– Suman Bhattacharyya
February 19this a historical day. It marks the birth anniversary of Shivaji, our great Maratha hero and is also the birthday of Guruji M S Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
On this occasion, a befitting programme was organized at the ancestral village of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, at Jirat in Hooghly district of West Bengal to mark the occasion. A seminar on the Amended Citizenship Act was organized at the hall of Manobani Bhavan near Balagarh railway station and was attended by an enthusiastic audience of around two hundred people. The participation of the youth in the meeting was particularly remarkable.
RSS Karyakarta Bidhan Kar, Social worker Sanjay Som and documentary film-maker Jayanta Guha spoke at the seminar.
The guests visited the ancestral house of Syama Prasad in Jirat and offered flowers at the family Kali temple of the Mookerjees. They garlanded the portraits of Syama Prasad, Shivaji and Golwalkar in the beginning of the programme. A book titled “CAA A Historical Context” by Sanjay Som was released at this seminar.
Bidhan Kar explained the historical relevance of CAA and the historical perspective in which the Act has been amended. He discussed how the achievements of the CAA constituted a part of the great dream and vision of Syama Prasad Mookerjee. The context of the Nehru-Liaqat Pact which led to the resignation of Syama Prasad from the cabinet of Nehru was discussed by him. Syama Prasad’s commitment to protecting the interests of minorities in erstwhile Pakistan was highlighted in his presentation. Kar traced the historical trajectory from the Nehru-Liaqat Pact to CAA.
Sanjay Som, social worker and author of the book, focused on the legal aspects of CAA. He lucidly pointed out how the CAA was different from the Citizenship Act of 1955. He also pointed out how the CAA will help the persecuted minorities of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Jayanta Guha spoke on why the CAA could come only in 2019 and not before. He explained the obstacles the Leftists had created in the path of possibilities of such a reform. The Left had always betrayed the national Cause, he reminded the audience with data. The Leftists in India, had, at one point supported the demands of Jinnah. It was Syama Prasad Mookerjee who, with his political acumen and farsightedness had, strategically been able to devise a state of West Bengal for Bengali Hindus, the speaker argued with evidence.
The lectures were followed by an open session of questionnaire in which the speakers and the audience engaged with great interest. At the end of the programme, the audience raised a demand of rechristening the Jirat railway station as Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Railway station and urged the organizers of the seminar to reach their demand to the Central Government.
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