UK students remove Kipling’s ‘If’ from Union building

Manchester: Students at UK’s Manchester University painted over Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If” painted on the union building, claiming the writer was racist, reports the UK daily, The Sun.

The poet they alleged stood for “opposite of liberation, empowerment and human right” and they had his poem replaced with American Civil Rights activist and author Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”.

Painted by University of Manchester Students' Union in large black letters recently, the poem “If”, which is often voted the nation's favourite, drew flake from a section of students.

They deemed the poem “deeply inappropriate”, given the colonial era author’s perceived allegiance to British Imperialism. Sara Khan, Liberation and Access Officer at the university, singled out the Kipling’s poem The White Man's Burden, stressing her views.

According to her the poem “sought to legitimate the British Empire's presence in India and de-humanise people of colour.”

The student’s union in a statement apologised for not garnering student opinion while painting the Jungle Book author’s poem on the wall.