New Delhi: For decades, historian Romila Thapar has been criticised by Hindu groups in India. Now, a “nationalist think tank”, the ReThink India Institute based in Greater Noida, has reportedly awarded Anurag Sharma — the managing trustee of an NGO called Infinity Foundation India — for his “takedown” of Thapar in an anthology edited by Hindutva ideologue Rajiv Malhotra.
The award is named the Bibek Debroy Bharatiya Bauddhik Parampara Samvardhan Prashasti 2025, after the late economist, scholar, bureaucrat and translator. It has now emerged that the organisation did not take permission from Debroy’s family before using his name for the award.
When it was pointed out to it by Debroy’s family, the organisation doubled down on its use of Debroy’s name, categorically saying it needed no permission from the “biological family”. In response to another user, it targeted the family for engaging in what it called “an egoistic vendetta drive”.
“Permission to Remember and Cheer a Profound Public Personality inspiring the hearts and instigating the minds of millions to take on serious scholarship work in Bharatiya Bauddhik Parampara. Permission from Whom? Permission for What? Bibek Da Sabke Hain,” it wrote in response to a post by Suparna, wife of Bibek Debroy, who said she was managing his X handle.
Malhotra edited the anthology, The Ten Heads of Ravana: A Critique of Hinduphobic Scholars, with Divya Reddy, a trustee at Infinity Foundation.
“We have great news – Rethink India Institute in Delhi @rethinkindia108 is awarding Anurag Sharma the Bibek Debroy Bharatiya Bauddhik Parampara Samvardhan Prashasti, 2025 for taking down Romila Thapar in our book The Ten Heads of Ravana :),” Malhotra wrote in a congratulatory post on X.
Late Wednesday, Suparna replied to it, saying she had no information regarding this award and found it “very strange.”
Malhotra responded to Suparna’s post. “They have given many awards in the names of various important luminaries, and one of them happens to be Bibek Debroy ji. We are looking into the matter and have already contacted the organisers to ensure that due permission has been taken,” he wrote.
After Suparna asked that the announcement be taken down immediately, saying “no such permission exists”, Malhotra deleted his congratulatory post.
Early Thursday morning, the think tank began copy-pasting another reply under dozens of posts questioning its use of Debroy’s name without informing the family.
The organisation did npt respond to ThePrint’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Debroy, who died at the age of 69 in November 2024, served in several key roles under the Narendra Modi government, including as chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC). He also hosted a television programme on Sansad TV titled Itihasa, which explored India’s history and cultural heritage.
Malhotra and Reddy’s book, a collection of ten essays, targets ten historians, scholars and writers as the ten heads of Ravana. These include Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Shashi Tharoor, Ramachandra Guha, Sheldon Pollock, Wendy Doniger, Devdutt Pattanaik, Kancha Ilaiah and Michael Witzel.
“Ravana was a scholar par excellence, but he was on the wrong side of Dharma. Hence, Shri Rama waged a war against him to prevent a breakdown of society. Similarly, today’s embodiments of the historical Ravana—academically influential personalities—are seen as grossly mischaracterising the Dharmic way of life and the history of Bharata,” reads a description of the book.
ReThink India Institute
The organisation describes itself on X as being committed to the vision of a “Divya and Bhavya Bharat”. Founded in 2015, it positions itself as an action-cum-advocacy platform aimed at nurturing what it calls the “Indic view”.
“ReThink India Institute nurtures a wide variety of communities of practice at the interface of academia, industry and government to catalyse all-round excellence and accentuate an Atma Nirbhar, Samriddhi, Divya and Bhavya Bharat,” its website states.
Since 23 January, the think tank has announced a series of awards to several individuals, including Subodh Agarwal, former additional chief secretary of Rajasthan; Rahul Dewan, founder of Sangam Talks; Prem Kumar Khosla, Kuladhipati of Shoolini Vishwavidyalaya; Madhu Vig, founder of The Holy Academy, Nainital; and Jaijit Bhattacharya, president of the Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP).
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)