The Indian History Congress held its 75th (Platinum Jubilee) session on December 28-30, 2014 at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Over 1,500 delegates from all parts of India attended the session, and, as per the printed list of papers, 930 papers were submitted for presentation at its six major sections.

                The session was inaugurated on  December 28 by Hamid Ansari, vice president of India, who, by reference to major perceptions of historiography as a craft, enjoined Indian historians to maintain both rigour and objectivity in their use of historical evidence. Professor Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, the general president of the session, in his address stressed the existence of a high degree of diversity in ancient Indian culture, which can be marked in different ways in Sanskrit literature. He ended by warning against any tendency today to consign India “to the black hole of robotic uniformity in the name of integration and unity”.

                The sectional presidents read their addresses in the afternoon of the first day. Professor M Krishnakumari, president of Ancient India section, explored early Indian Buddhism; Dr S Ali Nadeem Rezvi’s address in Medieval India section dealt with issues of Mughal architecture; Professor Amar Farooqui, presiding over the Modern India section, spoke on the British divide-and-rule policy as applied in its military establishment; Professor Arvind Sinha, in the section on Countries other than India, took up the concepts of empire in 18th-century France; and Professor G L Badam, president of the Archaeology section, dealt with the highly interesting issue of the evolution of animals and their relationship with human beings. Finally, Professor Shantha Sinha, as president of the section on Contemporary India, discussed problems of financing of higher education. 

                The papers from delegates occupied most of the time of the session, and the sections (three of them having to be divided into subsections), concluded only by the noon of December 30. The papers maintain the trends noticeable for quite a number of years towards gender and dalit history. In the Modern section there was a welcome increase in the number of papers on the national movement as well as the peasant movement, and anti-colonial resistance.

                In the evening of December 28, Professor Akeel Bilgrami (Columbia University, New York) delivered the Professor S C Misra Memorial Lecture on the political thought of Jawaharlal Nehru. On the 29^th, there was a symposium on the State in Indian History. Professor Jaya S Tyagi (Delhi) spoke on the nature of State in Ancient India, Professor Shireen Moosvi (Aligarh) dwelt on how the development of large territorial states progressively contributed to the growth of the idea of India. Professor Aditya Mukherjee (JNU) stressed the differences between the colonial State and the secular democratic State constructed after independence, which in his view, was now facing fresh threats posed to its fundamental character.

                The Jawaharlal Nehru University sponsored a two-day (December 29-30) panel on “Economy, Polity and Society in the Nehruvian Era: Its Contemporary Relevance.” Professor Yashpal, famous scientist and former chairman, UGC, stressed the significance of the scientific temper which was seen in every important measure that Jawaharlal Nehru undertook. Professor Sudhir Sopory, vice-chancellor, JNU, himself an eminent scientist, extolled Nehru’s contribution to the development of scientific research in India.

                The Aligarh Historians Society organised a similar two-day panel on “Forms of Inequality in Indian History.” All the 23 papers from historians and economists in different fields from all parts of India were pre-circulated and there were penetrating discussions of the nature and magnitude of inequality in the past and the contemporary epoch. There were important papers presented by Professors Utsa Patnaik, C P Chandrasekhar, Prabhat Patnaik and Jayati Ghosh on the growth of inequality and impoverishment under globalisation, while Professor Irfan Habib presented a critical note on the theories of rise of various forms of inequality in class societies.  

                On the sidelines of the Congress, the Rajya Sabha TV took interviews of a number of historians and organised panel discussions, which on being telecast, enabled audiences throughout the country to appreciate what concerns serious historians have, about both the past and the present.

The general business meeting of the Indian History Congress took place on the last day (December 30) in the afternoon. Two important resolutions ( one is already published in People's Democracy) placed before it by the executive committee were passed unanimously. The first dealt with the threat posed to objective history-writing by statements from influential quarters seeking to replace factual history with mythology, exception being specially taken to the prime minister’s claim that the Indians in hoary past knew plastic surgery of a kind that modern medicine has not attained. This resolution received wide publicity in the press, the Indian History Congress being perhaps the first academic organisation to issue such a warning against the chauvinistic and divisive notions of India’s past that the present BJP regime is promoting. It stands in sharp contrast to how the Science Congress, long nurtured by Jawaharlal Nehru, has now at its Mumbai session opened its doors to gross fantasies about India’s past, in line with the wishes of the ruling establishment.

                The other resolution related to the violations of rules of preservation and restoration in the work carried out by a private agency (Aga Khan Foundation) at Humayun’s tomb, Delhi. It urged an enquiry into how this happened and demanded that all preservation, restoration work by similar private agencies be stayed until the whole matter is clarified.

                The Indian History Congress elected Professor Mushirul Hasan (Delhi) as the general president for the next session. Professor Irfan Habib and Professor Indu Banga were elected vice-presidents. Professor Ishrat Alam (Aligarh) was elected secretary of the Congress and Professor Ramesh Rawat the treasurer.  The sectional presidents elected for the next session are: Ancient India: Prof Kunal Chakravarti; Medieval India: Prof Sanjay Subodh; Modern India: Prof Chandi Nanda; Countries other than India: Prof Lipi Ghosh; Archaeology: Dr Rakesh Tewari, director general, ASI (New Delhi); and Contemporary India: Prof S Irfan Habib (New Delhi).

                The general business meeting by a special resolution expressed great appreciation of the facilities for the session and hospitality provided to the delegates by the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Thanks were especially addressed to Professor Rakesh Batabyal, the organising secretary, and his colleagues and volunteers for the dedicated and efficient manner in which they looked after the delegates. Much appreciation was also extended to Professor Z H Jafri (Delhi University), who completed his three-year term as secretary of the Congress with this session. 

                The following members were elected unopposed to the executive cumulates.

Professor Raj Sekhar Basu (Kolkata); Dr Rakesh Batabyal (JNU); Professor Kuldeep Singh Dhillon (Patiala); Dr A Gangadharan (BHU); Professor Rajan Gurukkul (Bengaluru); Professor Suchandra Ghosh (Kolkata); Professor Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri (Delhi); Professor G T Kulkarni (Pune); Professor Dharmindra Kumar (Darbhanga);  Professor Ruby Maloni (Mumbai); Dr Lakshmikant Mishra (Ravenshaw, Cuttack); Professor Shireen Moosvi (Aligarh); Professor Aditya Mukherjee (JNU); Professor Sajal Nag (Silchar); Professor Hitendra Patel (Kolkata); Professor N Rajendran (Trichuriaplli); Professor Bhagbana Sahu (Berhampur); Professor B K Sharma (Jaipur); Professor C P N Sinha (Bhagalpur); and Professor P Srinath (Warangal).