RSS role in ‘nation-building’ now a part of Maharashtra varsity’s syllabus

The Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University has included RSS history in the second year BA (History) course.

Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University has included ‘the history of the RSS and its role in nation-building’ in three sections in the new syllabus for students of second year BA (history), university sources said.

The Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University has included RSS history in the second year BA (History) course. (nagpuruniversityorg)

The sources said the inclusion was as an effort to make students aware about the new trends in history. The third section gives details about the role of RSS in nation-building. The decision could reignite the controversy over the ‘saffronisation of education’ during the Vajpayee regime in 2002, experts said.

Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavhan said if the university is teaching students about the role of RSS on nation-building, the syllabus must also incorporate the Sangh’s role in the Quit India Movement and why it had opposed the Constitution and the national flag.

Sripad Bhalchand Joshi, former head of the department of mass communication in Nagpur University, said such a course might see its place in the university only because of the Sangh Parivar’s mandate.

Satish Chafle, a member of the Board of Studies (History), Nagpur University, said a chapter on the RSS’s role in nation-building has been introduced in the History of India (1885-1947), part of the fourth semester for second year of BA (History) course.

RSS’s Virag Pachpore said, “If there is a course for Marxist, Gandhian and Ambedkar thoughts in many universities, then why there should not be a course on RSS ideology, which is growing day by day across the country.”