New Delhi, Jul 16: The ABVP and a member of the Delhi University's academic council Tuesday alleged that there were "anti-RSS" topics in the varsity's syllabus.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the BJP's youth wing, gheraoed the Vice Regal Lodge at the university's complex, protesting against "objectionable material on the RSS" in the DU syllabus. .
During a meeting on the syllabus of under-graduate courses at the DU campus, Professor Rasal Singh, a member of the academic council, objected to an update to the english syllabus, which, he alleged, portrayed the RSS 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.
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 protest by Singh and the ABVP, the syllabus of four departments english, history, political science and sociology was referred back for revision.
The ABVP gheraoed the ViceRegal Lodge where the meeting was taking place, the sources said.
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 said.
"While all other syllabi were approved without discussion, the English and History syllabi were stalled by members affiliated to the BJP/RSS teachers' group.
"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, said.
However, the ABVP denied the allegations and said they were peacefully protesting 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.
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Barabanki (UP) (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday asserted that the day of 'Qayamat' (doomsday) will never come and hence the Babri Masjid will never be rebuilt.
Speaking at an event in Barabanki, the district neighbouring Ayodhya, Adityanath said, "We had said that 'Ram Lalla, hum aayenge, mandir wahi banaayenge' (Child Ram, we will come and build the temple right there). Has the temple been built? Is there any doubt?"
The audience replied by chanting "Jai Shri Ram".
"The day of 'Qayamat' (doomsday) will never come and hence the Babri structure will never be rebuilt. Those who are dreaming of the day of 'Qayamat' will rot away, that day will never come," he said.
Adityanath was taking part in religious rituals organised at Ram Janaki Temple in Dulhadepur Kuti, Barabanki, in the memory of late Mahant Baba Harishankar Das Maharaj, according to a statement from the Uttar Pradesh government.
Two weeks ago, Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir -- who was earlier suspended from Trinamool Congress for his announcement that a replica of Babri Masjid will be built in West Bengal's Murshidabad district -- had declared that the construction of Babri 2.0 will begin at noon on February 11. Following this, a Hindutva fringe group had called on the people of Uttar Pradesh to march to Murshidabad.
The fractious Babri Masjid issue dates back to more than a century.
A Supreme Court verdict had settled the issue on November 9, 2019, by backing the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruling that an alternative five-acre plot to be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town.
Hindus had been contending that Babri Masjid -- a three-domed mosque built by or at the behest of Moghul emperor Babur -- was erected by the invading Muslim armies after razing an existing Ram temple.
It turned into a legal dispute in 1885 when a mahant went to court seeking permission to build a canopy outside the mosque. The plea was dismissed. In December 1949, unidentified miscreants spirited a Lord Ram idol into the mosque. The structure was destroyed by a large mob of kar sevaks on December 6, 1992.
Speaking in Barabanki, Adityanath said that after 500 years, the "glorious moment" of Ram temple construction took place in Ayodhya.
"In these 500 years, many kings and emperors have come, many governments have come. India gained Independence in 1947 and after the first elections in 1952, governments were formed. But why didn't the idea of building a temple for Lord Ram at his birthplace ever occur to them?" he asked.
Taking a jibe at opposition parties, he said there is no place for Ramdrohis, or traitors of Lord Ram, anywhere.
"Some people adopt an opportunistic attitude. They remember Ram when a crisis strikes and forget him later. So, Lord Ram has also forgotten them now. There is no place for Ramdrohis anywhere," he said.
Intensifying his attack, Adityanath said, "We want to tell those who were firing on Ram devotees, obstructing Ram's work, and those who are still dreaming of the Babri structure: the day of doom will never come. Don't live for the doomsday, learn to live according to the rules in India."
If someone breaks the law, the chief minister said, the path only leads to hell, not heaven.
He added that every Indian must work with a positive mindset for the vision of 'Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat' (One India, Better India).
"Every saint's spiritual practice is for his country. His 'dharma' (moral duty) is also dedicated to the country. Both complements each other. One is the body and the other is the soul, the two cannot be kept apart," Adityanath said.
He said India cannot be separated from Sanatan Dharma.
"That is why you see that Sanatan Dharma, India and Indianness are being attacked from all over the world. We must be vigilant against attacks from within and outside. Because those who don't like India's progress, those who cannot digest the resolve of Viksit Bharat, are engaged in a conspiracy," Adityanath said.
He said people must brace themselves to stop three types of evil mindsets -- "the one that is conspiring, the one falling prey to this conspiracy, and the one selling themselves out and working for that conspiracy".
