We were ignored, say ICSSR members

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 4. Even as the chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Prof. M. L. Sondhi, is crying foul against efforts by an ``organised caucus'' to ``saffronise'' the oncoming Indo-Pak. dialogue of social scientists, council members say they have been kept out of the entire ``show''.

Though a mega event - given the fact that nearly 40 social scientists from Pakistan are expected to participate in the dialogue - the matter was never brought up before the council as is necessary whenever expenses of over Rs. 1 lakh are involved.

Reacting to Prof. Sondhi's allegation that an ``organised caucus'' was planning to disrupt the Indo-Pak dialogue - slated for July 9 and 10, a few days ahead of the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit - a council member, Dr. Sardendu Mukherjee, said he had read about the meeting in newspapers and had till date not been informed or consulted.

``I have every reason to feel that it is a deliberate slight and meant to humiliate the members of the council who, like the chairman, are also appointees of the Ministry of Human Resource Development,'' Dr. Mukherjee said adding that Prof. Sondhi had not convened a meeting of the Council for several months. Certain that nothing much was going to emerge from the dialogue, Dr. Mukherjee - who has been associated with the Sangh Parivar - also voiced the hope that the dialogue did not become another forum for ``India-bashing''.

However, other council members claim that Prof. Sondhi was wary of convening a meeting for the simple reason that earlier meetings had never been free of acrimony. ``The last one practically saw a bitter battle of words between the more hardcore members of the Sangh Parivar in the council and Prof. Sondhi,'' said a member on condition of anonymity.

Both Dr. Mukherjee - against whom Prof. Sondhi had complained earlier - and Mr. Devendra Swaroop, who has been named by Prof. Sondhi as leading the caucus, denied that they had plans to disrupt the meeting. ``It is a baseless charge. I am in no way linked to ICSSR and Prof. Sondhi's letter to the President appears to be a new version of Don Quixotic attacks on an imaginary windmill,'' said Mr. Swaroop.

Some days back, Prof. Sondhi had written to the President seeking his support in ``isolating the vested interests which want to derail the great initiative shown by Prime Minister Vajpayee in inviting President Musharraf to India''. According to Prof. Sondhi, this caucus was led by members within the council who want to convert ICSSR into a monolithic organisation.

Asked whether the ``caucus'' members had lodged a formal protest against the meeting, Prof. Sondhi answered in the negative. ``But we have been receiving threats and invectives.''

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