Poet Muhammad Iqbal, who wrote ‘Saare Jahan Se Achha’, dropped from DU political science syllabus
NEW DELHI,MAY 27 : Delhi University’s Academic Council has passed a motion to remove a chapter on Pakistan’s national poet Muhammad Iqbal from the political science syllabus. Muhammad Iqbal wrote the famous patriotic song “Saare Jahan Se Achha”.
Often credited with giving birth to the idea of Pakistan, Muhammad Allama Iqbal was born in 1877 in undivided India. Officials said that the chapter titled ‘Modern Indian Political Thought’ was a part of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) sixth-semester paper.
The decision was taken during the discussion on the undergraduate course in the 1014th Academic Council meeting of University of Delhi. Vice Chancellor Professor Yogesh Singh said “those who laid the foundation to break India should not be in the syllabus”.
The Vice Chancellor’s proposal was unanimously passed by the House. In the meeting, the resolution for the syllabus of the fourth, fifth and sixth semesters of various courses under the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) 2022 was passed. On this occasion, the Vice Chancellor also emphasised teaching Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and others.
“A motion was brought regarding a change in the syllabus of political science. As per the motion, there was a chapter on Iqbal that has been removed from the syllabus,” said an academic council member.
This was a suggestion from the standing committee that has been approved by the academic council by the Delhi University VC.
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The council also approved proposals to set up new centres for Partition Studies, Hindu Studies, and Tribal Studies. However, five council members opposed the proposal on Partition Studies and said it was “divisive”.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), meanwhile, welcomed the development, saying “fanatic theological scholar” Iqbal was responsible for India’s partition.
“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,” the ABVP said in a statement.
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“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,” it added.
NCERT DROPS MUGHALS, DARWIN’S THEORY FROM SYLLABUS
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in April revised its textbooks, including the Class 12 History book in which chapters related to the Mughal empire were removed. A more detailed scrutiny of all the history books published by the NCERT, both older and newer versions, from Classes 7-12 revealed that much of Mughal history has been deleted as per the rationalised syllabus 2023-24.
According to a document released by NCERT on the list of rationalised content in textbooks for class X, Chapter: 9 ‘Heredity and Evolution’ has been replaced with ‘Heredity’. Among the list of dropped chapters are Charles Robert Darwin, Origin of life on Earth, Molecular Phylogeny, Evolution, Tracing Evolutionary Relationships and Human Evolution, among others.
More than 1,800 scientists, teachers, educators, and science enthusiasts from across India signed an open letter to NCERT condemning the removal of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution from the science textbooks for Classes 9 and 10.
-The India Today
