[Reader-list] Assault upon the Delhi University History

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Below is a newsitem from the Indian Express. Unlike SFI, ABVP has decided to
launch peacefull college to college awareness campaign. Unlike left lazy and
violent left wing, ABVP looks at the broader picture of students studies
which should not get affected. Its high time left cheap publicity seekers
wake up and do some brainstorming. God Bless All. :-)

Remarks on Lord Ram in textbook: ABVP to hold protests in DU colleges
  **
*Posted online: Monday , March 03, 2008 at 10:31:30
* **
*New Delhi, March 2* The ABVP is planning to hold protests across Delhi
University colleges against the inclusion of "atrocious" remarks on Lord Ram
in its history text books, activists said.'

Twenty-four hours after being released from Tihar Jail, state joint
secretary of ABVP Vikas Dahiya—who was arrested on Tuesday for violent
protests in the university on the issue—said he wants the police to take
action against the DU V-C Deepak Pental.

He also demanded for action against head of the department (History) S Z H
Jafri and Upinder Singh, daughter of Prime Minster Manmohan Singh, whose
name is printed on the book as the compiler.

"We are planning to lodge an FIR against them for hurting the religious
sentiments of Hindus," Dahiya said at a press conference held at North
Campus today.

>From Monday, Vikas said, ABVP activists would visit at least two colleges
each day to seek support from principals and students for a college-wise
demonstration.

Vikas alleged the Delhi Police and DU authorities were biased and said that
though arrest warrants were issued against eight persons, there were only
five people in the building during the violence.

"When Amrita Bahri and Devraj Tehlan of the NSUI ran amok in the History
Department last year, no action was taken against them," he claimed.

Payal Mago, reader in DU and vice president of ABVP, said that if Upinder
Singh had not compiled the material as claimed by History Department, "what
took her so long to deny charges".

"The book has been in circulation for around one and a half years. She could
have corrected the mistake any time," she said.


On 3/3/08, radhikarajen at vsnl.net <radhikarajen at vsnl.net> wrote:
>
> Hi, with one billion and more people, let there be that many Ramayanas in
> their freedom of expression and creativity, but the issue here is does
> freedom of expression is only to denigrete others faith. ? Those places of
> learning which are filled with chamchas and hangers on who deride hindu
> faith should write that many bibles and qurans also, that is secularism at
> work. !
> Regards.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Prem Chandavarkar <prem.cnt at gmail.com>
> Date: Monday, March 3, 2008 9:58 am
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Assault upon the Delhi University History
> To: Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
> Cc: reader-list at sarai.net
>
> > On 03/03/2008, Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > We were well know that originally there are only two Ramayan's
> > that we
> > > recognise; one by Tulsidas and another by Valmiki. There maybe a few
> > > hundred
> > > more stories based on poetry from various places etc. But, lets
> > for a
> > > change
> > > concentrate on the original source while studying history in an
> > > institution
> > > rather then secondary and modern opinions, translations etc etc.
> >
> >
> > To me, such a statement is the heart of the problem, and is the
> > reason why
> > this discussion thread started in the first place.  It implies
> > that there is
> > a primary authoritative history which must be regarded, and many
> > secondaryhistories which can be immediately dismissed as inferior
> > and ignorable.
> >
> > Such a classification should also be accompanied by an ethical and
> > intellectual justification of the basis on which it is made.  It
> > cannot be
> > merely stated that this must be so because it is a majority belief
> > or a
> > historical imperative that has endured for ages, for that is the
> > argumentthat was used to defend colonialism, slavery and apartheid.
> >
> > Let me link this to an earlier thread on history and archive, and put
> > forward the following proposition:  The archive is an ethical,
> > rather than
> > epistemological, imperative of history as a discipline.  History
> > cannot be
> > ethically validated without the discipline incorporating an
> > ongoing discourse on the basis of which something is to be
> > categorised as
> > archive, or dismissed as non-archive.
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