Students who were formerly inducted in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) in Jammu have been accommodated by the J&K government in other medical colleges of the Union Territory after the National Medical Commission (NMC) revoked its recognition. The de-recognition took place in January this year. A month later the pitiable action of Galgotias University appropriating a Chinese robot dog and claiming it as its product at the AI Summit brought out the gathering crises plaguing the institutions of higher education under the Narendra Modi regime.Culture of conformity kills creativityThe crises have been intensified by targeting universities for the dissent expressed by students and by filling faculty positions with individuals aligned with the RSS worldview, which is rooted in a divisive Hindutva ideology.Galgotias University has openly declared that its engagements with teaching and research is based on Prime Minister Modi’s vision. So what standard has it set in by falsely claiming a Chinese robot as a product of its Centre of Excellence? Conformity with the vision of a political regime kills creativity in academia, which should provide a Socratic space to interrogate existing ideas and remain engaged in the exploration of new concepts and innovations.Case of faculties of Ashoka UniversityIn August 2023, personnel from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) barged into Ashoka University to question its associate professor Sabyasachi Das when he wrote an article, ‘Democratic Backsliding in India in the World’s Largest Democracy,’ arguing that there might have been manipulation of the electoral process in 2019, benefitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).BJP leaders launched a vicious attack on Das and the university decided not to stand by him. Disapproval of students and other faculty members of the stand taken by Ashoka University did not matter to its authorities, Das resigned.Similarly, another faculty member Ali Khan Mahmudabad, associate professor of Ashoka University, was arrested on alleged false and manufactured charges that his Facebook post on Operation Sindoor amounted to rebellion and sedition. He was subsequently released on bail by Supreme Court.Case of JNUTeachers and students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who question the Modi regime and powers that be have routinely faced coercive action from police and university authorities. In September 2022, JNU VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit reaffirmed the university’s commitment to the prime minister’s vision. It is reflective of Galgotias University following the same vision.Such uncritical adherence to the vision of a regime has stifled academic freedom rooted in Jawaharlal Nehru’s words, “for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth.” Those words were uttered by him in 1947 while speaking at Allahabad University, when the country was caught in the inferno of communal violence following its partition. He went on to add that “…if the temple of learning becomes a home of narrow bigotry and petty objectives, how then will the nation prosper or a people grow in stature?”“Narrow bigotry” afflicting our universities has been bane of our time devastating the Socratic space. The deplorable standard of theft of innovation would multiply in our universities if conformity with political regime’s vision become the guiding spirit. It is, therefore, critical to salvage the space of institutions of higher education to achieve and pursue academic excellence and innovation.S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan.