The final decision on the committee’s recommendation will have to be taken by the Academic Council, which will hold its meeting before November 15. (File)
Members of Delhi University’s Academic Council wrote to the Vice-Chancellor Friday, condemning the recommendation by the Standing Committee on academic matters to remove three books by Dalit writer-activist Kancha Ilaiah from its political science syllabus for post-graduate students. The books had been termed “anti-Hindu” and the committee had also urged that the use of the word ‘Dalit’ in academic discourse be replace with ‘Bahujan.’
The final decision on the committee’s recommendation will have to be taken by the Academic Council, which will hold its meeting before November 15.
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In the letter, the members said that by calling Ilaiah’s work “anti-Hindu”, they are conflating his critiques with abuse of faith, a criminal offence, which they state is the committee “overreaching itself”. It also stated that the remarks are defamatory.