# Sumit Sarkar defends Towards Freedom project against ICHR charges 2026-08-14T22:07:03+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Historian Sumit Sarkar has rejected allegations that the Towards Freedom project was biased or wasted public funds. Speaking to Frontline, Sarkar said that not a paisa of Indian Council for Historical Research money passed through his hands. He edited the volume for 1946, submitting his manuscript to the council in 1995. The ICHR's own minutes from September 1998 show it was sent to Oxford University Press for publication. Sarkar defended including the 1946 communal riots and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in the volume. He said critics dislike the chapter on anti-British movements because communists featured prominently there, while the RSS was absent. The project aimed to document the last decade before Freedom and Partition, covering diverse movements. Sarkar stressed that editorial comment was kept minimal so readers could judge the documents themselves. ## Coverage - frontline.thehindu.com Tags: Delhi University, ICHR, Sumit Sarkar, Towards Freedom Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/sumit-sarkar-defends-towards-freedom-project-against-ichr-charges/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/sumit-sarkar-defends-towards-freedom-project-against-ichr-charges/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.