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He lived for Hindu cause

June 09, 2011 12:37:59 AM



Dr SYAMA PRASAD MOOKERJEE AND INDIAN POLITICS

Author: Prashanto K Chatterji

Publisher: Cambridge

Price: Rs 795



Syama Prasad Mookerjee perceived the threat of Islamic separatism more clearly than anybody in Congress, say Prafull Goradia and KR Phanda



Prashanto Kumar Chatterji’s book covers Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s political career as Bengal’s Finance Minister (1941-42), Hindu Mahasabha’s ascendancy in Indian politics and its reverses (1945-47), Mookerjee’s stint as a Union Minister (1947-50) and the establishment of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1950-53). In such a short period, he had pursued with an exceptional zeal the cause of the Hindu community. Had he not died under mysterious circumstances in 1953, the history of post-Independent India would have been different.



Mookerjee was one of the few Hindu leaders who had the experience of working under a Muslim Premier of a Muslim-majority province of Bengal. He had seen how the Fazlul Haq Ministry, in its earlier avatar, had taken a number of measures to reduce Hindus to the status of second-class citizens in their own country. The communalisation of secondary education, discrimination in the matter of employment, abduction of Hindu women and destruction of Hindu places of workshop were a common feature during the regime. All this had happened because the Congress had refused to form a coalition with Haq, forcing him to take the League’s support.



By a strange turn of events, Mookerjee and Haq found themselves working together as colleagues from December 1941, on the basis of a general understanding that the second Haq Ministry would maintain communal harmony. In connivance with the British bureaucracy, however, the provincial Government continued to make planned efforts to engineer riots, particularly in East Bengal, to demoralise Hindus so that they flee from their hearths and homes, or get converted to Islam. Mookerjee joined the Ministry to alleviate the condition of Hindus. However, he resigned on March 31, 1943, as he couldn’t protect Hindus in the State. Also, he was fed up with the policy of the Union Government, which ignored the legitimate claims of Indians and used every means to repress every form of nationalist activity.



In this context, the author quotes Prof Balraj Madhok: “The way he (Mookerjee) let go of the ministership, when he found that he could do no good to his people by continuing in the ministry, made it clear to all that here was a man whom no temptation could deflect from the path of duty. He had joined the coalition cabinet as a representative of the Hindu Mahasabha, but he came out of it as the undisputed leader of entire nationalist Bengal.”



Thereafter, Mookerjee devoted himself entirely to the strengthening of the Hindu Mahasabha. He was convinced that the Congress was no longer committed to the welfare of the nation, particularly Hindus, thanks to its policy of appeasement towards the Muslim League.



The 1945-46 election results had proved beyond doubt that the League was the sole representative of Muslims in India and Jinnah their unquestioned leader. To reinforce their claim for a separate homeland for Muslims on a religious basis, Jinnah gave a call for Direct Action in 1946. This resulted in the Great Calcutta Killings of August 16, 1946. The League, after the 1945-46 election, had laid claims to the inclusion of the whole of Bengal and Punjab provinces in Pakistan. The author points out that but for the strong case made by Mookerjee for the division of these provinces, the Congress might have yielded to the League’s demand.



After Independence, Mookerjee was appointed a Minister in the first Cabinet formed under Jawaharlal Nehru. The other non-Congress Ministers who were included on the basis of their merit were Sir John Mathai and Sir Shanmukham Chetty. Soon thereafter, Pakistan resorted to the policy of ethnic cleansing of Hindus in East Pakistan — now Bangladesh. There was a mass migration of Hindus. Mookerjee felt distressed and told the Prime Minister that it was India’s duty to ensure protection of Hindus in Pakistan. Since Nehru was reluctant to take any effective action against Pakistan, Mookerjee resigned from the Cabinet.



On November 15, 1952, Mookerjee observed in Parliament: “The question of the minorities in Pakistan has been settled during the last five years in different ways. So far as West Pakistan is concerned, today it stands virtually denuded of its minority population. The creation of a homogenous Islamic state was the principal aim of the founder of Pakistan and those who have come into his shoes have carried that deal into execution in every possible way. Hindus have been deprived of their rights in every sphere — social, cultural, economic, religious and political. They are treated as zimmis or protected citizens on regular payment of jizya.”



How prophetic the above observations were! Only recently, jizya was imposed on Sikhs living in Pakistan’s tribal west. Those who were unable to pay were murdered. Mookerjee had suggested an exchange of population, but the proposal was turned down both by Gandhi and Nehru.