Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 9 (IANS): Eyebrows have been raised over the recommendation of books of prominent RSS ideologues in the curriculum of the newly started Master's course in Public Administration at Kannur University.

The books that have been cleared for study include those of M.S. Golwalkar, Veer Savarkar and Deendayal Upadhyaya.

These books are included for study in the third semester of the MA Public Administration course. At present this course is offered only at the Government Brennen College in Tellicherry in Kannur district.

Along with them are books of Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi, Nehru and other such towering personalities.

But what has come as a surprise to many is the way the chairman of Kannur University M.K. Hassan, belonging to the Students Federation of India (student wing of the CPI-M), reacted to questions on this development as across the country the SFI is up in arms against the alleged saffronisation of education.

"This is included in the comparative literature part and only if this is taught in detail will one know what damage these people have done. We have already had a few rounds of discussion on this and now we are going to have a public debate to find out the response," said Hassan.

Gopinath Ravindran, Vice-Chancellor of Kannur University, despite the media trying to get in touch with him has not commented on the issue.

Meanwhile media critic and former Malayalam Professor at Calicut University, M.N. Karaserri expressed shock over the development.

"This is shocking news and such a thing should never have happened at all. I strongly feel this is just a test case for what is in store as through this those who are behind it are trying to test the waters," said Karaserri.