NMML EC member Pratap Bhanu Mehta resigns as panel goes with 'RSS choice'

A fresh controversy has erupted over the appointment of director at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) after a prominent member of its Executive Council Pratap Bhanu Mehta allegedly quit over shortlisting of Shakti Sinha who had served as private secretary to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.  According to the Indian Express, Sinha was working with RSS-linked think tank India Foundation until a few days ago.

A renowned political scientist, Mehta had raised objections over the selection of former bureaucrat Sinha, which, however, was the "majority opinion" of selection panel constituted by the NMML Executive Council and headed by Union Minister MJ Akbar, IE reported. The panel also chose Prof Kapil Kumar of IGNOU for the post, which it forwarded to the Executive Council. 

As per the report, Prasar Bharti CEO A Surya Prakash, Kumar Sanjay  Krishna  and Makhan Lal were also search committee members. The report added that MJ Akbar and Surya Prakash were on the India Foundation with Sinha as directors. Ram Madhav is the board of director of the organisation. The Executive Committee's chairperson Lokesh Chandra was left out. He too had objections against Sinha being the top choice for the post.

As per the the Wire,  Mehta in his resignation said, "I write to submit my resignation as member of the Executive Committee of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. I was appointed to the Committee by the present government. But developments of the last few weeks lead me to conclude that NMML is heading in a direction that makes me uncomfortable."

Mehta's other contention is that the advertisement changed the qualification from 'scholar or writer' to 'scholar or writer or administrator' for the director’s post, without the EC's approval. He said that he did not believe that Sinha's was the right candidate for the post. "Nothing in the track record of this candidate leads me to believe that he can provide the kind of exemplary intellectual leadership NMML needs at this point in its history," he said in his letter.

"Appointing an administrator who does not have the requisite track record in the field of scholarship, or the world of letters more generally, sends a very bad signal about the stature of NMML as an institution. I believe that the appointment of such a person also violates the spirit in which the executive committee had revised the qualifications for the post of director.... As I had pointed out in the meeting of the selection committee, the advertisement we put out was at variance with the formulations of the executive committee. This advertisement paved the way, in a way in which we had not intended, for a pure administrator to be considered for the position. This advertisement was not approved by the executive committee.," he said in the letter.

He also felt that the move lead marginalise academic considerations of "credibility, scholarly credentials, or larger contributions to the world of ideas or thinking" which was not ideal for the NMML. He also said that an impression was being made that institutions like NMML were vulnerable to multiple political and administrative pressures. 

At a meeting on Saturday, the Executive Council decided to forward these two names to the Culture Ministry but due to the prevailing disagreements, Mehta, decided to bring his dissent on record and quit the NMML.

The post of director at NMML has been vacant since 2015 after UPA appointee Mahesh Rangarajan stepped down. 

An IAS officer of 1979 batch from AGMUT cadre, Sinha was considered as a highly influential joint secretary of Vajpayee's PMO in late 90s. He has also served as private secretary to Vajpayee. He had taken voluntary retirement from the services in 2013 when he was serving as Finance secretary in Delhi government.