Sixty-three years after the death of Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee in Kashmir, BJP president Amit Shah raised questions about the circumstances leading to it, at an event organised by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) here on Wednesday.
At the event to observe the death anniversary of Mookerjee, Mr. Shah also criticised the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for his troubled legacy in Jammu and Kashmir. He pointed to the events surrounding the ceasefire announced by Nehru when Pakistan attacked Kashmir. “If Nehru had not suddenly announced a ceasefire, Kashmir would not have become an issue,” he said.
He hinted at a conspiracy behind Mookerjee’s sudden and untimely death, which raised questions about Nehru’s handling of the situation. “Mookerjee was arrested in Kashmir when he was on his way to protest the permit system in force in the Valley in the days after Independence. Though he was told he could walk through the Valley without a permit, he was taken into custody by the Kashmir police. Why was he not taken into custody by the Indian police?”
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Mr. Shah said an inquiry into his death would have brought out the truth.
The Congress reacted with a question of its own. Its spokesperson Shobha Oza asked what prevented the Vajpayee and Modi governments from holding an inquiry into the circumstances leading to Mookerjee’s death. “What had prevented them from demanding an inquiry back in the 1950s?” she asked. Mr. Shah also blamed the Communists and the British for distorting Indian history. If history was to be written objectively, Mookerjee’s contributions could not be overlooked.
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“If West Bengal is connected to the country, it is because of Mookerjee’s contributions. His view that India’s policy could not be shaped by western thought or imported from England but had to be rooted in Indian culture cannot be forgotten,” he said.
Tripura Governor Tathagat Roy, the special guest at the event and the biographer of Mookerjee, faulted Nehru for not visiting the imprisoned Jana Sangh leader while on a visit to Kashmir.
He also referred to a letter written by Mookerjee’s mother to Nehru, seeking an inquiry into her son’s death, which was brushed aside.
NMML chairperson Lokesh Chandra, a BJP government appointee, said: “India has to change and it is no longer the World of Nehru.”
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said a director would soon be appointed to the NMML. When The Hindu asked if he would make public the papers on Mookerjee’s life and death, Mr. Sharma said: “I have to receive orders to make them public.”
Mr. Chandra said: “Making the papers public would destroy the fragile peace in the country.”
The papers currently on display in the museum foyer are part of the NMML archives, which comprise 70,000 pages connected to the Jana Sangh leader
An RTI filed by The Hindu last year revealed that the committee appointed by the Modi government wanted to remain committed to Nehru’s vision. M.J. Akbar was tasked with preparing a road map for the NMML.
Mr. Chandra said Mr. Akbar had completed the task. Union Minister Giriraj Singh and BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj raised slogans of Bharat Mata Ki Jai on the occasion.