New Delhi:

A proposal to teach Manusmriti (Laws of Manu) to Delhi University’s LLB students is slated to be discussed in a meeting of its Academic Council on Friday, a move which has drawn criticism from a section of teachers.

The Faculty of Law has sought approval from the highest decision-making body of Delhi University (DU) to revise the syllabus of its first and third-year students to teach them ‘Manusmriti’.

The changes in the syllabus of the jurisprudence paper pertain to semesters one and six of LLB.

According to the revisions, two readings on Manusmriti — Manusmriti with the Manubhasya of Medhatithi by G N Jha and Commentary of Manu Smriti – Smritichandrika by T Kristnasawmi Iyer — are proposed to be introduced for the students.

The decision to suggest the revisions was unanimously approved in a June 24 meeting of the faculty’s Course Committee headed by its dean Anju Vali Tikoo, according to the minutes of the meeting.

Objecting to the move, the Left-backed Social Democratic Teachers Front (SDTF) has written to DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh stating that the manuscript propagates a “regressive” outlook towards the rights of women and the marginalised communities and that it is against a “progressive education system”.

In a letter to Singh, SDTF general secretary SS Barwal and chairperson SK Sagar said recommending Manusmriti to students as a suggested reading “is highly objectionable as this text is adverse to the progress and education of women and marginalised communities in India”.

“In Manusmriti, in several sections, it opposes women’s education and equal rights. Introduction of any section or part of Manusmriti is against the basic structure of our Constitution and principles of Indian Constitution,” the letter read.

The SDTF demanded that the proposal be immediately withdrawn and it should not be approved in the Academic Council’s meeting scheduled to be held on July 12.

It further requested the vice-chancellor to issue an order to the law faculty and the concerned staff members to continue teaching the paper jurisprudence based on the existing syllabus. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP President Ajit Pawar declared that Manusmriti has no place in the state and attacked the opposition for setting a fake narrative in this regard, in the run-up to the state Assembly elections slated for September-October.

“No verse from ‘Manusmriti’ has been included in the school curriculum. No such attempt can be made in the state. Manusmriti is not supported by the state government. The opposition knows that issues like ‘Manusmriti’ have no place in Maharashtra, yet the opposition is deliberately trying to spread misunderstandings by raising issues in this way,” he said at the press conference after the state cabinet meeting on the eve of the Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra Legislature from Thursday.

“It is not right to do politics in this way, Maharashtra cannot afford it,” he added.

Mr Pawar said that Maharashtra is known for implementing the progressive thoughts of Shivaji Phule Shau and Dr B.R. Ambedkar as he reiterated that ‘Manusmriti’ has no place in the state.

He was responding to the opposition’s claim that the state government wants to include verses from ‘Manusmriti’ in the curriculum. Pawar said that School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar has already clarified that the government has no plan to include verses from ‘Manusmriti’ and called upon the opposition to stop doing politics on this issue.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A video is doing rounds on social media (here and here) showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a public gathering on the constitution with a claim that he said, “I will replace the old constitution with one based on Manusmriti, which not even Baba Saheb Ambedkar himself could abolish.”

Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

Claim: PM Modi stated, “I will change the old constitution to make a constitution with Manusmriti which even Baba Saheb Ambedkar himself cannot end.”

Fact: In the original video, PM Modi stated “Concerning the Constitution, you should accept it, and mark these words of Modi, even if Babasaheb Ambedkar himself were to appear, he wouldn’t be able to annul the Constitution. Our Constitution is the Geeta, Ramayana, Bible, and Quran for the government.”

Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

On performing a reverse image search using the keyframes of the video, we found media articles featuring an image of PM Modi in the same attire discussing this speech. We discovered that he delivered this speech at an election rally in Rajasthan’s Barmer on April 12, 2024.

Furthermore, contrary to the claim made in the viral post, media reports indicated that PM Modi said that the Constitution is everything to the government, and even Babasaheb Ambedkar cannot abolish it.

Upon further research, we located the full video of the speech on PM Modi’s official YouTube channel. In it, PM Modi stated, “Regarding the Constitution, you should accept it, and take note of these words of Modi, even if Babasaheb Ambedkar himself were to appear, he wouldn’t be able to abolish the Constitution. Our Constitution is akin to the Geeta, Ramayana, Bible, and Quran for the (BJP) government.”

Following this statement, he proceeded to criticize the INDIA alliance and the Congress manifesto. The video was edited from the time frame 34:28 to 34:46 and then shared.

To sum up, PM Modi did not mention implementing Manusmriti by changing the Constitution.

(This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)