Uncalled for statement

Sir, - Your editorial ``Misappropriating authority'' (Dec. 21) conveys the message that the uncalled for statement on the part of the Director of the Indian Council of Historical Research, Mr. Sushil Kumar, to the effect that the Babri Masjid has ceased to be a mosque since prayers were not held within its precincts for many years in the past is a deliberate attempt to project the Hindutva philosophy.

Thus, Mr. Kumar has clearly overstepped the duties and responsibilities which confine him to discharge the administrative tasks of the organisation only and as such the clarificatory statement issued by the chairman of the ICHR, Prof. B. R. Grover will convey meaning if suitable disciplinary action is initiated against Mr. Kumar so as to nip such tendencies in the bud and also in the best interests of the institution.

In this context it is to be recalled that in an attempt to give a twist to the factual status of the Babri Masjid and the like, the BJP Government did not shirk reconstituting the ICHR in the middle of 1998 by replacing all the professional historians of repute with persons of known leaning towards the Sangh Parivar's views so as to rewrite history with preconceived notions devoid of any scientific basis.

What is surprising is that till date no clinching evidence which will stand the scientific scrutiny has been produced by either the ICHR or the ASI to suggest even remotely that the Babri Masjid stood on the ruins of a Hindu temple.

All these suggest that the Sangh Parivar wishes to read history with its prejudices. If caught on the wrong foot, it does not hesitate to advance reasons which do not hold water as Mr. Kumar did. Hence, it is of paramount importance for the political leadership of the government to let academic bodies remain the preserve of those committed to scholarship, as you have correctly advocated.

Syed Gowher Ali,

Chennai.

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