Delhi AI Summit Embarrassment Reflects Structural Governance Failure

Adv. Sardar DS Bindra, National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India, has strongly condemned the layers of embarrassment and mismanagement that marked the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, with particular concern over the controversy involving Galgotias University. The institution, once publicly honoured by Narendra Modi in 2014 for academic standing and global linkages, now stands exposed for presenting a commercially available Chinese robotic dog as an indigenous innovation of its Centre of Excellence. The episode, which led to official intervention and the university being asked to vacate its exhibition space following widespread public criticism, reflects a troubling culture of spectacle, inflated claims, and weak accountability in events meant to showcase India’s technological capability.

These concerns were compounded by serious organisational failures, including hours long queues in extreme heat, cash only payments at a flagship Digital India event, absence of WiFi connectivity, repeated registration system failures that denied entry to pre registered participants from more than twenty seven countries, and security restrictions that locked exhibitors out of stalls and reportedly resulted in product losses. Together, these lapses have turned a national technology summit into a symbol of deeper structural governance failure that weakens public confidence and diminishes India’s global credibility in artificial intelligence.

Adv. DS Bindra emphasised that such performative exercises disregard the dignity of innovators, students, and citizens while allowing misinformation and imported technology to be projected as domestic achievement. He called for immediate and comprehensive reforms, including transparent vetting of exhibitors, meaningful institutional support for genuine innovation ecosystems, and governance practices rooted in sincerity rather than optics, so that India’s true potential in artificial intelligence may advance with integrity and inclusion.