University in occupied Kashmir recommends dropping Jinnah, Muslim thinkers from syllabus after student protests

A panel at the University of Jammu in India-occupied Kashmir has recommended removing topics related to Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, and Muslim educationist and reformer Syed Ahmad Khan from its MA Political Science syllabus, Indian news website Scroll reported on Tuesday, citing The Indian Express.

The decision follows protests held by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the university campus on Friday against the inclusion of a chapter on Jinnah’s political thought in the syllabus, according to The Times of India.

The ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Scroll added.

The committee, headed by Professor Naresh Padha of the university’s physics department, forwarded the recommendation to the Board of Studies, which will meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter, it cited The Indian Express as saying.

ABVP’s state secretary of India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Sannak Shrivats — who led Friday’s protests — told the newspaper that Jinnah appeared in a chapter on “Minorities and the Nations”, claiming that the Quaid was portrayed as the leader of minorities in India.

Baljit Singh Mann, the head of the political science department at the university, had said that the inclusion of Jinnah as well as other thinkers in the syllabus was consistent with the curricula followed by universities across India and with the norms of the University Grants Commission, The Indian Express reported, according to Scroll.

“He added that an unnecessary controversy was being created and that the university does not promote any ideology, but presents diverse viewpoints to enable critical evaluation,” it was quoted as saying.