Govt killing Nehru Library by picking a babu as head: eminent historians

Catch spoke to a number of historians, many of whom are former NMML Fellows. And they were unanimous in their opinion that it was a bad idea for a pure administrator to head an institution that is "central to the world of historical scholarship", as Mehta had written in his resignation letter.

The last time a former bureaucrat headed the NMML, academics had no complaints. That is because Dr OP Kejariwal, who was NMML director from June 1999 to February 2004, was also a scholar with fitting academic credentials and publications, including the excellent 1988 historical work titled The Asiatic Society of Bengal and the Discovery of India's Past, 1784-1838.

But Sinha - who was short-listed by a six-member selection committee headed by Minister of State for External Affairs and Executive Council vice-chairperson MJ Akbar - has no such academic credentials.

Sinha is a 1979-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, and served as private secretary to Atal Bihari Vajpayee when the latter was PM during the previous NDA regime. Sinha holds a Master's degree in history from Delhi University, and another Master's degree in public policy from George Madison University.

Should be free of political machinations

"There's no harm if the bureaucrat concerned is a scholar as well, but that does not seem to be the case here," said Dr Dilip Simeon, labour historian and public intellectual.

"There have been IAS officers stationed as OSDs at NMML, and they did their work reasonably well. But they were part-time heads and it is only because of the excellent work of the deputy director (who has just retired) that the institution functioned well."

Simeon said previous director Mahesh Rangarajan, a highly respected historian, was fulfilling his role, but was forced out by the Central government "despite the fact that NMML was flourishing" under him.

The NMML has been headless since Rangarajan resigned on 16 September 2015, following allegations by the BJP that his appointment was "illegal and unethical".

Rangarajan had been appointed in 2011 by the UPA government, and his term had been extended just before the 2014 general elections got over.

"The NMML is one of the most respected archives for Indian history in the world, and should be free of political machinations," Simeon said.

No dearth of specialists

Set up in 1964 as a memorial to Jawaharlal Nehru at his prime ministerial residence at Teen Murti Bhawan, the NMML is one of the finest repositories of historical material and research relating to modern Indian history, especially the Indian freedom movement. It is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture.

"Having a non-specialist heading an institution that constantly requires specialist input is a terrible idea. Would you have a historian heading an institute for research in the natural sciences?" said eminent historian Dr Tanika Sarkar.

"The NMML has assisted path-breaking historical work in the past. This entails a lot of archival work, purchase of books and requisition of private papers, organising seminars and conferences, taking care of publications, deciding fellowships, etc. Its work is specialised and purely academic."

Sarkar said it was not a question of political ideology but one of scholarship.

"It is not about about the Left or the Right. There have been eminent historians from the far Right, such as RC Majumdar. The question is about being a solid historian. There is no dearth of excellent historians and social scientists in the country. Then why pick a bureaucrat for the post?"

An RSS choice?

It has been speculated that Sinha was the choice of the RSS. He was a director at India Foundation, an RSS-aligned think-tank.

It was also reported that the selection committee had initially considered forwarding only Sinha's name to the EC for approval, but then added the name of Professor Kapil Kumar of IGNOU.

Mehta, who was part of the selection committee, wrote in his resignation letter that the advertisement for the post was modified without the EC's approval to include "administrator" as being eligible to apply.

"Appointing an administrator who does not have the requisite track record in the field of scholarship, or the world of letters more generally, sends a very bad signal about the stature of NMML as an institution," wrote Mehta, who is president of Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Policy Research.

More criticism

Dr Rana Behal, retired professor of history and former NMML Fellow, said: "All governments want to appoint people who do not criticise them, but this is complete disregard for a national institution that draws scholars from all over the world.

"The least one expects is a director who is well-versed with the norms of the academic world and research, someone who can provide the rigour and guidance that is needed at NMML. But it seems evident that the Sangh Parivar wants to control and mould all institutions of national importance."

Political scientist Achin Vanaik said: "The NMML has had extraordinary directors in the past, such as Ravinder Kumar, who was director when I was a fellow there, and Mahesh Rangarajan, a very fine scholar. It seems the government had difficulty finding an intellectual hack who supports their ideology, so they are making do with ordinary hacks."

Lawyer and historian Anil Nauriya, another former NMML Fellow, said the director should be a scholar of eminence, ideally with an interest in the Indian freedom movement, since that has been the focus of the NMML.

"Only someone who has established credibility with the world of historical scholarship and has a vision for a modern secular India should be appointed as the director of the NMML," Nauriya said.

Incidentally, the NMML, which has provided fellowships to many excellent historians of the country, has not awarded any new fellowships for the last couple of years.

Edited by Shreyas Sharma

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