Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee

In News

• Recently, the Prime Minister of India has paid tributes to Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee on his Punya Tithi.

About 

• Personal: Born in a Bengali Family
• Legislative: 
  • Member of Constituent Assembly and later, the first Lok Sabha.
  • Minister in Nehru’s first cabinet after independence; resigned in 1950 due to differences over relations with Pakistan.
  • On the issue of the 1949 Delhi Pact with the Pakistani Prime Minister, he resigned from the Cabinet on April 6, 1950.
• He was the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (The Bharatiya Janata Party -BJP is the successor of BJS).
• June 23 has been celebrated not just as the death anniversary of Syam Prasad Mookerjee but also as a day of resolution to abrogate Article 370 from the Constitution. 
• He became the finance minister of the Province of Bengal and was subsequently elected the national president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, the Mahabodhi Society and the Royal Asiatic Society and he was also a member of the Constituent Assembly.
• Youngest vice chancellor:
  • In 1934, Syama Prasad became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, which gave him the opportunity to put his aims and ideals regarding education of his people in practice. 
  • It was under his Vice-Chancellorship that Rabindra Nath Tagore delivered his convocation address in Bengali which marked the beginning of the end of the era of English superiority over Bengali and other Indian languages. 
• On Partition: 
  • He had supported the Congress in 1946 elections because he was assured by Sardar Patel that the Congress would never accept partition. 
  • Syama Prasad put all his energies to safeguard the interest of India. His well reasoned and forceful advocacy of the scheme for partition of Bengal soon became the universal ·demand of Bengali, Hindus. 
  • Thus, it was due to his efforts that half of Punjab and half of Bengal was saved for India. That explains his famous retort; “Congress partitioned India and I partitioned Pakistan”. 
• On Kashmir:
  • Was opposed to India’s policy of autonomy to Jammu & Kashmir; arrested during Jana Sangh’s agitation against Kashmir policy; died during detention.
  • In his manifesto, the declaration to abrogate the temporary Article 370 was affirmed.

Source: PIB