A Tribute to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee on his 109th Birth Anniversary

By Laimayum Bashanta Sharma *

Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was born on July 6, 1901 in Kolkata, the capital of British India. His father was Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee,an advocate, well known as Bengal tiger and his mother was Jogmaya Devi Mukherjee. He obtained his degrees from the University of Calcutta.

Mukherjee graduated in English securing the first position in first class in 1921 and also did MA in 1923 and BL in 1924. He became a fellow of the senate in 1924 after his father's death. Subsequently, he left England in 1926 to study at Lincoln's Inn and became a barrister in 1927. At the age of 33,Mukherjee became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, and held the office till 1938.

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was elected as member of the Legislative Council of Bengal, as an Indian National Congress candidate representing Calcutta University but resigned next year when Congress decided to boycott the legislature.

Subsequently, he contested the election as an independent candidate and got elected. He was the Finance Minister of Bengal Province during 1941-42. He emerged as a spokesman for Hindus and shortly joined Hindu Mahasabha and in 1944, he became the President.

He was political leader who felt the need to counteract the communalist and separatist Muslim League of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding either exaggerated Muslim rights or a Muslim state of Pakistan. He wanted Hindu Mahasabha not to be restricted to Hindus alone. Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu fanatic , the Mahasabha was blamed chiefly for the heinous act and became deeply unpopular. Mukherjee himself condemned the murder and left the Party.

The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inducted him in the Interim Central Government as a Minister for Industry and Supply. On issue of the 1949 Delhi Pact with Pakistani Prime Minister Liyaqat Ali Khan, Mukherjee resigned from the Cabinet on April 6,1950. Mukherjee was firmly against Nehru's invitation to the Pakistani PM, and their joint pact to establish minority commissions and gurantee minority rights in both Countries.

He wanted to hold Pakistan directly responsible for the terrible influx of millions of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan, who had left state fearing religious suppression and violence aided by the state. Mukherjee considered Nehru's actions as appeasement, and was hailed as a hero by the people of West Bengal.

He founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh(BJS) on October 21, 1951, following his parting ways with Nehru. The BJS was ideologically close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and widely considered the political arm of Hindu Nationalism. It was opposed to appeasement of India's Muslims and favoured free –market economics as opposed to the socialist policies pursued by Nehru.

The BJS also favored a uniform civil code governing personal law matters for both Hindus and Muslims,wanted to ban cow slaughter and end the special status given to the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. The BJS founded Hindutva agenda which became the wider political expression of India's Hindu majority. In the year 1952, general elections to the Parliament of India he and his BJS won three seats.

He opposed the Indian National Congress's decision to grant Kashmir a special status with each own flag and Prime Minister. According to Congress's decision, no one, including the President of India could enter into Kashmir without the permission of Kashmir's Prime Minister.

In opposition to this decision, he once said "ek desh mein do vidhan, do pradhan and do nishan nahi challenge" (A single country can't have two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two national emblems).

He went to visit Kashmir in 1953, and observed a hunger strike to protest the law that prohibited Indian citizens from settling in a state within their own country and mandated that they carry ID cards. He was arrested on May 11 while crossing border into Kashmir. Although the ID card rule was revoked owing to his efforts, he died as detenu on June 23 , 1953 under mysterious circumstances.

His death in custody raised wide suspicion across the country and demands for independent enquiry were raised, including earnest requests from his mother, Jogmaya Devi, to Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru declared that he had enquired from a number of persons who were privy to the facts and, according to him , there was no mystery behind Mukherjee's death.

Jogmaya Devi did not accept Nehru's reply and requested the setting up of an impartial enquiry. Nehru however ignored the letter and no enquiry commission was set up. His death therefore remains a matter of some controversy.