Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh speaking at an event. (Image Source: PTI)
Credited with giving birth to the idea of Pakistan, Iqbal is believed to have “laid the foundation to break India.”
New Delhi: Days after the Academic Council of Delhi University passed a motion to remove a chapter on Pakistan’s national poet Muhammad Iqbal from the political science syllabus, the varsity’s vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh said he did not know as to why he was part of the syllabus for 75 years.
Speaking to YEARS on the issue, Singh said although Iqbal created popular song ‘Sare Jahan Se Acha’, the poet never believed in it. Credited with giving birth to the idea of Pakistan, Iqbal is believed to have “laid the foundation to break India.”
#WATCH | DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh speaks on the removal of chapter on Muhammad Iqbal and the addition of chapter on Indian revolutionary Veer Savarkar in Political Science syllabus, says, “I don’t know why we were teaching his (Muhammad Iqbal’s) part in the syllabus for… pic.twitter.com/f24CfKVbI8
— ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2023
The chapter from which the Academic Council of DU decided to remove a unit on Iqbal is titled “Modern Indian Political Thought” and it is a part of BA’s sixth-semester paper.
Other thinkers that are part of the BA’s syllabus include Mahatma Gandhi, Rammohan Roy, Pandita Ramabai, Swami Vivekananda and Bhimrao Ambedkar.
The course designed for students of BA is aimed at giving students a glimpse into diversity within the Indian political thought. It also aims to help students develop a critical understanding of modern Indian thought.
According to a report by The Indian Expressthe proposal to remove the chapter on Iqbal was put forward by the DU vice-chancellor who insisted on teaching about national heroes to students. It reported quoting a press release by the university.
This is not the first the removal of a chapter from any academic course has hit the headlines. Recently, a decision by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to drop lessons on Gujarat riots and Mughal courts, among others, received flak from several sections of the society. The NCERT removed the above-mentioned lessons as part of its “syllabus rationalisation” exercise.
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