Bharatiya Jana Sangh - Syama Prasad Mukherjee

The BJP's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, popularly known as the Jana Sangh, founded by Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951 in response to the politics of the dominant Congress party. 

Who is Syama Prasad Mukherjee?

Syama Prasad Mukherjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was born in a Bengali Brahmin family on 6 July 1901 in Calcutta.

In bengal, five Brahmin clans, known as Mukherjees, Chatterjees, Banerjees, Gangulys and Bhattacharjees, were each designated as Kulina ("superior") in order to differentiate them from the more established local Brahmins. They were called Kulin Brahmin. They trace their ancestry to five families of Kannauj (Pancha Gauda) who migrated to Bengal. Pancha Gauda is one of the two major groupings of Brahmins in Hinduism, of which the other is Pancha-Dravida.[3]

Syama Prasad Mukherjee served as the Minister for Industry and Supply in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat-Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. [2]

What is Liaquat-Nehru Pact?

The Liaquat–Nehru Pact (or the Delhi Pact) was a bilateral treaty between India and Pakistan in which refugees were allowed to return to dispose of their property, abducted women and looted property were to be returned, forced conversions were unrecognized, and minority rights were confirmed. The treaty was signed in New Delhi by the Prime Minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan on April 8, 1950. The treaty was the outcome of six days of talks sought to guarantee the rights of minorities in both countries after the Partition of India and to avert another war between them.[2]

Mukherjee, protested against the Liaquat-Nehru Pact, resigned and with the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951. Mukherjee is also regarded as the founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[2]

He was against the Quit India movement. Mukherjee joined the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal in 1939 and became its acting president that same year. He was appointed as the working president of the organisation in 1940. In February 1941, Mukherjee told a Hindu rally that if Muslims wanted to live in Pakistan they should "pack their bag and baggage and leave India ... [to] wherever they like".[2]

Mukherjee began to have differences with Mahasabha after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, in which the organisation was blamed by Sardar Patel for creating the atmosphere that led to the killing. Mukherjee suggested the organisation suspend its political activities.[2]

The BJS was created with the objective of nation-building and nationalising all non-Hindus by "inculcating Bharatiya Culture" in them. The party was ideologically close to the RSS and widely considered the proponent of Hindu nationalism.[2]

Mukherjee was strongly opposed to Article 370, seeing it as a threat to national unity. He fought against it inside and outside the parliament with one of the goals of Bharatiya Jana Sangh being its abrogation. Under Sheikh Abdullah, it was mandatory for an Indian to furnish a permit to enter Kashmir. In protest against the permit policy, Shyama Prasad entered Kashmir without a permit and was arrested. He was kept in detention, his illness and failing health reported to none, and he passed away in detention on Jun 23, 1953 after a massive heart attack. Jammu rose in revolt against this as Mookherjee had passed away fighting for the Praja Parishad cause. [1]

Atal Bihari Vajpayee claimed in 2004 that the arrest of Mukherjee in Jammu and Kashmir was a "Nehru conspiracy".[6]. The BJP in 2011 called for an inquiry to probe Mukherjee's death.[7]

On 5 August 2019, when Government of India proposed constitutional Amendment to repeal Article 370, many newspapers described the event as realization of Syama Prasad Mukherjee's dream[5]

One of main thoroughfare in Calcutta was renamed Syama Prasad Mukherjee Road on 3 July 1953 a few days after his death. Syamaprasad College founded by him in 1945 in Kolkata is named after him. Shyama Prasad Mukherji College of University of Delhi was established in 1969 in his memory. On 7 August 1998, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation named a bridge after Mukherjee. Delhi has a major road named after Mukherjee called Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Marg. Kolkata, too, has a major road called Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road. In 2001, the main research funding institute of the Government of India, CSIR, instituted a new fellowship named after him.

Shyam Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre – Headquarters of Municipal Corporation of Delhi

On 22 April 2010, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) newly constructed Rs. 650-crore building, the tallest building in Delhi, was named the Doctor Syama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre. It was inaugurated by Home Minister P. Chidambaram. The building, which is estimated to cater to 20,000 visitors per day, will also house different wings and offices of the MCD. The MCD also built the Syama Prasad Swimming Pool Complex which hosted aquatic events during the 2010 Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi.

Portrait of Syama Prasad Mukherjee in Parliament of India In 2012, a flyover at Mathikere in Bangalore City Limits was inaugurated and named the Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee Flyover. The International Institute of Information Technology, Naya Raipur is named after him. In 2014, a multipurpose indoor stadium built on the Goa University campus in Goa was named after Mukherjee.

The government of India approved the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) with an outlay of ₹51.42 billion (US$670 million) on 16 September 2015. The Mission was launched by the Prime Minister on 21 February 2016 at Kurubhata, Murmunda Rurban Cluster, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh. In April 2017, Ranchi College was upgraded to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University. In September 2017, Kolar, a town in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, was renamed as Shyama Prasad Mukherji Nagar by the state's Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

On 12 January 2020, the Kolkata Port Trust was renamed as Syama Prasad Mukherjee Port by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Chenani-Nashri Tunnel on NH44 in Jammu and Kashmir was renamed after Mukherjee by the Indian government in 2020.

References

1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/shyama-prasad-mukherjee/story-J6ST2hkuXUhOAXI3eZJDVK.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukherjee
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syama_Prasad_Mukherjee
4. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nehru-conspiracy-led-to-shyama-prasads-death-atal/articleshow/768217.cms
5. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article-370-martyrdom-of-dr-mukherjee-for-complete-integration-of-jk-honoured-says-ram-madhav/article28820818.ece
6. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nehru-conspiracy-led-to-shyama-prasads-death-atal/articleshow/768217.cms
7. https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/bjp-demands-inquiry-into-sp-mukherjee-s-death-claims-murder-conspiracy-by-sheikh-abdullah/story-8bQWp9xZwfZy0OYUY5FaZP.html