Prof. Rakesh Sinha-A Brief Introduction

Prof. Rakesh Sinha-A Brief Introduction

About Prof Rakesh Sinha

Prof Rakesh Sinha was born on 5^th September 1964. 5^th September is celebrated in India as Teachers Day. His village home is Manserpur, in Begusarai district in Bihar. He received his initial education in his village and middle school Naubatpur(patna). He then got admission in Netarhat school, Ranchi( then in Bihar now in Jhakhand), a prestigious school situated on a plateau at the height 3,337 feet.,through competitive

examination in which  thousands of students appear every year and only 60 get selected, after three layers of examinations.

Rakesh Sinha always excelled in academics..He secured sixth position in the merit list in 10^th class examination conducted by Bihar School Examination Board where he was honoured with  gold medal by the governor. The BSEB also conducted personality test among the students who secured first to 25^th position in the merit list and Sinha stood first and he was given one more Gold Medal in the function attended by the Chief Minister, Education Minister and Governor of the state.

Having secured high percentage in 12^th class examination conducted by Bihar Inter Council,

he got admission in the prestigious Hindu college, university of Delhi where he studied B.A (Hons.)political science and further M.A ,political science.

He continued with academic excellence and secured second position in University in B.A (Hons).In M.A ,he topped the university and was awarded Gold medal and prestigious Prof C J Chako award.

His accomplishments came amidst his endeavor to earn and survive in Delhi as he belonged to a modest middle class family. During his students days, he established himself as a journalist. His reports, analysis and articles were published in Hindi and English dailies and journals. Jansatta( Hindi daily) Hindustan(Hindi daily), Dinman (weekly) , Ravivar, Organiser, Panchajanya  and regional press were prominent among them.

He became Delhi correspondent of Onlooker, a fortnightly published from Mumbai and worked there for almost one and half year. The editor of Onlooker was Mr Rajat Sharma , now  the key man in India TV.

Due to the  brilliant academic record in M.A previous, ,Rakesh Sinha was given a choice to write a dissertation in M.A final. With  deep academic research,he pursued his dissertation on ‘Political Ideas of Dr K B Hedgewar’ which created ripples in Marxist dominated department of Political science in DU. He faced stiffed opposition and suggestions to leave the topic. But he remained firm and wrote the dissertation which was well received owing to its content due to intense research.  One of its findings was that RSS differed ideologically and organizationally with Hindu Mahasabha and its variant of Hindutva was not identical with the Mahasabha.  This was published in the Organiser , the RSS mouthpiece and generated a debate.

Sinha did his M Phil on a very important topic which remains least addressed – ‘Civil Liberties Movement in India with special reference of Andhra Pradesh’.  The dissertation got applauds . It was based on primary and secondary source and traced the history of civil liberties movement in India.It highlighted the role of Civil Liberties Union (CLU ) before independence and then discussed the condition of civil liberties in  post independent India.It was the period when the country witnessed constant confrontation between civil liberties and the authoritarian traits of the indian state.  Sinha discussed the reasons and backgrounds, ideology and modus operendi and also ideological confrontation in People’s Union of Civil Liberteis(PUCL). His dissertation focuses on ideological debate and confrontation in PUCL  in particular and civil liberties movement in general . He traced the  reasons for split in PUCl and the formation of the People’s Union for democratic Rights.  His work covered wide area , and underlined the ideological currents deviating the real objective of the civil liberties groups. Even smaller groups like People’s Rights Organisation (PRO) , Citizens for Democracy(CFD) ,  Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee others were discussed  and their ideological parentage was traced.He pointed that descent in credibility of these organizations was due to the presence of Marxists in them,who have never been a part of party system.

 

Dr Sinha ‘s Ph D thesis is very appealing and interesting. He worked on Communist party of India (Marxist): its organizational and Ideological tranformation since its inception in 1964, to 2007.  He did an extensive research on communist movement , internal debates inside the movement,  and the reasons for rise and decline of the CPI(M). His thesis is based on both primary sources and secondary sources and carries the references and quotes from unpublished interviews of more than ve dozen veteran Communist leaders of India .It included Indradeep Sinha, Bhagendra Jha, EMS Namboodiripad, Jyoti Basu, BT Ranidev, SA Dange, ,Mirajkar , Satya Bhkata. These interviews were taken under the Oral history project by Nehru Memorial Museum Library (Tin Murti) New Delhi. His dissertation is under publication .

Rakesh Sinha has been heading India Policy Foundation (IPF), a Delhi based Think tank since 2008 as its honorary director. As its founder director, he has been credited to establish it as a reputed research organisation. An eminent political scientist and Associate Professor at Delhi University, Prof Sinha has authored several books. He wrote the first authentic biography of Dr KB Hedgewar, RSS founder, in 2003. It was published by the Publication Division of the Government of India and is ranked as highest sold book under the series of ‘ Builders of Modern India’. His other works include , ‘Political Journalism’ (under the fellowship of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal), ‘Golwalkar (Shri Guruji) and Indian Muslims’, ‘Terrorism and Indian Media’.

Rakesh Sinha is credited to break the ice on the Sachar Committee report. His research based intervention  unravelled many facts on the committee’s functioning and report. His research paper related to this report was published in Hindi and other languages, with a title : "Roti, Rajya aur Rozgar' ka Sampradayikaran". It has been translated in Kannad, Malayalam , Marathi and Gujarati. Another feather in his cap, his monograph ‘Deceptive Equality’ (deconstructing Equal Opportunity Commission) was a major policy intervention which successfully dissuaded the government to bring a bill to form EOC. His latest edited book “Secular India: Politics of Minorityism”(Vitasta Publication) unveils the distorted social philosophy of the Indian state.

 Prof. Sinha has presented papers in various seminars which have been well appreciated . A few of them are- ‘Hindutva and Modernity’ (at JNU, Delhi),’ Dr Hedgewar and Social integration’ (Surat) ,’Nehru and Patel and their contributions’ (Baroda University). He has been contributing regularly in national dailies and journals. His column ‘The other voice’  is published  in New Indian Express fortnightly.

Due to his above credentials and research he is considered as the most authentic and well read RSS ideologue with well articulated and logical arguments and has been a frontrunner in propagating works and ideologies of RSS.