‘Objectionable Content on RSS in DU Syllabus’: ABVP Stages Protest

“There is an attempt to take the syllabus towards the Leftist ideology,” an academic council member claimed.

Faculty of Arts building in the North Campus of Delhi University.

(Photo Courtesy: University of Delhi)

The ABVP and a member of the Delhi University's academic council on Tuesday, 16 July, alleged that there were "anti-RSS" topics in the varsity's syllabus.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS’ student wing, gheraoed the Vice Regal Lodge at the university's complex, protesting against "objectionable material on the RSS" in the DU syllabus.

During a meeting on the syllabus of undergraduate courses at the DU campus, Professor Rasal Singh, a member of the academic council, objected to an update to the English syllabus, which, he alleged, portrayed the RSS and its ideology in "bad light".

Maniben alias Bibijaan by Shilpa Paralkar on the 2002 Gujarat riots, and papers like Literature in Caste and Interrogating Queerness depict a wrong picture of the RSS and Indian culture, he claimed.

‘Attempt to Take Syllabus Towards Leftist Ideology’

Singh also said in Political Science, under the social movement course, there was a proposal to include the study of Maoism, while in History, there was an attempt to include history of Naxalism and the Left.

“There is an attempt to take the syllabus towards the Leftist ideology. All these materials are anti-RSS and against nationalism. The head of the English department should resign.”

Rasal Singh

Sources said the academic council had passed the syllabus but following protest by Singh and the ABVP,  the syllabus of four departments – English, History, Political Science and Sociology – was referred back for revision.

The ABVP gheraoed the Vice Regal Lodge where the meeting was taking place, the sources said. A professor, privy to the development, claimed that ABVP members tried to barge into the vice chancellor's office.

They surrounded the VC's office and were shouting slogans and demanding that the heads of departments of History and English, along with an academic council member Saikat Ghosh, be handed over to them, he said.

"While all other syllabi were approved without discussion, the English and History syllabi were stalled by members affiliated to the BJP/RSS teachers' group. When Saikat Ghosh spoke in the academic council meeting in defence of the English syllabus, immediately after that, the ABVP tried to enter the Council Hall," the professor, who didn't wish to be named, said.

However, ABVP has denied the allegations and said they were peacefully protesting outside the meeting venue.

Meanwhile, some members of the academic council passed a resolution demanding the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, alleging he had been delaying academic council meetings and stalling discussion on various important issues like promotions and making ad-hoc teachers permanent.