People's Democracy

REACTING to yet another effort by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to delay the publication of the Towards Freedom volumes for the years 1940 and 1946, Professors Sumit Sarkar and K N Panikkar have questioned the ICHR’s right to appoint a committee to review the volumes compiled and edited by them. In a letter to the ICHR member-secretary on February 8, the two historians said the manuscripts of the two volumes were submitted to the general editor, Professor S Gopal, in 1995, and the receipt was duly recorded. Later the ICHR also informed the said historians that the volumes were sent to the Oxford University Press (OUP) for publication. "We are surprised that the ICHR has not published the volumes even after several years," the two historians said.

They also added that the ICHR chairman is spreading the canard that the manuscripts were ‘smuggled’ to the publisher which is a blatant lie.

The historians have pointed out that no alteration by way of deletion or incorporation or any other change could be made in the said manuscripts, as it would violate their rights as authors. They said, "The ICHR kept us in the dark about the steps they have been taking in this matter. We were neither informed nor consulted when the ICHR withdrew the manuscripts from the OUP." The letter said any review of the manuscripts by the committee formed by the ICHR was not acceptable to the two historians as it "violates the understanding on the basis of which we had undertaken this assignment."

It may be noted that the saffronised ICHR is scuttling the publication of the Towards Freedom volumes since the documents clearly demonstrate the treacherous role of the saffron brigade played during the national movement. The volume for the year 1946 is reported to be an anathema to the saffron brigade since it contains material relating to Savarkar’s call to the Hindu youth not to participate in the anti-British struggle.