Delhi University: Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's poems included in PG English syllabus

NEW DELHI: The poems by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are now part of the Delhi University's postgraduate English curriculum under the paper Post-Independence Indian Literatures in Semester 1, as part of a larger syllabus revision that was approved at the varsity's Executive Council meeting on Friday.

Vajpayee, who served as the prime minister for three terms between 1996 and 2004, is also remembered for his passionate poetry focused on themes of nationalism, culture and tradition. Some of his popular lines like “Kadam milakar chalna hoga”, “Geet naya gata hoon” and “Aao milke diya jalayen” are well-known among the public and continue to resonate widely.

This move has, however, sparked criticism from some academic quarters. Rudrashish Chakraborty, an elected member of the Executive Council (EC), questioned the literary value of Vajpayee’s poems, stating that poets like Sudama Pandey "Dhoomil", Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" and Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh better represent the poetic ethos of the era.

DU EC only passes recommendations

“Inclusion of overtly political pieces makes no sense…Vajpayee’s poems carry no literary value to be part of a PG syllabus in English,” he remarked. Sunil Sharma, another member, clarified that the EC does not have the authority to frame the syllabus. “There was no discussion on the content of the syllabus during the meeting.

The EC only passes recommendations made by the Academic Council, which is the competent body to decide syllabus matters,” he said. The meeting also approved curriculum changes across departments such as Sociology and Psychology, and introduced new programs in Journalism and Nuclear Medicine.