Yellapragada Sudershan Rao is an Indian historian, who was appointed as the chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) by the Government of India, serving from July 2014 to July 2017. He was formerly a professor of history at Kakatiya University in Telangana, and had previously served as a member of the ICHR. He was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana, an affiliate of the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the head of its Andhra Pradesh branch. Prior to his appointment, he was a relatively unknown historian with no history of publishing research in peer-reviewed publications, and his appointment was seen as an effort by the administration of Narendra Modi to fill government institutions with individuals ideologically aligned wit