India News | Student Unions Oppose Naming Upcoming DU College After Savarkar
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The National Students' Union of India and the Students' Federation of India on Monday opposed Delhi University's decision to name one of its upcoming colleges after Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar and said that it was "an attempt to distort history".
New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) The National Students' Union of India and the Students' Federation of India on Monday opposed Delhi University's decision to name one of its upcoming colleges after Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar and said that it was "an attempt to distort history".
The Congress-affiliated NSUI threatened to "stop the working of the university" if the decision was not rolled back.
According to sources, the Delhi University vice-chancellor has decided to name upcoming colleges and centres after Savarkar and late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
The SFI, which is the student arm of the CPI(M), said, "Delhi University in a recent executive meeting discussed naming the upcoming colleges after Savarkar. This is an attempt to distort history."
"Sabotaging the independence movement of India" was Savarkar's contribution to the country, it said.
"SFI, DU strongly opposes this proposal of naming the college after Savarkar and will continue to expose the hypocrisy of RSS-BJP and their false rhetoric of nationalism to cover up their failures and betrayal in front of the student community," it added.
President of NSUI Delhi Kunal Sehrawat said the student body would not sit silently if the decision is not rolled back.
"I give an open warning to the Delhi University administration, if they do not take back the decision to open a college in the name of Mafiveer Savarkar, then NSUI will not sit silently," he said in the statement.
The Academic Council of DU, in its meeting held in August, had decided that upcoming colleges may be named after Savarkar, Swaraj, Swami Vivekananda and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The council also suggested names of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Savitri Bai Phule, Arun Jaitley, Choudhary Brahm Prakash and C D Deshmukh. It authorised the university vice-chancellor to finalise the names.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)