Protesting ICHR decision to stop publication of certain books

Date: 
Tuesday, February 15, 2000

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly deplores the decision of the Indian Council for Historical Research to stop the publication of the volumes on the history of the freedom struggle prepared by Prof. Sumit Sarkar and Prof. K.N. Panikkar. The two volumes are part of the project "Towards Freedom" edited by Prof. S. Gopal.

After the work of publication has begun, the ICHR has now recalled the manuscripts from the press. The ICHR was one of the first bodies to be targetted by the BJP-led government to remove secular historians and replace them with those who subscribe to the ideology of the RSS-BJP combine. The effort to scuttle the history project is nothing but a blatant attempt at intellectual censorship.

The Human Resources Development ministry must immediately intervene to see that the publication of the volumes proceeds as planned.