University of Jammu likely to drop Jinnah, Iqbal, Sir Syed from MA Political Science syllabus amid row

Controversy over the inclusion of former Pakistan president Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the M.A. syllabus is likely to end, as the Postgraduate Department of Political Science at the University of Jammu has decided to remove the “controversial” chapters.

Not only Jinnah, but the department has also decided to drop chapters related to Syed Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Iqbal from the course.

Two days after Vice-Chancellor Prof. Umesh Rai constituted a committee to review the syllabus following the controversy, the Departmental Affairs Committee (DAC) of the Political Science Department on Sunday recommended the removal of the contentious topics.

The DAC took this decision even before the first meeting of the six-member panel constituted by the vice-chancellor.

According to an official handout issued by the department, the DAC meeting was held on March 22, 2026, at 12 noon in the office of the head of the department to deliberate on issues related to the syllabi of the one-year and two-year M.A. programmes in political science, in line with the guidelines of NEP-2020.

“After thorough consideration, the committee unanimously resolved to recommend the removal of topics concerning Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Syed Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Iqbal from the course content of PIPSTC 102 of the one-year postgraduate programme and P2PSTC 302 of the two-year postgraduate programme in political science to the Board of Studies (BoS) for its consideration. The BoS meeting is scheduled for March 24 at 11:30 am in online mode to further deliberate on the matter,” the handout stated.

Notably, on March 20, the university had constituted a high-level committee to examine its postgraduate political science syllabus following protests by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) over the inclusion of a chapter on Jinnah.

A six-member panel constituted

On Friday, the vice-chancellor constituted a high-level committee to examine concerns related to the syllabus that were highlighted in the media and raised by students.

According to an order issued by the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs, the committee is headed by Prof. Naresh Padha as convener and comprises the heads of the departments of philosophy, history and sociology, along with the director, DSRS. The Assistant Registrar (Academic Affairs) will serve as the Member Secretary. The panel has been tasked with thoroughly reviewing the issue and submitting its report at the earliest.

The revised syllabus, prepared for the 2026–2028 academic session under the National Education Policy 2020, places Jinnah within the ‘Modern Indian Political Thought’ module under the paper ‘Minorities and the Nation’.

Earlier, led by ABVP Jammu and Kashmir secretary Sannak Shrivats, protesters assembled on campus, raised slogans against the administration, and tore posters of Jinnah, demanding immediate withdrawal of the chapter.

The student organisation termed the inclusion “unacceptable” and warned of launching a wider democratic agitation across Jammu and Kashmir if the university fails to revoke it.