"Anti-RSS" Content In Delhi University Syllabus: BJP-Linked Student Body

The BJP-linked student body ABVP or Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and a member of the Delhi University's academic council have alleged that there were "anti-RSS" topics in the university's syllabus.

ABVP, the student wing of the RSS, surrounded the Vice Regal Lodge at the university complex, protesting against "objectionable material on the RSS" in the DU syllabus.

During a meeting on the syllabus of under-graduate courses at the Delhi University campus, Professor Rasal Singh, a member of the academic council, objected to an update to the English syllabus, which, he alleged, portrayed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 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.

Mr 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," he said.

Sources said the academic council had passed the syllabus but following the protest by Mr Singh and the ABVP, the syllabus of four departments - English, history, political science, and sociology - were referred back for scrutiny and revision.

The ABVP protested at the Vice Regal Lodge where the meeting was taking place, sources told news agency Press Trust of India.

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 alleged.

"While all other syllabi were approved without discussion, the English and History syllabi were stalled by members affiliated to the BJP/RSS teachers' group," he claimed.

"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, alleged.

The ABVP however, denied the allegations and said that they were protesting peacefully, 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, making ad-hoc teachers permanent.