Syama Prasad Mookerjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian barrister, educationalist, politician, Hindutva activist, and a minister in the state and national governments, 1941–1942: Syama Prasad Mookerjee served as the Finance Minister in the cabinet of undivided Bengal. At that time, the Prime Minister of Bengal was A. K. Fazlul Huq appointed by Nehru even after opposing Congress. He later served as India's Minister for Industry and Supply (currently known as Minister of Commerce and Industries) in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet after breaking up with the Hindu Mahasabha. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951.
He was also the president of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha from 1943 to 1946. He was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in 1953 when he tried to cross the border of the state. He was provisionally diagnosed with a heart attack and shifted to a hospital but died a day later. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the successor to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Mukherjee is also regarded as the founder of the BJP by its members.
Early life and academic career Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was born during the British Raj on 6 July 1901 in Calcutta, now located in the West Bengal state of India. His grandfather Ganga Prasad Mukherjee was born in Jirat and was the first in the family who migrated to and settled in Calcutta.Ghatak, Atulchandra, Ashutosher Chatrajiban Ed. 8th (Bengali Ed.), 1954, p 3, Chakraborty Chatterjee & Co. Ltd.
His father was Ashutosh Mukherjee, a judge of the High Court of Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, and was also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. His mother was Jogamaya Devi Mukherjee. He was a very meritorious student and he came to Calcutta to study with the help of the wealthy people of Jirat. Later he settled down in the Bhawanipore area of Calcutta.Ghatak, Atulchandra, Ashutosher Chatrajiban Ed. 8th, 1954, p 1, Chakraborty Chatterjee & Co. Ltd.
Mukherjee enrolled in Bhawanipur's Mitra Institution in 1906 and his behaviour in school was later described favourably by his teachers. In 1914, he passed his matriculation examination and was admitted into Presidency College. He stood seventeenth in the Inter Arts Examination in 1916Calcutta Gazette, 7 July 1916, part 1c, page 639 and graduated in English, securing the first position in first class in 1921. He was married to Sudha Devi on 16 April 1922. Mukherjee also completed an MA in Bengali, being graded as first class in 1923 and also became a fellow of the Senate of the University of Calcutta in 1923. He completed his LLB in 1924.
He enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court in 1924, the same year in which his father had died. Subsequently, he left for England in 1926 to study at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the English Bar in the same year. In 1934, at the age of 33, he became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta; he held the office until 1938. During his term as Vice-Chancellor, Rabindranath Tagore delivered the University Convocation Address in Bengali for the first time, and the Indian vernacular was introduced as a subject for the highest examination. On 10 September 1938, the Senate of Calcutta University resolved to confer honorary D.Litt. on the Ex-Vice-Chancellor in its opinion "by reason of eminent position and attainments, a fit and proper person to receive such a degree." Mukherjee received the D.Litt from Calcutta University on 26 November 1938. He was also the 15th President of the Association of Indian Universities during 1941–42.
Political career before independence He started his political career in 1929 when he entered the Bengal Legislative Council as an Indian National Congress (INC) candidate representing Calcutta University. However, he resigned the next year when the INC decided to boycott the legislature. Subsequently, he contested the election as an independent candidate and was elected in the same year. In 1937, he was elected as an independent candidate in the elections which brought the Krishak Praja Party to power.
He served as the Finance Minister of Bengal Province in 1941–42 under A.K. Fazlul Haq's Progressive Coalition government which was formed on 12 December 1941 after the resignations of the Congress government. During his tenure, his statements against the government were censored and his movements were restricted. He was also prevented from visiting the Midnapore district in 1942 when severe floods caused a heavy loss of life and property. He resigned on 20 November 1942 accusing the British government of trying to hold on to India at any cost and criticised its repressive policies against the Quit India Movement. After resigning, he mobilised to support and organised relief with the help of the Mahabodhi Society, Ramakrishna Mission and Marwari Relief Society. In 1946, he was again elected as an independent candidate from Calcutta University. He was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India in the same year.
Hindu Mahasabha and Bengali Hindu Homeland Movement
Mukherjee joined the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal in 1939 and became its acting president that same year. He was appointed as the working president of the organisation in 1940. In February 1941, Mukherjee told a Hindu rally that if Muslims wanted to live in Pakistan, they should "pack their bag and baggage and leave India ... [to] wherever they like".Legislative Council Proceedings [BLCP], 1941, Vol. LIX, No. 6, p 216 Yet, the Hindu Mahasabha also formed provincial coalition governments with the All-India Muslim League in Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province while Mukherjee was its leader. He was elected as the President of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha in 1943. He remained in this position till 1946, with Laxman Bhopatkar becoming the new president in the same year.
Mukherjee demanded the partition of Bengal in 1946 to prevent the inclusion of its Hindu-majority areas in a Muslim-dominated East Pakistan. A meeting held by the Mahasabha on 15 April 1947 in Tarakeswar authorised him to take steps to ensure the partition of Bengal. In May 1947, he wrote a letter to Lord Mountbatten saying Bengal must be partitioned even if India was not. He also opposed a failed bid for a united but independent Bengal made in 1947 by Sarat Bose, the elder brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, Kiran Shankar Roy; Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Bengal Legislative Assembly; Satya Ranjan Bakshi; Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the Prime Minister of Bengal at that time and Abul Hashim. The United Bengal proposal was even supported by the Netaji's Forward Bloc and Communist Party of India. Mukherjee launched the Bengali Hindu Homeland Movement. It refers to the movement of the Bengali Hindu people for the Partition of Bengal in 1947 to create a homeland, aka West Bengal, for themselves within the Indian Union, in the wake of the Muslim League's proposal and campaign to include the entire province of Bengal within Pakistan, which was to be a homeland for the Muslims of British India.Sengupta, Nitish (2007). Bengal Divided – The Unmaking of a Nation (1905–1971). New Delhi: Penguin Books India. p. 148 He misled Bengali Hindus by saying that a sovereign United Bengal would be a puppet state of Pakistan and Hindus would be suppressed as a minority, rather than Bose-Suhrawardy's utopia of a peaceful and economically prosperous Bengal.
Opposition to Quit India Movement Following the Hindu Mahasabha's official decision to boycott the Quit India movement and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's decision of non-participation in the movement.
Mukherjee wrote a letter to Sir John Herbert, Governor of Bengal as to how they should respond to "Quit India" movement. In this letter, dated 26 July 1942 he wrote:
Let me now refer to the situation that may be created in the province as a result of any widespread movement launched by the Congress. Anybody, who during the war, plans to stir up mass feeling, resulting in internal disturbances or insecurity, must be resisted by any Government that may function for the time being.
Mukherjee in this letter reiterated that the Fazlul Haq-led Bengal Government, along with its alliance partner Hindu Mahasabha would make every possible effort to defeat the Quit India Movement in the province of Bengal and made a concrete proposal in regard to this:
The question is how to combat this movement (Quit India) in Bengal? The administration of the province should be carried on in such a manner that despite the best efforts of the Congress, this movement will fail to take root in the province. It should be possible for us, especially responsible Ministers, to be able to tell the public that the freedom for which the Congress has started the movement, already belongs to the representatives of the people. In some spheres, it might be limited during an emergency. Indians have to trust the British, not for the sake of Britain, not for any advantage that the British might gain, but for the maintenance of the defense and freedom of the province itself. You, as Governor, will function as the constitutional head of the province and will be guided entirely on the advice of your Minister.
The Indian historian R.C. Majumdar noted this fact and stated:
Shyam Prasad ended the letter with a discussion of the mass movement organised by Congress. He expressed the apprehension that the movement would create internal disorder and endanger internal security during the war by exciting popular feeling and he opined that any government in power has to suppress it, but that according to him could not be done only by persecution... In that letter, he mentioned item-wise the steps to be taken for dealing with the situation...
During Mukherjee's resignation speech, however, he characterised the policies of the British government towards the movement as "repressive".
Political career after independence
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inducted Mukherjee into the Interim Central Government as a Minister for Industry and Supply on 15 August 1947.
Mukherjee condemned the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi as the "most stunning blow that could fall on India. That he who had made India free and self-reliant, a friend of all and enemy of none, loved and respected by millions, should fall at the hands of an assassin, one of his community and countrymen, is a matter of the deepest shame and tragedy." He began to have differences with Hindu Mahasabha after Gandhi's killing, in which the Mahasabha was blamed by Vallabhbhai Patel for creating the atmosphere that led to the killing. Mukherjee suggested the organisation suspend its political activities. Shortly after it did, in December 1948, he left. One of his reasons was the rejection of his proposal to allow non-Hindus to become members. Mukherjee resigned along with K.C. Neogy from the Cabinet on 8 April 1950 over a disagreement about the 1950 Delhi Pact with Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan.
Mukherjee was firmly against their joint pact to establish minority commissions and guarantee minority rights in both countries as he thought it left Hindus in East Bengal to the mercy of Pakistan. While addressing a rally in Calcutta on 21 May, he stated that an exchange of population and property at the governmental level on a regional basis between East Bengal and the states of Tripura, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar was the only option in the current situation.