Delhi University Drops Proposal to Include Manusmriti in LLB Curriculum

The Congress on Friday asserted that the proposal to include Manusmriti in the LLB curriculum at Delhi University was a trial balloon. Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh stated that the proposal was rejected as it was deemed inappropriate. He mentioned that other texts could be used to teach Indian culture.

Proposal Rejected

Singh exercised his emergency powers to scrap the proposal during a pre-screening of the agenda for the Academic Council meeting on Friday. "I used my emergency powers to reject the proposal as it was not suitable," Singh said in an interview.

The proposed changes in the syllabus of the jurisprudence paper were related to semesters one and six of LLB. The revisions included two readings on Manusmriti: "Manusmriti with the Manubhasya of Medhatithi" by G N Jha and "Commentary of Manu Smriti - Smritichandrika" by T Kristnasawmi Iyer.

Congress Reaction

Reacting to this development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh commented, "Standard Operating Procedure of RSS/BJP. Get Delhi University Law Centre to propose that the Manusmriti should be taught. Inevitably fierce objections rise. The Vice Chancellor of DU rejects the proposal. The Education Minister supports him."

Ramesh further added, "Objective fulfilled of bad guy/good guy routine. This drama fools nobody. The non-biological PM and Education Minister have floated a trial balloon. Make no mistake. This is only the beginning," he said on X.

Objections from Faculty

The vice-chancellor held back the proposal to introduce Manusmriti for LLB students on Thursday after a section of teachers objected to it. He clarified that no such text would be taught by the university.

A committee led by Singh decided that the proposal made by the Faculty of Law was not appropriate for deliberations and rejected it before it could be tabled before the Academic Council, which is DU's highest decision-making body.

The Congress claimed that this incident was a strategic move by RSS/BJP to test public reaction. According to them, this pattern involves proposing controversial ideas, facing backlash, and then retracting them to create a good versus bad narrative.

The vice-chancellor emphasised that there are numerous other texts available for teaching Indian culture, which can be more suitable for academic purposes.