Yellapragada Sudershan Rao

Yellapragada Sudershan Rao is an Indian historian, who was appointed as the chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) by the Government of India, serving from July 2014 to July 2017. He was formerly a professor of history at Kakatiya University in Telangana, and had previously served as a member of the ICHR. He was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana, an affiliate of the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the head of its Andhra Pradesh branch. Prior to his appointment, he was a relatively unknown historian with no history of publishing research in peer-reviewed publications, and his appointment was seen as an effort by the administration of Narendra Modi to fill government institutions with individuals ideologically aligned with the RSS.[1][2][3][4]

Career

Academia

Rao was a professor of history at Kakatiya University in Telangana, where he also served as the head of the Department of History and Tourism Management, and as the dean of the school of Social Sciences.[1] His studied ancient Indian culture and the history of Hinduism.[5] A report in The Hindu stated that he has published over forty research papers in various journals and contributed to the Andhra Pradesh History Congress besides guiding eight PhD students.[6] Prior to his appointment as ICHR chairperson in 2014, Rao was a relatively unknown historian, who had not published articles in peer-reviewed journals.[3] His publications were pieces in the popular media about the historicity of Indian epics.[3]

ICHR

Rao was a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) during the first NDA government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.[7] In July 2014, the National Democratic Alliance government re-inducted Rao into ICHR and appointed him chairperson.[5] After serving as chairperson for 16 months, Rao was reported to have submitted a resignation from his position on 24 November 2015, citing personal reasons.[8] However, the government did not accept the resignation.[9] The ICHR describes him as having been chairperson from July 2014 to July 2017.[10]

Rao also served as head of the Andhra Pradesh chapter of Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana (ABISY), a subsidiary organisation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, devoted to rewriting Indian history from a Hindu nationalist perspective.[5][11] In March 2015, three other ABISY-affiliated historians were nominated as members to the Council at the recommendation of Rao.[12][2][13] The appointments, as well as Rao's, were described by commentators as an effort by the Modi administration to fill government institutions with individuals ideologically aligned with the RSS,[14][2][3][1] as part of an effort at saffronisation.[4]

Rao's tenure at the ICHR was subject to sharp criticism.[15] Under Rao, the council chose to dissolve the advisory committee for the journal it published, that had been composed of several well-known historians.[16] Gopinath Ravindran, another ICHR member, resigned from the committee in 2015, stating that Rao was running it in an autocratic manner, and stating that most of the committee had no scholarly credentials.[17][16] Rao also announced plans to study whether Adam's Bridge was a man-made structure, but Arvind Jamkhedkar, his successor as ICHR chairperson, stated that they would not be pursued.[18]

Views and reception

Rao expressed the belief that the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were accurate accounts of Indian history.[19] Following his appointment to the ICHR, he promised to prove the historicity of those epics during his tenure.[3] In 2007, Rao stated that the Indian caste system worked well and was not a discriminatory institution.[20][21]

Reacting to his appointment as ICHR chairperson, historian Romila Thapar questioned the academic rigor of Rao's work, and stated that Rao's lack of peer-reviewed publications meant his work had little visibility to historians.[22][23] Thapar went on to describe Rao's intentions to of ascribing historicity about the Hindu epics as a futile endeavor. She wrote that Rao, like many other Hindutva ideologues, did not understand what Marxist historiography was, and called any research that ran contrary to the goals of Hindu nationalism "Marxist".[23]

His appointment as ICHR chairperson was also criticized by other eminent historians including D. N. Jha, and by former members of the ICHR, including from right-wing historians.[20][24][25] An Outlook article noted that he was a scarcely cited scholar with no established track-record and that his blog-posts on different aspects of the subject, which frequently delineated the boundaries between myth and history and ran on a course of faith alone, have only caused concern among academics.[26] The historian Ramachandra Guha described him as a right wing ideologue, who did not recognize the difference between history and myth.[27]

References
  1. Bailey, Greg (2 October 2014). "Indology after Hindutva". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 37 (4): 700–707. doi:10.1080/00856401.2014.959241. ISSN 0085-6401.
  2. "Saffron hue in revamped ICHR". The Hindu. 2 March 2015.
  3. Maiorano, Diego (3 April 2015). "Early Trends and Prospects for Modi's Prime Ministership". The International Spectator. 50 (2): 75–92. doi:10.1080/03932729.2015.1024511. ISSN 0393-2729.
  4. Tharamangalam, Joseph (2 July 2016). "Moditva in India: a threat to inclusive growth and democracy". Canadian Journal of Development Studies. 37 (3): 298–315. doi:10.1080/02255189.2016.1196656. ISSN 0225-5189.
  5. Akshaya Mukul (3 July 2014). "RSS man will head historical research body". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  6. "He aims to present history in a new perspective". The Hindu. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. "Mahabharat historian gets research reins". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  8. Chopra, Ritika (28 November 2015). "No honorarium, ICHR chief Sudershan Rao quits". Indian Express. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  9. HRD may ask Y Sudershan Rao to remain ICHR chief, The Indian Express, 2 April 2016.
  10. "List of Chairpersons of Indian Council of Historical Research". ichr.ac.in. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  11. "Vision India: Modi, RSS on collision course but who'll blink first?". Firstpost. 18 August 2014.
  12. "ICHR chief Sudershan Rao recommends 3 RSS historians to top panel". Economic Times. 14 January 2015.
  13. Chopra, Ritika (14 January 2015). "ICHR chief Sudershan Rao recommends 3 RSS historians to top panel". The Economic Times. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  14. Iyer, Kavitha (3 July 2014). "Coming soon from Modi sarkar: RSS takeover of top research, cultural bodies". Firstpost.
  15. RAJALAKSHMI, T. K. "A quiet invasion". Frontline. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  16. Chopra, Ritika (24 June 2015). "I wouldn't have 80% of current ICHR members, says dissenter Gopinath Ravindran". The Economic Times. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  17. "ICHR member secretary resigns". The Hindu. PTI. 19 June 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 October 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. "No Ram Setu study: ICHR". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  19. Kinnvall, Catarina (4 May 2019). "Populism, ontological insecurity and Hindutva: Modi and the masculinization of Indian politics". Cambridge Review of International Affairs. 32 (3): 283–302. doi:10.1080/09557571.2019.1588851. ISSN 0955-7571.
  20. "Choice of ICHR chief reignites saffronisation debate". The Hindu. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  21. Mukul, Akshaya (15 July 2014). "Ancient Caste System Worked Well, ICHR Head Says". Times of India. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  22. "Historians raise questions about ICHR's new boss Prof Y Sudershan Rao". Firstpost. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  23. Thapar, Romila (11 July 2014). "The appointment of a historian whose work is unfamiliar to most historians shows scant regard for the impressive scholarship that now characterises the study of Indian History and this disregard may stultify future academic research". India Today. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  24. "Right-wingers question ICHR chief selection". The Times of India. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  25. Saint-Mézard, Isabelle (February 2016). "L'Inde de Narendra Modi : Des tendances préoccupantes aux plans culturels et confessionnels". Études. 2: 7–18.
  26. Raman, Anuradha (21 July 2014). "Ram, Where Art Thou?". Outlook India. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  27. Guha, Ramachandra. "Where are India's conservative intellectuals?". The Caravan. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
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