National Museum to be painted saffron?

Bring on the accusations of ‘saffronisation’. The government has chosen Dr Buddha Rashmi Mani as the next director general of the capital’s National Museum. Who is Mani? Just the guy who, during his stint at Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), led the 2003 expedition that found features of a tenth-century temple beneath the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Mani stands by his report on the excavation, which was welcomed by Sangh Parivar outfits but criticised by Muslim groups, and claims he was replaced as the leader of the excavation because he refused to follow the Allahabad High Court’s orders to continue digging. Mani, who retired last year as ASI additional director general, has been appointed to the museum for a period of three years or till he attains the age of 70.

Mani is not the only Sangh favourite to be anointed chief of a major government-funded cultural organisation. In April, the government dissolved and reconstituted the board of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), and selected Ram Bahadur Rai as its president. Rai was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student organisation affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and courted controversy for questioning the role of Dr BR Ambedkar in the framing of the Constitution.