PMO reviews Ambedkarite writings in university curricula after anonymous post calls them ’poison’

An urgent online missive from the department to all the central universities on Sunday (September 27, 2026) referred to communication received from the PMO regarding the post and sought their ‘comments’. (Representational image) | Photo Credit: PTI Works of prominent intellectuals and academics recommended as readings in several higher learning institutions are under the scanner of the Higher Education Department, following an enquiry by the Prime Minister’s Office, which was triggered by an anonymous social media post terming these works ‘poison’. The authors/editors of the works include B.R.Ambedkar, Jyoti Rao Phule, Gail Omvedt, Braj Ranjan Mani, and Sharmila Rege, among others.An urgent online missive from the department to all the central universities on Sunday (September 27, 2026) referred to communication received from the PMO regarding the post and sought their ‘comments’. Further, the email sought details about enrolment in the courses mentioned in the post.“All the Central Universities are requested to furnish comments on the above. Further, enrollment in the courses mentioned in the tweet may also be apprised to the Ministry [sic],” the communique said, before marking the matter as ‘Urgent’, and seeking the comments/information ‘at the earliest’.The post/tweet was shared on the platform X on September 26, 2026. It read:“THIS IS WHAT STUDENTS ARE BEING TAUGHT AT OUR UNIVERSITIESFrom patriarchy to Caste Annihilation to Debrahmanising the history to Curse of Manu we are feeding young minds with a poison which our leftist cabal use a apprenticeship for grooming their future rank and file [sic]” the post said, looping in a thread of six more posts on the subject.Attached to the post was an image with a list of 35 works-- notably even Ramayana and Mahabharata-- while the extended thread singled out the works: Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar, Against the Madness of Manu: B.R. Ambedkar’s writings on Brahminical Patriarchy’ compiled by Sharmila Rege, ‘Ghulamgiri’ by Jyotirao Phule, ‘Debrahmanising History: Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society’ by Braj Ranjan Mani, ‘Dalits and Democratic Revolution’ and ‘Towards a Historical Materialist Analysis of the Origins and Development of Caste’ both by Gail Omvedt, ‘Mahishasur, Ek Jananayak’ and ‘Mahishasur: Mithak aur Paramparayen’ by Pramod Ranjan, ‘Bharat Ke Moolnivasi aur Arya-Akraman’ by Swapan Kumar Biswas, ‘Bharat Ke Moolnivasi: Rigvedic Asur aur Sharanagat Arya’ by S.L.Nirmohi. Besides, the post mentions Bhikku Bodhanand as the godfather of the anti-Brahmin thesis in leftist academic circles.It concludes by saying, “So, if you wonder who created Kanhaiya Kumar or Neha Bora? It is our education system, infested with such books and anti-Hindu propaganda propagated by left-leaning teachers who are also products of the same education system. We need to break this cycle.”Interestingly, none of these writers mentioned in the post could be characterised as left-leaning. On the contrary, several of them critiqued traditional Indian left from the perspective of caste and gender.“Ambedkarism was always opposed to the leftist idea of class war. If the PMO stands for opposing Phule, Ambedkar being taught, then it stands against SC/ST/OBCs when the PM himself is an OBC and the President is ST. If the PMO stands for Patriarchy and Manudharma, then it is against man-woman equality,” observed writer and academic Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, whose three works, including the trailblazing ‘Why I am not a Hindu ’, were listed among the 35 readings attached with the post.He also questions the interference of the PMO in the syllabus of universities, which ought to be in the purview of the Department of Higher Education or University Grants Commission.Apart from Mr. Shepherd, the authors whose works were mentioned in the image include E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar), R.S.Sharma, Savitribai Phule, Uma Chakravarti, Suvira Jaiswal, Aloka Parasher, Shireen Ratnagar, G. Aloysius, and Anupama Rao. Their works were cited as prescribed readings for postgraduate and undergraduate studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Central University of Punjab, Delhi University, and Asutosh College affiliated to University of Calcutta. Published - September 29, 2026 08:15 am IST