Kannur University: Controversial syllabus of VD Savarkar, MS Golwalkar will not be taught now

Kannur (Ker), Sep 16: The controversial portions around RSS ideologues MS Golwalkar and freedom fighter VD Savarkar would not be taught in newly-started Master's course in Public Administration at the Kannur University, the Vice Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran said.

"The two-member expert committee which went into the issue has recommended that it need not be included in the third semester. It has been given to the Board of Studies and the final decision will be taken by the Academic Council," Mathrubhumi quotes Ravindran as saying.

However, the controversial portions might be included in the fourth semester.

The decision to include their portions had met with severe criticism from student unions which allege saffronisation of the university. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reacted to the issue by stating that his government would not glorify the ideas and leaders who snubbed India during the freedom struggle.

The portions of MS Golwalkar, Veer Savarkar and Deendayal Upadhyaya were included in the syllabus of the MA Public Administration course. It has to be noted that the portions of Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru among others were also part of the syllabus.

However, there were a few like Congress leader Shashi Tharoor who did not oppose the idea of reading the stories of people associated with the RSS saying that intellectual freedom should not be sacrificed over petty party politics.

"I have quoted Savarkar and Golwalkar at length in my books, and refuted them," Tharoor said. "If we don't read Savarkar and Golwalkar, on what basis will we oppose their ideas? Kannur University also teaches Gandhi and Tagore," he had said in a Facebook post recently.

It was alleged that the syllabus was not prepared by the Board of Studies but by the teachers of Thalassery Brennen College.

The MA Governance and Politics is taught only in Brennen College under Kannur University.