Mridula Mukherjee

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Mridula Mukherjee

Mukherjee on Foundation Day of National Movement Front at JNU

 (2016)

Born 1950

New Delhi, India

Alma mater Delhi University (B.A.)

Jawaharlal Nehru University (M.A., Ph.D.)

Spouse Aditya Mukherjee

Mridula Mukherjee (née Mahajan) is an Indian historian known for her work on the role
of peasants in the Indian independence movement. She is an ex-chairperson of the
Centre for Historical Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and former
director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

Early life and education[edit]

Mukherjee was born in hindu family in 1950 in New Delhi, India. Her parents, Vidya
Dhar Mahajan and Savitri Shori Mahajan, had been renowned teachers of history
in Lahore, from where they emigrated to New Delhi following the Partition of India in
1947.[1][2] Her sister, Sucheta Mahajan, is a professor of Indian history at JNU,[3] and her
brother is Ajay Mahajan.[2] Mukherjee is married to the historian Aditya Mukherjee. They
have a daughter, Madhavi.[2]

Mukherjee graduated from Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi. She joined Jawaharlal
Nehru University (JNU) as a post-graduate student in 1971, from where she obtained
a PhD degree.[4] Her doctoral thesis advisor was Bipan Chandra.[5]

Career[edit]
In 1972, while working on her doctoral thesis, Mukherjee was hired by the Centre for
Historical Studies, JNU, as a faculty member,[5] from where she retired as a professor of
history. She was a chairperson of the Centre as well. In 2005, she was appointed
the director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

Research[edit]
She investigated agrarian history in the Punjab.[6] She argued that despite extensive
irrigation works, colonialisation caused agricultural involution, with the number of
workers per unit area rising and production dropping.[7] She also analysed peasant
movements in the erstwhile princely states of the Punjab across the pre- and post-1947
periods.[8] Her critical analysis of a Marxian orientation of peasant consciousness has
been highlighted.[9]
A common thread running through Mukherjee's work has been a criticism of
the Subaltern mode of historical inquiry,[10] which informs her analysis of peasant
movements as well as her other major contribution: modern Indian history. This is
encapsulated by the two books co-written with Bipan Chandra et al: India's Struggle for
Independence and India after independence: 1947-2000. In the former book, the
authors sought to "demolish the influence of the Cambridge and Subaltern 'schools'
reflected in the writing on colonialism and nationalism in India".[11]

Ideology[edit]
After Mukherjee was appointed the director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and
Library (NMML) two letters, written between February 2008 and June 2009 and signed
by various academics, including Ramchandra Guha and Sumit Sarkar were sent to the
NMML's executive council complaining of alleged deterioration in scholarly standards of
the centre.[4][12][13]

Supporting Mukherjee, another set of academics, including Irfan Habib and Madhu
Kishwar, wrote to the Prime Minister of India protesting her treatment. Mukherjee herself
pointed out that under her tenure, the NMML had completed a ten-volume publication of
the selected works of Jayaprakash Narayan, besides initiating a digitisation project.[4][14][15]

The executive council disregarded the petition and extended Mukherjee's tenure for
another two years.[4]

Following the end of her appointment, a search for her replacement ended up in a court
case with accusations of irregularities. The Delhi High Court struck down the
appointment of Mukherjee's successor on the grounds that the process was faulty and
against norms.[16]

Selected publications[edit]
Books[edit]
 Chandra, Bipan; Mukherjee, Mridula (14 October 2000). India's Struggle for
Independence. Penguin. ISBN 978-81-8475-183-3.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (8 September 2004). Peasants in India's Non-Violent
Revolution: Practice and Theory. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-81-321-
0289-2.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (23 November 2005). Colonizing Agriculture: The Myth of
Punjab Exceptionalism. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-3404-2.
 Chandra, Bipan; Mukherjee, Aditya; Mukherjee, Mridula (2008). India Since
Independence. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-310409-4.
 Mukherjee, Aditya; Mukherjee, Mridula; Mahajan, Sucheta (5 August
2008). RSS, School Texts and the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi: The Hindu
Communal Project. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-81-321-0047-8.
Articles[edit]
  Mukherjee, Mridula (1973). "Premchand and the Agrarian
Classes". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Chandigarh.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (1979). "Peasant Movement in Patiala State, 1937-
48". Studies in History. I (2): 215–283.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (28 June 1980). "Some Aspects of Agrarian Structure of
Punjab, 1925-47". Economic and Political Weekly. XV (26): A46–A58.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (1985). "Commercialisation and Agrarian Change in Pre-
Independence Punjab". In Raj, K.N. (ed.). Essays on the Commercialisation
of Indian Agriculture. Oxford University Press.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (1995). "The Bardoli Peasants Struggle, 1928". In Dayal,
Ravi (ed.). We Fought Together for Freedom. Oxford University Press.
 Mukherjee, Mridula (2002). "Indian Historiography: Ideological and Political
Challenges". In Raghavan, Hema V. (ed.). Contending Ideologies: A Quest
for New Moorings. Gargi.

References[edit]
1. ^ Khan, Zaman (5 April 2015). "India and Pakistan have a shared history". The News on
Sunday. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c Mukherjee, Mridula. Peasants in India's Non-Violent Revolution: Practice
and Theory (PDF). pp. 12–13.
3. ^ Mukul, Akshaya (29 December 2010). "Nehru library head on Cong panel, flouts rules". The
Times of India. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Sarkar, Bishakha De (23 August 2009). "'I call them the 'Secret Seven' —
because the first letter was anonymous'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26
April 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Meiling, Bhoomika (July 2009). "In conversation with ... Prof. Mridula
Mukherjee". JNU News. 4.
6. ^ Banga, Indu; Grewal, J. S. (2009). "The Study of Regional History". In Ray, Bharati
(ed.). Different Types of History. Pearson Education India. p. 216. ISBN 978-81-317-1818-6.
7. ^ Bosma, Ulbe (7 October 2013). The Sugar Plantation in India and Indonesia: Industrial
Production, 1770-2010. Cambridge University Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-107-03969-8.
8. ^ Ramusack, Barbara N. (19 December 2003). The Indian Princes and their States.
Cambridge University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-139-44908-3.
9. ^ SinghaRoy, Debal (2006). "Review of "Peasants in India's non-violent revolution: Practice
and theory (Sage series in Modern Indian History - V) by Mridula Mukherjee"". Sociological
Bulletin. 55 (3): 490. JSTOR 23620768.
10. ^ Ruud, Arild E. (1999). "The Indian Hierarchy: Culture, Ideology and Consciousness in
Bengali Village Politics" (PDF). Modern Asian Studies. 33 (3): 689–
732. doi:10.1017/s0026749x9900342x. S2CID 73695060.
11. ^ Israel, Milton (Summer 1991). "Review: India's Struggle for Independence 1857-
1947". Pacific Affairs. 64 (2): 272. doi:10.2307/2759990. JSTOR 2759990.
12. ^ Jayaram, Rahul (1 August 2009). "'My Reputation Can Take Mudslinging'". Open
Magazine. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
13. ^ Advani, Rukun; Guha, Ramachandra; Kesavan, Mukul; Lahiri, Nayanjot (27 June
2009). "Saving the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library". The Economic Times.
14. ^ Kishwar, Madhu; Sinha, Shantha; Dev, Arjun; Singh, Madan Gopal (27 June
2009). "Popularising the values of the Freedom Struggle". The Economic Times.
Retrieved 22 June 2015.
15. ^ Tripathi, Shailaja (3 June 2011). "The past clicks on in Delhi". The Hindu.
16. ^ Mukhopadhyay, Nilanjan (25 September 2011). "Another twist to the Nehru Memorial spat".
Asian Correspondent. Retrieved 22 June 2015.