Trouble in the ICSSR

THE DECISION BY the Union Human Resources Development Ministry to sack the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) Chairman, Professor M. L. Sondhi, from his post may have been expected. Prof. Sondhi, after all, had emboldened himself in the past few months to go public against Mr. Devendra Swaroop, a former editor of the RSS mouthpiece, Panchajanya, and an influential member of the ICSSR. And given the commitment that the Union Minister for Human Resources Development, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, has displayed (ever since he assumed office) to render academic bodies into fora for Hindutva propaganda and also to accommodate persons associated with the various sangh parivar outfits, the developments need not be surprising. But then, Prof. Sondhi himself was among the few in the academic community to have openly associated themselves with the Bharathiya Jana Sangh. And he had even represented the Jana Sangh in Parliament. The battle between Prof. Sondhi and Mr. Devendra Swaroop from within the ICSSR, with the two of them hurling charges and counter charges during the past few months, is indeed baffling in this context.

Be that as it may, the immediate provocation for the Government to sack Prof. Sondhi seems to have been the stand he took as Chairman of the ICSSR that a ``saffron caucus'' in the Council (which according to him was led by Prof. Sardindu Mukherjee along with Mr. Swaroop) was conspiring to sabotage the India-Pakistan summit that has just concluded. Prof. Sondhi had made these charges in a letter to the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, at a time when the idea of holding the summit was only being discussed. And sparks began to fly more often when the summit schedule was drawn up and the ICSSR got involved in organising a conclave of social scientists from either side of the border as part of the buildup. The removal of Prof. Sondhi, just a day after the summit was over and the fact that the announcement about his removal was made even while the ICSSR Chairman was in the midst of a seminar - to discuss the outcome of the summit - does suggest that the developments have a lot to do with the differences within the sangh parivar over the attempts to normalise ties with Pakistan. That sections within the sangh parivar - the saffron caucus in Prof. Sondhi's words - did not want the ICSSR as a body to celebrate the Agra summit seems to be a reason behind the sacking of the ICSSR chairman in such a fashion.

It is hence imperative for the Union Human Resources Development Ministry (the ICSSR is an autonomous body that comes under the Ministry) to explain the reasons for effecting the change. It is likely that the Sondhi affair could also be the fallout of a clash between individual leaders within the BJP; Prof. Sondhi, is understood to be close to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, while the others (those who have been accused by him of being part of the ``saffron caucus'') seem to be having the blessings of a section within the party known to be hardliners. If the removal of Prof. Sondhi was a fallout of a clash of personalities within the Union Cabinet, it is only worse. And such explanations, at this stage, that Prof. Sondhi had flouted norms governing the ICSSR functioning - a charge was that he was not holding meetings of the council - will not hold good for the simple reason that the manner in which he was removed - executed and announced when the ICSSR Chairman was in the midst of a seminar organised by the institution - smacks of partisan political reasons rather than any serious concern about the functioning of the academic body. The ICSSR, meanwhile, needs an academician of standing as head.

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