No space for Jinnah, Mohd Iqbal, Sir Syed...

The recent proposal to remove references to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Dr Mohammad Iqbal and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan from Jammu University’s postgraduate Political Science syllabus has shocked those who value academic freedom and oppose the erasure of historical perspectives. Critics warn that this move is a dangerous attempt to erase key perspectives and rewrite modern Indian history.

Even more shocking is how quickly, in just four days, the recommendation to drop these names from the syllabus was pushed through.

The controversy began on 20 March, when the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested the chapter on Jinnah in the ‘Minorities and the Nation’ paper. Almost immediately, vice-chancellor Umesh Rai formed a committee to review the syllabus. Led by Prof. Naresh Padha, the committee recommended removing all material related to Jinnah, Syed Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Iqbal from the MA Political Science syllabus.

The press release issued by the head of the department of Political Science, Jammu University reads: ‘The faculty/ department affairs committee (DAC) meeting was held on 22 March 2026… After a through consideration, the committee unanimously resolved to recommend the removal of topics concerning Mohd. Ali Jinnah, Syed Ahmad Khan and Mohd. 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.’

The recommendation was forwarded to the board of studies (BoS), which was scheduled to meet online on 24 March to deliberate and take a final decision. Although the BoS’s decision was not made public, it is widely believed that the proposed changes have been approved. All of this happened within a span of four days — without public debate, without consulting academics, and without seeking input from other educational institutions.

The alarming fact is that this move met practically no resistance. No prominent institution, no veteran academics, no civil society leader stepped forward to challenge or stop it.

Amir Choudhary, chief spokesperson of the Gujjar Bakerwal Students Alliance (GBSA), who had strongly opposed the proposal, said the alliance’s campaign failed to garner support from civil society and even sections of liberal academia. “Honestly, I am not surprised,” Choudhary told National Herald. “There have been ongoing efforts to saffronise the university, and it seems these efforts have now succeeded.”

He pointed to another recent example of this trend. According to Choudhary, the ABVP and the BJP pressured the university to remove the word ‘Jammuiyat’ from the title of a two-day cultural event held on 13 March. “The event was originally called ‘Jammuiyat: Sahitya-Sanskriti Samagam’,” he explained. “But ‘Jammuiyat’ was dropped because it is an Urdu word. They claimed it was being added in the same way that ‘Kashmiriyat’ was once said to have been ‘invented’.”

These actions reveal the ongoing push to alter the university’s cultural and academic identity, said Choudhary, adding that erasing such historical and linguistic references is worrying.

Senior academic Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, formerly head of the Political Science Department at Kashmir University, described the decision as “laughable”.

Speaking to National Herald he said, “Such acts do not suit a university which is supposed to be a centre of higher learning and contested ideas. History cannot be denied. The figures whose references have been removed from the syllabus played a pivotal role in shaping modern Indian history, and no one can ignore their impact. From an Indian perspective, they may be seen as heroes or villains, but their contributions cannot be erased. Omitting them without acknowledging their significance only distorts our understanding of modern Indian history… Such actions are shortsighted.”

Sohail Kazmi, political analyst, editor with the Urdu Daily Taskeen, and a well-known social figure in Jammu sees a diabolical pattern.

“It’s not just about the university. The entire Jammu region is being turned into a hub for such unwanted activities. Based on my understanding, Jammu is emerging as the RSS’s next big stronghold after Nagpur. They are relentlessly attempting to alter a social fabric that was once rooted in secular and democratic values, transforming it into one marked by bigotry and hatred.”

Recalling a more inclusive past, Kazmi told National Herald, “In 2011, we organised the ‘Jashn-e-Faiz’ programme in Jammu and invited eminent scholars and writers from Pakistan and India. This grand two-day event was financed by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), with Dr Karan Singh, who headed the ICCR at the time, playing a leading role to ensure its smooth execution.

"Even the then director-general of police (DGP), Kuldeep Khoda, extended support through various schemes in his department. In today’s Jammu, organising such an event is unimaginable. We have lost our secular and democratic values, as well as our social ethics.”

Kazmi is of the opinion that dropping references to Muslim figures from the syllabus should be condemned in the strongest possible terms by everyone who believes in the ethics of education.

“At the very least, education must be spared from religious and political biases,” he said, adding, “Had Jinnah been a militant leader in India, I would have supported dropping his reference from the syllabus. But he was one of the brightest minds — highly educated and, above all, one of the most significant political leaders of India. How can we erase his name from history, or even from the syllabus of a college or university?

"Similarly, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan played a vital role in reforming education in our country. He founded Aligarh Muslim University which is an institution every citizen of India can be proud of. Why should we remove him? How can Iqbal, who gave us ‘Saarey jahan se achha,’ be considered a threat?”

Amir Choudhary raised another pressing question: “How can university authorities deny young students the right to learn about such pivotal figures in Indian history? By erasing their references from our historical narrative, what kind of scholars can our educational institutions hope to cultivate? If our institutions abandon this responsibility, we risk producing generations schooled in ignorance rather than insight.”