Dalit academic and activist Kancha Ilaiah (Express Archive)
Several organisations on Thursday criticised the decision of Delhi University’s Standing Committee on Academic Affairs to remove three books by Dalit academic and activist Kancha Ilaiah from its political science syllabus for post-graduate students. The committee had alleged that the books were “insulting to Hinduism”. The final decision will be taken by DU’s Academic Council (AC), which will hold its meeting before November 15.
Nachiketa Singh, a member of the committee as well as of the Academics for Action & Development, said, “… I feel the contents of the books in question by Kancha Ilaiah, Shepherd and Nandini Sundar should be brought before the Standing Committee again and AC subsequently to be restored therein.”
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The All India Students’ Association’s (AISA’s) DU president Kawalpreet Kaur said: “Any Dalit assertion which challenges the Hindu establishment is seen as not worthy of being taught to upcoming generations in today’s India. University must be a place where opposing ideas are debated, discussed and challenged.”
“The Standing Committee has no domain expertise or right to remove books from a syllabus… It can seek clarification from the Political Science department about the academic value of Kancha Ilaiah’s books, but it cannot, on its own decide, the merits or demerits of teaching his books… It is unfortunate that DU officials are readily bowing down before the bullying tactics adopted by the RSS-affiliated teachers,” said Saikat Ghosh, AC member and member of the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF).