Kolkata, Jun 23: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday paid homage to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee here on his death anniversary.
He paid floral tributes at the bust of Mookerjee at Keoratala crematorium in south Kolkata.
The CM was accompanied by the state’s Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta and Industries Minister Tapas Roy.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to Mookerjee, and said his unwavering conviction and courage in public life and commitment to national interest continue to inspire generations.
West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya also paid floral tributes at the bust of Mookerjee here.
Mookerjee died under mysterious circumstances on this day in 1953 in a Srinagar jail, after being arrested for entering Jammu and Kashmir without a permit.
Later, attending a blood donation camp in memory of Mookerjee at Hazra crossing here, Adhikari said this was the first time that the Information and Cultural Affairs Department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation jointly observed the ‘Balidan Divas’ on his death anniversary.
The chief minister said that ‘Paschimbanga Divas’ (West Bengal Day) was observed on June 20 to highlight the significance of the day in 1947, which he said “had been kept a secret” from the present generation.
The significance of June 20 lies in the events of 1947, when legislators from the western districts of undivided Bengal voted in favour of partition and joining India, a decision that laid the foundation for the state, which emerged after Independence.
“The 34-year rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the subsequent corrupt dispensation that was at the helm in the state had kept the contributions of Mookerjee and Bharat Sevasram Sangha founder Swami Pranabananda hidden from the people,” he claimed.
Adhikari said that Mookerjee’s death in incarceration is shrouded in mystery.
“We regard his death as a conspiratorial murder,” the CM asserted, maintaining that Mookerjee’s clarion call for ‘Ek Desh Mein Do Vidhan, Do Pradhan aur Do Nishan Nahi Chalenge’ (A country cannot have two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two national emblems) led to his untimely death.
“We Bengalis have been indebted to him over generations for leading the way for West Bengal’s induction into India in August, 1947 to provide a homeland for us,” he said.
Adhikari said Mookerjee had earlier in April 1947 got a resolution passed at a Hindu Mahasammelan (convention) in Tarakeswar for the western districts of erstwhile undivided Bengal to remain within India.
“This government will function with his ideals and move forward on the path he showed,” he said.
“Our government will work to spread the history of West Bengal’s creation among students,” the chief minister said.
Adhikari said that ‘bhumi pujan’ for setting up a 125-foot statue of Syama Prasad Mookerjee will be held on his 125th birth anniversary on July 6.
“The state will declare a holiday on July 6 as a mark of respect to him,” he said.
The CM said a memorial and a library would also be built at his paternal home in Hooghly district’s Jeerut, for which financial provisions were announced in the state budget on Monday. (PTI)
