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The brutal murder of Patna
University Professor and eminent historian
Papiya Ghosh has shocked academicians all
over the country.
“It is an irreparable loss.
Her dastardly murder in the capital is
reprehensible".
Thus was the unanimous view
of JNU academicians who gathered in New
Delhi on Monday to condole the brutal
killing of the Patna-based historian.
The Faculty of Centre For
Historical Studies (CHS), School of Social
Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, in a meeting on
Monday to mourn Papiya, recalled her love
for Bihar where she chose to work.
Her association with the
CHS, JNU, as a visiting Scholar earlier this
year was also recalled. CHS Chairperson
Aditya Mukherjee, will send a formal letter
of condolence to her family.
Many JNU Faculty Members,
including Monidipa Banerjee (Philosophy
Department), Sucheta Mahajan and Vijaya
Ramaswamy (both History Department) attended
the Condolence Meet on JNU campus.
Papiya’s colleagues at
Indian Institute of Advance Study (IIAS),
Shimla, where she was a Fellow from 1993-96,
also expressed their shock and anger. A
Condolence Meeting is being planned by the
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library at Teen
Murti Bhavan in New Delhi.
Another noted modern Indian
historian, Mridula Mukherjee, Director of
the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, told
TOI on phone: “We are still under complete
shock over the ghastly murder of Papiya. I
still cannot believe she is dead,” Mukherjee
said in a choked voice.
“We had recently invited her
to JNU as a Visiting Fellow. She was also
associated with the Nehru Museum and Library
during the 90s. She was an outstanding
historian and a wonderful human being,”
Mukherjee said, adding she was among few
persons who had no negative traits.
Academicians in Delhi will
soon sit together and decide their future
course of action. Peaceful protest march,
signature campaign and candle light vigil
would be held, she added.
Sucheta Mahajan, a close
associate of Papiya, told TOI on phone from
New Delhi that Papiya’s first book, part of
a trilogy on the 20th century Bihar, will be
published very soon by Routledge. It is in
press. She has highlighted the predicament
of the Bihari Muslims displaced during the
Partition of the country. She was also
working on Bhojpuri culture, Mahajan said.
Papiya had a brilliant mind.
She was among a handful of historians of
modern and contemporary India who combined
deep knowledge of their subject with
commitment to the milieu. Mahajan, who
teaches modern Indian history at JNU, said:
“At a personal level, she was a treasured
friend and was very generous.”
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