The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and a member of the Delhi University’s Academic Council on Tuesday alleged that there was “anti-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh” content in the syllabus for undergraduate courses, PTI reported. The ABVP is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
An academic council meeting on the syllabi of undergraduate courses at the Delhi University was convened on Tuesday. Professor Rasal Singh, a member of the academic council and the RSS-backed National Democratic Teachers’ Front, alleged that a story introduced in the English syllabus portrayed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its ideology in a poor manner.
Singh claimed that the story Maniben alias Bibijan, based on the Gujarat riots, showed characters from the Bajrang Dal and the RSS in a “bad light” and as “murderers”, The Indian Express reported. He also objected to the inclusion of the Muzaffarnagar riots and lynchings in the syllabus and claimed that it showed some Indian gods as members of the LGBT community.
Instead of papers like “Indian Writing in English”, “objectionable papers” such as “Literature and Caste” and “Interrogating Queerness” were introduced, Singh said. “There is an attempt to take the syllabus towards the Leftist ideology,” Singh claimed. “All these materials are anti-RSS and against nationalism. The head of the English department should resign.”
Singh claimed that there was also a proposal to include the study of Maoism under the Social Movements course in Political Science courses. In the syllabus for History, the National Democratic Teachers’ Front opposed a proposal to teach Naxalism and Communism.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad staged a protest in front of the vice chancellor’s office while an Academic Council meeting was underway against the inclusion of “objectionable and unilateral material” in the undergraduate syllabus, The Hindu reported.
Unidentified officials at the university said the Academic Council passed the syllabus for English, History, Political Science and Sociology departments, but referred it back to the respective departments for revision after protests by ABVP and members of the Academic Council.
Saikat Ghosh, another member of the Academic Council, claimed there was “pandemonium because of sloganeering by ABVP outside and NDTF inside”. “In this commotion, English and History [departments] were told their syllabus would require major modifications and were referred back, whereas Political Science and Sociology were passed with minor modifications,” Ghosh said.
Unidentified Academic Council members claimed that ABVP members tried to barge into the vice chancellor’s office and allegedly surrounded the vice chancellor lodge demanding that the heads of the History and English departments and Ghosh be handed over to them. The ABVP, however, claimed it was a peaceful protest.
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