ICHR chief Sudershan Rao resigns after 16 months in office

The Indian Express reported from govt sources as saying that Sudershan was unhappy over the denial of an honorarium of Rs 1.5 lakh a month

Prof Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, who was appointed by the Narendra Modi government 16 months ago as chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), has resigned from his post, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

The newspaper quoted government sources as saying that Sudershan was unhappy over the denial of an honorarium of Rs 1.5 lakh a month. 

Rao, however, denied that he was resigning over the honorarium issue. 

“There are two points here to clarify. Firstly, I did not hear a yes or a no from HRD (ministry) on this issue for you to say I have decided on those grounds. Secondly, the council passed the request to HRD, it was not my individual request,” Rao was quoted as saying in the newspaper. 

In his resignation letter addressed to Union Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani, Prof Rao simply wrote: “I tender my apologies for causing this inconvenience midway to the government. I relinquish this office with some satisfaction that I could do some good work in ICHR during my term.”

Rao is a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana (ABISY), the history wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. His appointment to a three-year term in July 2014 was questioned by historians such as Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib over his academic credentials. 

On July 21, 2014 in India Today Thapar wrote: "One is surprised at the appointment of Professor Yellapragada Sudershan Rao as chairperson of the ICHR. Prof Rao's work is unfamiliar to most historians, with little visibility of research that he might have carried out." 

Earlier, Rao was severely criticised on his views on Hindu mythological texts Mahabharata and Ramayana as valid sources of historicity for research purposes. In 2007, he had advocated the “merits” of the caste system in a blog.

At the ICHR, Rao’s term was marked by at least two major decisions. One was the Council’s decision to pursue a new research project mapping the country’s scientific achievements starting from the Vedic era up to the 18th century. The other, on his recommendation, was the HRD ministry’s appointment of three historians, all office-bearers of the ABISY, to the Council.

Rao’s resignation comes on the heels of reports that Pahlaj Nihalani, the chairman of the film censor board and also an RSS sympathiser, is likely to be eased out for embarrassing the government by producing a 7-minute film that seeks to eulogise Prime Minister Narendra Modi without any official authorisation and which he allegedly forced cinema theatres across the country to air.