The University of Delhi’s curriculum will now include Veer Savarkar’s contribution and philosophy in the university’s political science course. The DU’s administration stated that Savarkar’s inclusion in the course was to foster critical thinking and encourage students to engage with different political ideologies.
The DU administration said that it intends to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Indian political thought, with the inclusion of Veer Savarkar. The updated syllabus will be implement from the next academic year.
It is pertinent to note that Congress’s student wing, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), staged a protest outside DU Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh’s office over Savarkar’s inclusion in the political science course on May 31.
“Earlier, the department had proposed that the elective on Savarkar would be offered in the fifth semester, Ambedkar in the sixth, and Gandhi in the seventh semester. When an AC member objected to this order, we have decided today that all three electives would be offered together in the three semesters, and students can decide when they want to opt for which thinker,” Sangit Kumar Ragi, head of the political science department said in an interview.
While elaborating on the new course on Savarkar, he further said, “At the undergraduate level, we have been teaching Savarkar along with Ambedkar and Gandhi. Initially, Savarkar was covered as one unit among modern Indian political thinkers. We also had separate papers on Gandhi and Ambedkar. Consequently, we now have a dedicated paper on Savarkar where we will explore his ideas, including his sense of history and his concept of Hindutva.”
The National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF) has welcomed the University of Delhi’s Academic Council’s decision to include Veer Savarkar’s contribution and philosophy in the university’s political science curriculum. The NDTF said, “We firmly believe that this updated curriculum will offer a more comprehensive and inclusive educational experience, encouraging critical thinking, intellectual discourse, and a deeper understanding of the diverse perspectives that shape India.”
The NDTF further said that it is unfortunate that universities were intentionally suppressing Savarkar’s ideas and contributions till now. The NDTF said, “By studying Savarkar’s political ideologies, students will gain insight into the factors that shaped India’s nationalist movement and its subsequent trajectory.”
“Whether intentionally or unintentionally, history and political science books in post-Independent India and their writers have never tried to put all the historical facts in front of the readers as they were,” the NDTF added. “India’s post-independent scholarship in history and political science has never allowed readers to appreciate diverse palimpsests of the evolution of the Indian subcontinent and make their own judgment about any political and historical events. It appears as if post-independent academics in these two areas from India, driven by their self-interest or manipulated by external actors, wanted to blindfold the generations to come with their own views, apprehensions and twisted sense of secularism. As a result, grave injustice has been done to many historical personalities who laid down their life for this country to help India break free from the clutches of British imperialism,” the NDTF further said.
DU Justifies Decision to Drop Chapter on Muhammad Iqbal
The DU administration justified its decision to drop the unit on Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan’s national poet Muhammad Iqbal, claiming that he ‘laid the foundation to break India.’ It is pertinent to note that Iqbal is credited with giving birth to the idea of a separate Muslim nation. It was reported that DU’s Vice Chancellor put forth the proposal to axe unit on Iqbal. He said, “Instead of teaching such individuals, we should study our national heroes.”
Furthermore, DU students and ABVP members have welcomes the decision to scrap chapters on Iqbal. ABVP said in its statement, “Delhi University academic council decided to scrap fanatic theological scholar Mohd Iqbal from DU’s political science syllabus. It was previously included in BA’s sixth-semester paper titled ‘Modern Indian political thought.’”
“Mohammad Iqbal is called the ‘philosophical father of Pakistan’. He was the key player in establishing Jinnah as a leader in Muslim League. Mohammad Iqbal is as responsible for India’s partition as Mohammad Ali Jinnah is,” the ABVP added.
It is pertinent to note that Mohammad Iqbal demanded for a separate homeland for the Indian Muslims, during his Allahabad Address at the annual session of the All-India Muslim League in 1930. It was the Iqbal who had convinced Muhammad Ali Jinnah to lead the Muslims when he had gone into self-imposed exile in London Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In one of his letters to Jinnah, he wrote: “I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won’t mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India and, perhaps, to the whole of India.”
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