Birth Anniversary and Legacy of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee

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The Prime Minister and Vice President paid floral tributes to Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee on his birth anniversary on 6th July.
National leaders remembered his valuable contributions to national unity, industrial planning, and education on his 125th birth anniversary.

Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee was born on 6th July 1901 in Calcutta.
His father Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee was a respected judge of the Calcutta High Court and a famous educationist.
He graduated from Calcutta University and became a Senate Fellow in 1923.
He qualified as an advocate in 1924 and completed his Barrister training from Lincoln's Inn in 1927.
At the age of 33 in 1934, he became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University.
During his time as Vice-Chancellor, he actively promoted mother tongue education in Bengal.
He represented Calcutta University at the Conference of the Universities of the British Empire in England.
He launched the Bengali journal Bang Wani in 1922 and the English newspaper The Nationalist in the 1940s.

He joined the Indian National Congress in the 1920s and won a seat in the Bengal Legislative Council in 1929.
He resigned from the Congress party later because of deep ideological differences with its leaders.
He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly between 1937 and 1941.
He served as the Finance Minister of Bengal from 1941 to 1942 under A.K. Fazlul Huq's Progressive Coalition Ministry.
He joined the Hindu Mahasabha and served as its President between 1943 and 1946.
He resigned from the Hindu Mahasabha in 1948 when the party rejected his proposal to allow non-Hindu members.
In 1951, he founded the All India Bharatiya Jan Sangh and became its first national president.
This party later evolved into the present day Bharatiya Janata Party.

He resigned as Bengal's Finance Minister in 1942 to protest British actions against the Quit India Movement.
He openly criticized British colonial rule in his banned book titled A Phase of the Indian Struggle.
During the severe Bengal Famine of 1943, he organized large scale relief work through the Ramakrishna Mission.
He strongly opposed the United Bengal proposal in 1946 and saved West Bengal for the Indian Union.
As a member of the Constituent Assembly, he actively shaped debates on minority rights and language policy.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed him as India's first Union Minister for Industry and Supply in 1947.
He helped establish vital industrial assets like the Chittaranjan Locomotive Factory.
He played a key role in building the Sindri Fertilizer Factory and the Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation.
He resigned from the cabinet in 1950 to protest against the Liaquat Nehru Pact.
He believed the pact failed to protect the security and rights of Hindus living in East Pakistan.

He strongly opposed special constitutional status for Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.
He popularized the famous slogan Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan aur do Nishan nahi chalenge.
This slogan declared that one country cannot have two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two national flags.
He entered Jammu and Kashmir without an official permit in May 1953 to protest these restrictions.
Police arrested him at the border, and he died in custody under mysterious circumstances on 23rd June 1953.

Fellow politicians called him The Lion of Parliament because of his powerful debate skills.
His life continues to inspire national efforts toward administrative unity, industrial growth, and cultural identity.