India's Second Freedom Struggle Needs Brilliant Patriots, Not Just Briliant Graduates: Gautam Adani

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, while addressing the Platinum Jubilee session of IIT Kharagpur on Monday, called on some of India's brightest engineers to think of themselves as "new freedom fighters".

The country is in the midst of a "second freedom struggle", and this time, its is for technological self-reliance, he stated, urging professors and students to align their ambitions with the rise of a $25-trillion Indian economy by 2050. "Your innovation, your software code, and your ideas are today's weapons. You will decide whether India takes command of its destiny or surrenders it to others."

Drawing a parallel between the Hijli jail at Kharagpur where young revolutionaries once fought for Independence and the challenges of the 21st century, Adani said India's vulnerabilities in semiconductors, energy and defence meant true freedom was still incomplete.

"We import 90% of our chips, 85% of our oil, and even many of our critical defence systems. One sanction, one disruption, and our growth could be frozen," he warned.

Adani stressed that the battles ahead would be fought in "server farms, not trenches" and that nations that controlled intellectual property would control the future. "Tomorrow's trillion-dollar disruptors will bend others to their will. Companies will become more powerful than many nations. Several educational institutions that fail to adapt will also disappear," he said.

The industrialist also turned the spotlight on academia and industry. While India's IITs and research institutions had laid the foundation for breakthroughs like Chandrayaan, UPI and Aadhaar, he admitted corporates had not done enough to carry the "innovation burden." To that end, Adani announced an Adani–IIT Platinum Jubilee Change Makers Fellowship to channel top talent into projects in renewable energy, logistics and smart mobility.

He set forth the initiative of "living laboratories" that could see IIT Kharagpur students co-develop AI-driven solutions for grid management, cargo movement and airport operations.

Interweaving his own entrepreneurial journey from leaving home at 16 for Mumbai to building India's largest private infrastructure group, Adani told students their generation faced a choice between "a train to a safe salary" and "a train to a lasting legacy." Adani further outlined four principles for a "greater Bharat": treating ideas as weapons in a new freedom struggle, building first for Bharat, fortifying national foundations in technology and infrastructure, and marching as one with academia, government and industry.