DU includes VD Savarkar in political science syllabus for first time, to be taught before Gandhi

In the latest syllabi changes incorporated in BA political science at Delhi University during the Academic Council (AC) meeting held on Friday, the varsity included a section on Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar for the fifth semester, while readings on Mahatma Gandhi have been moved to the seventh semester, according to a statement by DU on Saturday. This is the first time Savarkar has been included in the syllabus.

“Earlier, Savarkar was not part of the syllabus, whereas Gandhi was taught in the fifth semester. Now, they have included Savarkar in the fifth semester, Ambedkar in the sixth, and Gandhi in the seventh. While we have no objection to Savarkar being introduced, he should not be taught before Gandhi and his teachings,” said Alok Ranjan Pandey, a member of Delhi University’s Academic Council (AC).

HT reported on Saturday that the reading on poet Muhammad Iqbal was removed from the BA political science syllabus. During the AC meeting on Friday, DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh said, “Those who laid the foundation to break India have no place being a part of the syllabus.”

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There was dissent on the removal of Iqbal from the syllabus, with some AC members arguing that he had contributed to India through the popular song “Sare Jahan Se Acha”. Iqbal was one of the prominent Urdu, Persian poets of the subcontinent and is considered one of the architects of the idea of Pakistan. He was also the poet laureate of Pakistan.

“The decision was not unanimous as a lot of people objected to his (Iqbal) removal. However, the arguments were made by the majority that his contribution to the Partition outweighed any other positive contribution,” a council member said, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, V-C Singh emphasised teaching more about Dr BR Ambedkar and asked the faculty members to design more courses around his ideology and thoughts.

“Iqbal wrote songs supporting the Muslim League and the Pakistan movement. Iqbal was also the first to raise the idea of the Partition of India and the establishment of Pakistan. Instead of teaching about such people, we should study our national heroes,” said Singh while presiding over the AC meeting.

“Political thoughts of Muhammad Iqbal” was a reading taught in Indian Political Thought-2 in the sixth semester.

Suggesting the AC to look at ways to teach more about Ambedkar, the V-C also advised the head of the department of economics at the Delhi School of Economics to prepare a paper on the economic thoughts of BR Ambedkar, further advising them to teach students more about the Indian economic model, the US model, and the European model in economics.

In the meeting, the syllabus for the fourth, fifth, and sixth semesters of various courses under the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) 2022, was passed. While the BA courses offered by the department of philosophy include Philosophy of Dr Ambedkar, Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, and Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, Singh asked the department to explore the possibility of including Savitribai Phule in the curriculum.

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The meeting, which began at 10.30am on Friday in the Council Hall of the University of Delhi, lasted nearly 15 hours and ended at 1:20am. Several new undergraduate courses were passed during the meeting, including a course on the University of Delhi Innovation and Startup Policy. Three new programmes of B.Tech were also approved for the 2023-24 academic session, which will include B.Tech computer science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering, and electrical engineering. The AC also approved the running of the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) course, stating this will be a four-year course.

Apart from this, it was also decided to start two new five-year LLB courses along with the centres for partition and tribal studies, during the meeting.

The AC meeting proposals will require a final stamp of approval from the university’s executive council (EC), which is scheduled to meet next on June 9.