Over 250 academics raise concerns about BJP MP’s question in Rajya Sabha on Pakistani author

Over 250 Indian scholars and academicians on Tuesday expressed concern about Bharatiya Janata MP Harnath Singh Yadav’s question raised in Parliament about a Pakistani author’s book being taught in Indian educational institutes.

“Whether the Union government has taken cognisance of the fact that a book by [a] Pakistani author is being taught at Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia or any other educational institution in the country and the language is derogatory to Indian citizens and also supports terrorism?” Yadav asked the Rajya Sabha last week. The question has been listed for Wednesday.

The Union government has directed the University Grants Commission to collect information on the matter, reported The Wire. The commission has written to all universities seeking details.

In a statement, the scholars and academicians said that the BJP MP’s questions can only be read as being “deliberately ambiguous”.

The signatories of the statement include Romila Thapar, Apoorvanand, Satish Deshpande, Partha Chatterjee, Ira Raja, Mary E John, Supriya Chaudhuri and Abha Dev Habib.

Noting that Yadav’s question does not name the author or the book, they wrote that this was not “simply an error”.

“For leaving the book unnamed allows the question to be read as suggesting that any book by any Pakistani author that might possibly be read as being ‘derogatory...

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