amendment Act, UoH was one of the very few universities that openly resisted. Whereas most of civil society was subdued, UoH students held protests, marches, candlelight vigils, and public readings of the Constitution. Despite the police detentions, they continued in holding on to India's pluralistic values and constitutional spirit. These moments remind us why public universities are important. They are usually among the first to sound the alarm when democratic values are under threat. To privatise them is not just to sell off real estate – it is to undermine one of the few remaining places where dissent, debate, and democratic participation are still vibrant in Indian public life.
Congress and the politics of convenience
The contradiction unfolding in Telangana is not an exception – it reflects a pattern in the Congress party’s political conduct. When in power, Congress often makes compromises that it later criticises or apologises when out of power. During the Mandal Commission movement, the party adopted a cautious, non-committal position. Today, it vocally supports a caste census and claims to stand with OBCs. It was Congress that drafted and expanded the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – and now, out of power, it brands the same law as draconian.
This pattern – of making policy errors in power and seeking moral redemption in opposition – undermines the party’s credibility. People, especially the youth and marginalised communities, are asking: is the Congress party truly committed to justice, or is it merely flexible with its convictions depending on whether it holds power?
Why Rahul Gandhi must act
Rahul Gandhi has experienced the vibrant atmosphere of UoH and has listened to the voices of students who lack the social and cultural capital he inherited. He has observed the remarkable impact that a public university can have on individuals striving to break free from the societal vicious cycle. If he genuinely values the role of public institutions in fostering equity, the moment for decisive action is now. It’s time for more than just rhetoric; it requires tangible intervention.
He must urge the Telangana government to pause the land auction. Failing to do so would reveal the dangerous hypocrisy of the Congress party’s statements in the Dharavi episode and its actions in Hyderabad. This isn’t merely an issue of policy; it’s about staying true to the ideals of justice and accessibility that should underpin our public institutions.
This is not just a battle for the territorial dispute of the university. It is a battle for the soul of public education. The Congress must decide whether it stands for social justice or whether it will continue to quietly enable neoliberal policies that undermine our public institutions.
Public universities such as UoH are the Dharavis of our education system – fragile but indispensable shelters where the oppressed construct futures against the odds.
The Congress can either go down its history of political opportunism or break the pattern. If it does the latter, not only will it redeem its rhetoric but also reinforce its role in the struggle for a more democratic and equal India where the vision of the founders of this republic envisioned.
The writer is a Hyderabad-based independent researcher.
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