The State unit of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is all set to rewrite history books and also install statues of BJP stalwarts including Jana Sangh founder President Syama Prasad Mookerjee in Jammu so as to acknowledge the supreme sacrifices made by these patriotic leaders in their long political life.On Monday when the first statue of Syama Prasad Mookerjee was unveiled, 62 years after he was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside a jail in Srinagar, by State BJP Chief and party MP Jugal Kishore along with Deputy Chief Minister Prof Nirmal Singh here at the under construction building of the State BJP headquarters in Trikuta Nagar, the party leaders demanded that the next generation must be made aware of their supreme sacrifices by giving them due space in the history books.
Though efforts were made by the former Mayor Kavinder Gupta, presently speaker of the State Assembly, to install statue of Syama Prasad Mookerjee during his term in office but he could not do so.Now with the BJP enjoying power in the State along with alliance partner PDP for the first time in the history of State politics the State unit has geared up its machinery to do justice with iconic leaders of the party.Senior party leaders and Ministers in the Mufti Mohd Sayeed lead alliance Govt who were assembled here in the party office to mark the 114 th birth anniversary of Mookerjee vociferously floated the idea to launch a campaign at the earliest in order to educate the youth and highlight the sacrifices of these nationalist leaders.
Paying glowing tributes to Mookerjee BJP Ministers also demanded that the statues of these leaders should be installed across main city junctions and important roads should also be named after them to register their name in the history books. “When we visit New Delhi and other State capitals we find so many roads have been named after national leaders.We can replicate the model and do so here in the city of temples.”A suggestion was also made by a senior Cabinet Minister to propagate the sacrifices made by these leaders by rewriting chapters of history books.“The history books of Jammu and Kashmir have not done justice with these leaders but the next generations must know and should be made aware of the long struggle of Syama Prasad Mookerjee against the permit raj, prevalent in the State of Jammu and Kashmir”, BJP Cabinet Minister suggested inviting thundering applause from the audience.
State BJP Chief and party MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, on this occasion, said that the people of the State got rid of permit system due to the sacrifice of Mookerjee. Numerous activists and martyrs also contributed in achieving this. He said that the dream of Mookerjee is still incomplete and each one of us has to work towards achieving the same.Dr Nirmal Singh said that it is a day of pledge for every nationalist leader and also a day to remember martyrs of Hiranagar, Ramban, Chhamb and Sunderbani, who laid down their lives while fighting the provision of separate symbols.Ironically, the BJP Ministers who attended the function came riding official cars fitted with the State flag and the National flag.
Dr Nirmal Singh said that J&K is an integral part of India and no force will be allowed to create any hurdle in its ties with rest of the country. He said that our coalition in J&K is not ideological alliance but it is an alliance of governance.He said, “Problems do arise as we have our own agenda and our ruling partner (PDP) has a different agenda. The day the party (BJP) feels that it has become difficult to continue (in the coalition), we will not stay in power for one second.”Ashok Khajuria, party MlC and chairman of the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Trust demanded an independent probe into circumstances which led to the death of Syama Prasad Mookerjee in a jail in Srinagar adding that the truth should be made public about the mysterious death. He further said that the martyrdom of Dr Mookerjee has left marks in the hearts of nationalist people of Jammu & Kashmir.