Bihar Governor and JP University Chancellor Phagu Chauhan met officials Thursday
Days after Bihar's Jai Prakash University revised its political science syllabus - lessons on social and political activists 'Lok Nayak' Jai Prakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia were removed, and those on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay and others included - the institution has back-tracked.
The scrapped chapters will be there in the new academic session, a statement from the office of Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan, who by virtue of holding that post, is also the university's Chancellor, said.
The decision to re-include texts on JP Narayan (after whom the institution is named) and Ram Manohar Lohia was taken during a meeting with the university Vice Chancellor on Thursday.
The scrapping of these texts had provoked a furious response from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had hit out at "improper... uncalled for" changes and demanded immediate corrective steps.
He was also quoted as warning other universities to consult education officials before making syllabus changes, and said that in public interest no such steps would be allowed in the future.
The Chief Minister also hit out at the changes, saying "tradition was not followed" and said his government could not accept a syllabus that is "against public mood".
Both Nitish Kumar and RJD veteran Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was Chief Minister when JP University was established, hold the teachings of JP Narayan close to their hearts.
Lalu Prasad had earlier tweeted that a "RSS-backed Bihar government and RSS mindset (had) removed thoughts of great socialist leaders".
Last week Vice Chancellor Faruque Ali and officials of the university, which is in Bihar's Chhapra district, were summoned to Patna to explain why a university named after Jayaprakash Narayan had scrapped scrapped lessons on his popular movement, as well as that of Ram Manohar Lohia.
Faruque Ali had said the syllabus had been approved by the previous governor (Lalji Tandon, who served August 2018 to July 2019) and that its implementation had been halted because of delays.
"Whatever syllabus was approved... that has now been implemented," he said.
The issue had snowballed into a major controversy, with the opposition RJD alleging a 'hidden agenda' by the RSS and the BJP-JDU government in power.
"We have no issue with a chapter on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay... but how can you remove from the chapter on 'Lok Nayak' Jayaprakash Narayan?" Jagdanand Singh, the party's President, asked.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had accused Nitish Kumar, whose JDU is allied with the BJP in ruling the state, of being a "puppet" in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party.
"Nitish Kumar has transformed himself into the RSS-BJP mould. He is just a puppet Chief Minister in the hands of the Prime Minister and the BJP. He cannot be 'PM material' at all," Mr Singh was quoted by news agency PTI.
Mr Singh was referring to comments last month by the JDU that Nitish Kumar had all the qualities to become the Prime Minister, but was not in the race for the post.
With input from PTI