As the standing committee puts a ban on the books which ‘glorifies Naxals’ and ‘legitimising conversions of tribal to Christians’, the History department of Delhi University has kept itself aside from the book controversy of Nandini Sundar and Archana Prasad which has been banned from the syllabus stating it as ‘unfit’ for students. Although both the authors have been highly recognized and acknowledged for their piece of work and have also bagged various awards.
Geeta Bhatta, a member of standing committee claimed the author Sundar in book ‘Subalterns and Sovereign- An anthropological History of Bastar , 1854-2006, had rationalized the actions of Naxalties. Simultaneously Prasad’s book ‘Against Ecological Romanticism: Verrier Elwin and the making of Anti-modern tribal identity is also under high condemnation for “supporting conversions of tribals to Christianity”.
The History department of DU has refrained itself from getting into any discussion regarding removal of the two books due to their content which is as stated as ‘not fit’ for students to study.A member of history department was quoted as saying “our committee on courses, set up to discuss the syllabi,will not discuss the two books or the recommendations to remove them.The committee has also asked us to reconsider it as we have given a large number of choices in core subject category.”
V K Dixit, head of adult continuing education and extension department told a newspaper that “The department will only set up the core, elective and open-elective subjects based on the criteria set up by DU.The books may not even come into consideration.”
