Opposition targets govt over Chinese robot row, slams IT Minister

New Delhi: The opposition leaders on Wednesday said the display of a commercially available Chinese robot as an in-house innovation by an Indian university at the AI Summit was "shameful" and slammed IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for sharing the image on a social media platform.

They also questioned the links between the university and BJP leaders.

In an X post, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas alleged that the Galgotias University, a private university located in Delhi's satellite town Greater Noida, enjoyed the "patronage and support of prominent BJP leaders".


"Galgotias University has enjoyed the patronage and support of prominent BJP leaders, with Dr Sambit Patra to Union Minister Piyush Goyal having graced various university programmes. It is no surprise that the institution frequently emphasizes the 'Viksit Bharat' slogan," Brittas said.

"This close association was evident when the university blatantly showcased a commercially available Chinese robotic dog as an in-house invention, branding it as 'Orion' at the AI Summit, which was promoted in a tweet by none other than the IT minister! Whether ousted from the event or not, Galgotias University is set to remain firmly in the BJP's orbit," he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi called the event a "shame" and said the damage it has caused is huge.

"Galgotias University passing off Chinese robot as own invention at the AI Summit is a shame. Chinese media having a field day over it makes it worse. All this could have been avoided if before allotting the pavilions a thorough credibility check was done of companies, universities, start-ups and others," Chaturvedi said.

"The damage this has caused for India and the Summit is big. Asking the university to vacate their pavilion was a good step, I feel some strict penalty must also be imposed on them," she said.

Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale questioned IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's silence over the issue, and questioned if he had any information about it.

"A private university called Galgotias tried to pass off a Go2 Chinese robot as their own invention at the India AI Summit. But here's the real shameful part: Government-run DD News did an entire feature promoting them. Today, DD News and BJP are the same. The channel runs as a propaganda outlet for the BJP," Gokhale said.

"Both the Ministry for Information Technology, which organised the AI Summit, and the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting, which controls DD News, are headed by the same minister. Was this fraud perpetrated with the full knowledge of Modi's minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for cheap PR?" Gokhale asked.

"Did the BJP receive anything in return from this private university for being given a platform at the summit by a government channel? This incident has become a global embarrassment. Is the purpose of the India AI Summit merely to promote Modi even through fraudulent means?" the TMC leader asked.

"Why has there been pin drop silence from Ashwini Vaishnaw and the government on this shameful incident?" he asked.

Galgotias University has been asked to vacate its pavilion at the AI Summit at Bharat Mandapam after it emerged that they have displayed a made-in-China robot as own innovation.

Neha Singh, a professor of communications at the university, was featured showcasing the robotic dog 'Orion' in DD News on Tuesday. She said it "has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University."

As the video went viral, social media users highlighted that the robot was actually a Unitree Go2, manufactured by China's Unitree Robotics and commonly used in research and education worldwide.

After the incident snowballed into a controversy, IT Secretary S Krishnan said the government does not want any exhibitor to showcase items that are not their own.