Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 23 (ANI): Former Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, who is also the biographer of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, paid his respects to the late Jana Sangh founder on his death anniversary, describing him as the "creator" of West Bengal.
Speaking to ANI, Roy stated that Mookerjee had called for Bengal's partition after Congress had accepted country's partition in 1947. The former BJP West Bengal chief further noted that the previous West Bengal government had considered the Jana Sangh to be "non-existent."
"I am his biographer. He is the person relevant to West Bengal because he is the person who had created West Bengal. In 1947, when the Congress had accepted partition, conceded to Muslim League's demand for partition, Dr Mookerjee said that if you partition the country, you must partition Bengal also; the whole of Bengal will not go into Pakistan. He managed to do it, and that is why, he is relevant...I don't think the previous state govt even knew that he existed - mostly illiterate or semi-literate people. They were jealous of him," he told ANI.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, who paid floral tribute to Syama Prasad Mookerjee in New Delhi, accused the previous governments of the country of giving less important to the Jana Sangh founder after independence.
"It is because of Syama Prasad Mukherjee that Kashmir was saved from separating from our country. On this occasion, we paid floral tributes here at the statue of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was deliberately shown less in history by the then government immediately after independence... This martyrdom day is special because in West Bengal, where Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was from, a BJP government has also been formed there," he told ANI.
BJP MLA Satish Upadhyay said that Mookerjee made "supreme sacrifice" for the nation and advanced nation's cultural nationalism, upheld the unity and integrity of the country.
"Syama Prasad Mukherjee is one of the leaders who advanced the nation's cultural nationalism, upheld the unity and integrity of the country, and made the supreme sacrifice for the nation... The way the BJP has won in Bengal, this is a symbol of nationalism itself. The greatest tribute to him on this day is that Bengal is today moving forward shoulder to shoulder with the country," he said.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj called the "massive mandate" of West Bengal in the recent elections a proof that Mookerjee's ideals are not only relevant but alive.
"His life demonstrates that 'Nation First' is not merely a slogan but a philosophy of life... The massive mandate that Bengal has given in favour of the BJP. This is proof that Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's ideals are not only relevant but alive," said Swaraj.
Jan Sangh was the political predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the party marks Mookerjee's death anniversary as 'Balidan Diwas' following his demise in Kashmir on June 23, 1953.
He founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh on October 21, 1951. Mookerjee was a tall political figure in pre-independence India and was the Finance Minister in the Progressive Coalition Ministry headed by Fazlul Haq, from which he resigned in less than a year. He also joined the Hindu Mahasabha, but later quit the year Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. (ANI)
