New Delhi: Vice-chancellors of all the 27 state universities of Rajasthan were left stunned when governor Kalraj Mishra slyly forced them to buy multiple copies of his newly published biography.
Some of the VCs embarrassingly recollect the whole episode that unfolded on Mishra’s 80th birthday on July 1. Mishra’s biography Nimitt Maatra Hoon Main (I Am Just A Medium) was launched on the day in a hardcover coffee table format by chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Rajasthan assembly speaker C.P. Joshi were also present at the event.
Immediately after the launch, the VCs met the governor. However, on their way back from the venue, their drivers informed them that the governor’s staff had handed two cartons of books and a bill worth Rs 68,383 for each VC.
The bill, accessed by the Indian Express, showed that the VCs were charged for 18 copies of five different titles, including his biography, which his long-standing officer on special duty (OSD) Govind Ram Jaiswal has co-authored with Dr D.K. Taknet, who has been associated with the International Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (IIME), Jaipur. The bill showed that a 10% discount was given to the VCs, while an additional copy was given for free.
The cover of Kalraj Mishra’s coffee table book ‘Nimitt Maatra Hoon Main’. Photo: Twitter/@ombirlakota
“In the meeting with the governor, someone took the names and numbers of our drivers. We thought it was perhaps to give them food and water,” a VC, who did not wish to be named, told the national daily.
However, when the VCs reached their homes and offices, they were in for another surprise. Even as the bill was given to them for five different titles, the cartons contained only copies of Mishra’s biography priced at Rs 3999.
“The rules for procurement are clearly laid out in the Rajasthan Transparency in Public Procurement (RTPP) Act, 2012. How can universities be loaded with these books in such a unilateral manner? The state’s 27 universities specialise in fields such as technical, health, agriculture, veterinary, law etc. Why does each university have to foot the bill for so many books, and under what head will we bear the expenses,” one of the VCs told the Indian Express.
Mishra’s office, however, rubbished the charges against the governor. When asked about the whole episode by the Indian Express, secretary to the governor Subir Kumar said that the VCs’ accusations were “rubbish”. “It is incorrect and baseless,” he said.
Mishra’s biography states that the proceeds from the sales of his biography would not be used for personal gain but for “research projects” on Rajasthan, among other things.
The book has a foreword by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mishra has recounted his long association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and its predecessor, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The biography has also been positively reviewed by President Ram Nath Kovind and former PM Manmohan Singh, who termed it as a “shandaar kriti” (wonderful work).
However, the governor’s biography doesn’t intend to hide its political inclinations at all. On page 116, a BJP advertisement is showcased prominently with the lotus symbol in the background and Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah urging people to “support the movement to build a ‘New India’”.
The text of the advertisement says: “Let us support the movement to build a ‘New India’. Join the party and strengthen our hands in this mission. Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.”
One of the VCs has said that such surrogate advertising for a particular party will be seen as unbecoming of a governor.
“The governor has indeed been associated with the RSS and BJP since long but it is indecorous of the chancellor’s office to propagate his former party,” the V-C said. “A state’s governor is also the chancellor of its universities,” the VC added.
One of the VCs, however, tacitly supported the governor. “I have not looked at the book. But if a book has been written about the honourable governor, then it should reach the universities, though their rate can be a different issue. [As for the contents,] Mishra has become a governor only now, it is about his entire life.”
The VCs have been asked to deposit the amount mentioned in the bill to a bank account of IIME, Jaipur. The choice of the bank account may also draw attention as one of the authors of the biography, Taknet, has been associated with IIME, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Science and Technology, for a long time. His wife Sujata Taknet has also claimed credit for being the “lead researcher” of the book.
A VC asked the Indian Express how “a research organisation under the Ministry of Science and Technology is publishing a coffee table book on the governor as science research”.
Interestingly, the daily also reported that “two books mentioned in the bill presented to the VCs, Jaipur: Gem of India and The Marwari Heritage, had been sent by the IIME to state universities back in January 2020”, and that “as many as 25 copies each of the two books were sent to universities, asking them for Rs 4,950 and Rs 3,200 per copy, respectively.”
