New Delhi,(The Telegraph): The NDA government today declared as "completed" a four-decade effort to document India's freedom struggle, provoking anger among some historians who smelt an effort to mask the RSS "refusal" to join the independence movement.

Human resource development minister Smriti Irani told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the project "Towards Freedom: Documents on the Movement of Independence in India", conducted by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), had been declared "completed".

"Project declared completed. However, printing is under process," Irani said.

The ICHR was supposed to bring out a series, with a single part (volume) or multiple parts for each of the last 10 years of the freedom struggle, from 1937 to 1947, compiling documents from archives, museums and private persons.

While more than 10 volumes have been published, the editorial team has not yet finished the second part for 1942. The second part for 1941, the first part for 1942 and the third part for 1947 are waiting to be printed, ICHR sources said.

The minister's reply has thrown a question mark over the fate of the incomplete volume.

"Since the minister said the project is complete, that means the second part of 1942 will not come out," said Salil Mishra, the editor for the 1942 volumes.

Mishra, who teaches at Ambedkar University here, said he took over as editor after the original editors died. At a recent meeting with ICHR chairman Y. Sudarshan Rao, who has recently resigned, Mishra had sought two research assistants to help him compile the second part.

"The ICHR is yet to provide the research assistants," Mishra said.

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, the chief editor of the volumes, said: "I will honour the minister's statement. The minister's statement must be based upon information received from the ICHR."

The project had been criticised by the NDA. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, two volumes - one on 1941 and another on 1946 - were withdrawn from the press. They were printed when the UPA came to power.

"The NDA government did not want the role of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha to come out. They withdrew the books," said Irfan Habib, a historian who headed the ICHR for several years from 1987.

The present decision to wind up the project is aimed at shielding the same organisations, he said.

"The RSS had refused to participate in the freedom movement. The government does not want that such facts should come out," Habib added.

However, other scholars have blamed Habib for the delay in the project, which was launched in 1973.

They have also said the delay has led to a waste of funds. According to the minister's reply, the ICHR has spent Rs 2.45 crore on the project.

Habib, however, said the task was huge and warranted a lot of time.

"The government in the late 1980s changed the focus and wanted the research project to be more elaborate. The enormity of the work led to delay," Habib said.