PM loses to Bard, Shaw

The university stirred a hornet’s nest by deleting Shakespeare and G.B. Shaw from its revised syllabus and including translated works of part-time poet Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and controversial writer Salman Rushdie. As if that wasn’t enough, the new syllabus had Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita rubbing shoulders with Maxim Gorky’s Mother.

President Kalam’s essay ‘‘Patriotism beyond politics and Religion’’ found a place in the new syllabus along with a study of films like Guide, Devdas, Umrao Jaan and Pather Panchali.

While university Vice-Chancellor Dr R.P. Singh expressed surprise over the inclusion of Vajpayee’s poems, student leaders threatened to launch an agitation.

University Campus Student Union leader Kapil Bisla alleged that the PM’s poems had been included at the behest of the RSS. Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal echoed the same view. The party’s western UP leader Satendra Bharala claimed that by including Vajpayee’s works, the sentiments of the dominant Muslim community were not being respected. ‘‘Rushdie can’t visit India. So why will his works be taught at the university,’’ asked Bharala.

In his defence, Dr Bhagwat S. Goel, former head of the English Department, SD College, who drew up the new syllabus, said that it was deliberately broad-based. ‘‘Till now, the syllabus has been British-oriented. An attempt has been made to give representation to a wide range of writings.’’

According to him, the opposition to the syllabus was being orchestrated by vested interests, especially those who ran coaching centres. So far, they would make do with photocopied copies of old notes, now teachers will have to update their knowledge.