Rightwing leaders and activists are today pouring in tributes on social media to condole the death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, one of the finest academics Bengal has ever produced. A PIL was filed in Calcutta High Court yesterday, requesting a commission to probe his "mysterious" death in Kashmir. He was also one of the pioneers of rightwing politics in India, and the founder of Jana Sangh, which ultimately culminated in the BJP.
Even when he was the first industry minister of Bengal, Mookerjee was the first politician of free India who objected to the first amendment of Constitution undertaken by the Nehru government. In 1950, a leftist weekly journal in English, Cross Roads, authored by Romesh Thapar, was banned by the Madras government for publishing critical views on central government policy. The tussle to censor media also continued when, in response to severe criticism in the press about its response to the refugee influx in West Bengal and extra-judicial killings of communist activists in Madras, the government felt the need to restrict media.
Eventually, in 1951, the Nehru administration made a provision limiting Article 19(1)(a) of Constitution against "abuse of freedom of speech and expression". "My uncle vehemently opposed that in the Parliament, calling it an attempt to curb the rights of citizens. He was extremely liberal," said Justice (R) Chittotosh Mookerjee, nephew of S.P. Mookerjee.
Mookerjee was also a man who resisted any attempt by Indian or provincial governments, be it before or after Independence, to control academic institutes by curbing their autonomy. Being chairman of the nationwide body which oversaw the functioning of universities in India, Mookerjee played a key role in setting up of various institutes of India. He headed Indian Institute of Science for many years and was a close friend of Homi Bhabha, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and C.V. Raman, though he used to have occasional differences with the latter. He ensured autonomy in almost all institutes of Calcutta, Bombay, Bangalore and Madras through his interventions.
Third, Mookerjee was the man who, in 1945, wrote to then viceroy of India, Lord Wavell, against the partition of India. He also suggested the manner in which free India would be governed. One of them was a provision for the minorities to get special rights in India, and they could go to international court if such rights are violated. "And the verdict of that body would have to be binding on everyone," he said. It is of course questionable how feasible that could have been given the circumstances, but it showes the uprightness and catholicity of the man. He was a religious minority leader in his own province before Independence.
Last but not the least, Mookerjee was the man who liked to work with socialists. Being chief of Jana Sangh, his written manuscripts say he used to invite socialist leaders to his own party meetings. His juniors like Atal Behari Vajpayee watched that closely. In fact, when Vajpayee and Advani decided to merge Jana Sangh with Janata Party, during Jayaprakash Narayan's movement, such principles of Mookerjee were adopted. "In fact, since its formation, the BJP was a socialist and democratic party as established by Vajpayee in 1980. It maintained the democratic character, but the socialist ideology is somewhat missing," said Chandra Kumar Bose, grand-nephew of Subash Chandra Bose.