Jammu University panel recommends removing Jinnah, Sir Syed, Iqbal from PG syllabus; J&K minister, BJP Neeta opposes proposal

JAMMU: An expert committee constituted by Jammu University to review the syllabus of the Masters in Political Science course has recommended the removal of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Muhammad Iqbal from the chapter on “Modern Indian Political Thought – Minorities and Nationalities”.J&K Shakti Minister Jal, Javed Ahmed Rana and BJP leaders have strongly condemned the report of the university’s political science department recommending that poets Iqbal and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan be dropped from its academic programme.The committee was formed by the university on Friday after the ABVP protested against the inclusion of Jinnah in the revised postgraduate political science syllabus under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. According to officials, at a meeting of the Faculty and Departmental Affairs Committee held on Sunday (March 22), participants unanimously decided to recommend deletion of topics involving Jinnah, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Iqbal. Officials said the recommendation has been forwarded to a study committee for consideration, which is scheduled to meet online on Tuesday to consider the matter.ABVP Jammu and Kashmir secretary Sannak Shrivats said the teachings about Jinnah and others who came up with the two-nation theory and were responsible for partition were unacceptable. He also warned that protests would intensify if the syllabus was not revised.However, Minister Javed Rana posted on “JU must stop serving as a laboratory for historical revisionism,” he added.BJP leader Jahanzaib Sirwal has also demanded a reconsideration of the proposal and on Monday wrote to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan seeking his intervention. “The proposed omission of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Iqbal from the syllabus may dilute an important part of India’s intellectual and educational heritage that must be preserved for future generations,” Serwal said.