SRINAGAR: The University of Jammu's proposal to remove topics on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Iqbal from some postgraduate programmes has evoked criticism from the ruling National Conference party, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Minister Javed Rana.
According to the Head of Department (HoD) of Political Science, University of Jammu, a Faculty/Departmental Affairs Committee (DAC) meeting was held on March 22 in the HoD's office to deliberate upon certain issues concerning the syllabi of the one-year and two-year MA Programmes in Political Science as per the guidelines of NEP-2020.
"After a thorough consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to recommend the removal of topics concerning Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Syed Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Iqbal from the course content of PIPSTC 102 of the one-year Postgraduate programme and course content of P2PSTC 302 of the two-year Postgraduate programme in Political Science to the Board of Studies for its consideration," the HoD said.
The Jammu University's move to recommend the removal of topics on Jinnah, Sir Syed and Iqbal came after protests by students linked to ABVP.
Students with ABVP links staged a protest on Friday and demanded the removal of the chapter from the course, claiming that the figures linked with partition and the two-nation theory were inadmissible to students.
After recommendations of removal of topics on Jinnah, Iqbal, and Sir Syed, Jammu University Vice Chancellor has constituted a six-member committee to examine the matter and submit the report at the earliest.
Meanwhile, J&K Jal Shakti Minister Javed Rana criticised the Jammu University move.
"The recommendation by Jammu University’s Political Science Department to purge Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan from the curriculum is a laughable, anti-scholarly act of intellectual vandalism," Rana said in a post on X.
He said that by erasing these foundational figures of political thought, JU is transitioning from a site of critical pedagogy into a propaganda apparatus for RSS supremacism. "This is a deliberate attempt to manufacture ideological bigots rather than nurturing inquisitive citizens."
"JU must stop acting as a laboratory for historical revisionism. It should instead leverage its Academic Autonomy to promote a culture of dialectic enquiry and intellectual pluralism, making students restless and inquisitive rather than mere docile propagandists," the minister said.
NC leader and MLA Tanvir Sadiq said the university's move reeks of pressure, not principle.
"A syllabus change triggered by protests, targeting thinkers under a paper titled “Minorities and the Nation,” and justified in the name of NEP 2020, this isn’t academic reform, it’s capitulation," he said. "Education is not endorsement, history should not be distorted."
"In today’s world, where information is a click away, such attempts to curate 'acceptable history' are not just ill-thought, they are futile and dangerous. You don’t strengthen national integrity by erasing debate. You weaken it!," Sadiq added.
PDP youth president Aditya Gupta said the University of Jammu has formed a committee to review the Political Science syllabus on Jinnah without a single Political Science teacher in it.
"How can a syllabus be decided by those with no expertise in it. This is not reform, this is academic absurdity. From Jammu University’s Law School being headed by a Political Science teacher to decisions on political science syllabus by a Physics professor, is a 'khichdi' system which is failing students and growth of Jammu on academic levels," he said.