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ICHR set to sluice out 10 historians from its board

In a move targeted at ‘ideologically cleansing’ the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) of ‘left-wing’ and ‘Congress-minded’ historians, the human resource development (HRD) ministry has decided to remove 10 council members out of 19 from the category reserved for academicians from the field of history. While talking to Millennium Post on Thursday, ICHR member secretary professor Gopinath Ravindran said that the ICHR will change at least 10 council members by December as some of the member’s tenure will be completed by December.

‘The members who will be removed from the ICHR council are professor Aditya Mukherjee, who teaches History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, professor BP Sahu of Delhi University, professor SN Dube, former History professor, professor FA Qadri, Shillong, Professor OP Jaiswal, Patna, professor N Rajendran of Bharathidasan University,  Tiruchirappalli, Prof Rajan Gurukkal, VC, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, Professor Shereen Ratnagar, Mumbai, professor Suranjan Das, VC, Calcutta University,  and Prof Arjun Dev, former Dean of the NCERT,’ Ravindran affirmed.

Interestingly, Prof Shereen Ratnagar and Prof Arjun Dev have not completed their terms but are set to get the removal letters. Talking about the shape of new council, sources in the ICHR said, ‘The autonomous research body will be ‘revamped’ on the lines of foreign research institutions by appointing both young and old academicians for the innovative research work.’

Notably, appointment of Y Sudershan Rao, a votary of Sanatan Hindu religion, as chairperson of the ICHR had raised questions about the approach of Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Even some right-wing social scientists have raised eyebrows over Rao’s selection saying that Modi government could have avoided his appointment in favour of a more professional historian.

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