Dharma Kumar

The Calcutta Diary (March 4) about our colleague Dharma Kumar is a sad reflection on AM because any objective reader would be at a loss to find any rhyme or reason in writing and publishing it. It is neither about Calcutta nor is it prompted by any noteworthy event elsewhere that should be of interest to readers. With due respect to AM, we wish to point out that his piece is full of malicious gossip whose provocation is unclear and possibly lies in the past when AM might have been a victim of the ‘formidable scorn’ of Dharma Kumar who has been a no-nonsense person with high personal and academic integrity.

Two questions arise:
One, should a column in an internationally widely circulated periodical like EPW be debased to a level of a yellow tabloid?
Two, is AM, being a trustee of the Sameeksha Trust, not grossly abusing his position and committing a breach of trust?