Since yesterday, I have come across many people saying that Dr.Syama Prasad Mookerjee did not play such a significant role in the creation of West Bengal. Their statement rested on the argument that in the third session of the Bengal Assembly it was decided that a part of Bengal would remain in India. Fifty eight Hindu members voted for the creation of West Bengal or for the partition of Bengal in order to keep a part of Bengal in India. The Hindu Mahasabha had only one representative.
Life journey of a true patriot
- Dr SP Mookerjee’ was born on July 6th, 1901
- His father Sir Ashutosh was widely known in Bengal
- Graduated from Calcutta University he became a fellow of the Senate in 1923. He enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court in 1924 after his father’s death
- Subsequently he left for England in 1926 to study in Lincoln’s Inn and became a barrister in 1927
- At the age of 33, he became the world’s youngest Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University and held the office till 1938
- During his tenure, he introduced a number of constructive reforms and was active in Asiatic Society of Calcutta as well as was a member of the Court and the Council of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Chairman of the Inter-University of Board
- He was elected as member of the Legislative Council of Bengal as a Congress candidate representing Calcutta University but resigned next year when Congress decided to boycott the legislature
- Subsequently, he contested the election as an independent and got elected
- He became the opposition leader when Krishak Praja Party – Muslim League coalition was in power 1937-41
- He emerged as a spokesman for Hindus and shortly joined Hindu Mahasabha and in 1944, became the President.
- Jawahar Lal Nehru inducted him in the Interim Central Government as a Minister for Industry and supply
- On issue of Delhi pact with Likayat Ali Khan, Mookerjee resigned from the Cabinet on April 6, 1950
- After consultation with Second Sarsanghchalak of RSS, Shri MS Golwalkar (Guruji), Mookerjee founded Bharatiya Jana Sangh on October 21st, 1951 at Delhi and he became the first President of it
- In 1952 elections, Bharatiya Jana Sangh won 3 seats in Parliament one of them being that of Shri Mookerjee
- To voice his opposition he turned outside Parliament and on Kashmir he termed the arrangement under Article 370 as Balkanisation of Bharat and three nation theory of Shaikh Abdullah
- Bharatiya Jana Sangh along with Hindu Mahasabha and Ram Rajya Parishad launched a massive Satyagraha to get removed the pernicious provisions. Mookerjee went to visit Kashmir in 1953 and was arrested on May 11, while crossing border. He died as detenu on June 23, 1953
Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee was only one in 58. Their statement that Dr.Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s role in the creation of West Bengal is the most important is meaningless by showing those statistics. The main point is that the issue of partition of Bengal would not have come to the stage of voting, Lord Mountbatten would not have passed his proposal or “Mountbatten Plan” on June 3 if the Bengali Hindus had not vigorously agitated on this issue. And the main face of that vigorous movement of Bengali Hindus was Dr.Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Since Bengal province had a huge Muslim population, Bengal? was the largest province and the prime minister of that province was a Muslim (then it was called the prime minister. Since the 1937 elections, Muslims have been the Prime Minister in Bengal). This is the reason why Dr.Syama Prasad Mookerjee demanded from the beginning that Bengal must be divided. He was the first to raise the demand that Bengal should be divided even if the country is not divided. Because if there is a Muslim Prime Minister (Chief Minister after partition) in a Muslim majority province, the existence of Hindus will be in crisis. So Bengalis wanted partition of Bengal for the sake of Hindus. And if the partition of the country is inevitable, then Bengal must be partitioned. If not, the whole of Bengal will go to Pakistan according to the logic of the majority. Jinnah’s main statement was that he wanted Calcutta. The Muslim League wanted to take the entire Bengal to Pakistan. Their plan was on the verge of success. The leading intellectuals of Bengal were surprised to understand the situation. They were quite apprehensive and doubted whether it was at all possible to keep any part of Bengal in India. All the leading intellectuals of Bengal gathered at Hooghly with great anxiety In Tarakeshwar. April 4, 5, 6, 1947, it was unanimously accepted that the Hindu community of Bengal would take to the streets and agitate for the partition of Bengal.
Dr. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Dr. Meghnad Saha, Dr. Jadunath Sarkar, Col. AC Chatterjee along with about four Bengali Prathitasha Bengali intellectuals unanimously decided that what will be the outline of that movement, what will be the Council of Action will be decided by Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee. That is, everyone accepted Dr. Mookerjee as the main leader of the movement for the partition of Bengal; he agreed to a sentence in his name. Movement started under his leadership. He started running from all over Bengal. Organised movement and public opinion. Other Bengali Hindu intellectuals also gave him worthy support. Bengali Hindu entered the field with a do or die attitude. Seventy six huge public meetings were organised. Some were under the initiative of Bengal Provincial Hindu Mahasabha, while others were joint initiatives. The last public meeting was held at Dharmatala (under the then monument) that was presided over by Dr Jadunath Sarkar. A mammoth rally saw the participation of a huge crowd. The success of the movement boosted the confidence of Bengali Hindus. The entire Hindu society of Bengal raised its voice that Bengal must be divided. It was because of that collective strong voice of the Bengali Hindus that Lord Mountbatten passed his resolution on June 3 announcing that the polls would be held on June 20. Notionally, it was divided into two parts. And if any one part has more than one vote in favor of partition then there will be partition. That is why the total number of Muslim representatives is more than Hindu representatives. In spite of being more, as the number of Hindu representatives in the Western part was more, the votes of the Western part decided that a part of Bengal would remain in India. Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee worked tirelessly to get all the Bengali Hindu representatives to vote in unison. He held several meetings with the Congress leadership. As a result of the movement under his leadership, the environment was such that all Bengali Hindu representatives agreed on the partition of Bengal. Various leading newspapers raised their voices in favour of the partition of Bengal. If not for the law movement, this demand would not have been realised later. And Syama Prasad Mookerjee was the strongest and main face of that vigorous movement. So Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee claims the main credit for the creation of West Bengal, which is historically true. Totally true. Many Bengali Hindu intellectuals contributed. But the main face was Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
