In the midst of IIT Kharagpur’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, Gautam Adani delivered a powerful speech redefining the battleground of the 21st century. Gone are the trenches and tanks today, wars are waged in server farms, code libraries, and data centers. “The weapons are algorithms, not guns; the armies are botnets, not battalions,” he proclaimed.
Adani called upon students and professors to view themselves as modern freedom fighters, armed not with guns but with ideas, innovation, and software. Their mission: to ensure India leads not lags in global technological leadership. He argued that cost advantages are rapidly disappearing in an AI-dominated world, making abundance of bold ideas, rapid adaptation, and relentless reinvention the new path to strategic power.
He emphasized that elite institutions must transform from producing brilliant graduates to forging brilliant patriots with the discipline, imagination, and courage required to reshape industries. With the lifespan of technical knowledge shrinking from years to mere months, classrooms must pivot toward real-world innovation and impact. Only then can India remain “unshakable” in the face of global competition and technological disruption.
