BJP marks Jana Sangh founder’s 125th birth anniversary
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and Delhi BJP President Harsh Malhotra addressed a Youth Conclave and Memorial Lecture Series on Monday at the Kedar Nath Sahni Auditorium in Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Civic Centre. The event was organised to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder, with the morning beginning with BJP leaders paying floral tributes at his statue at Shaheedi Park, followed by a tree plantation drive.
The event was attended by Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta, Deputy Speaker Mohan Singh Bisht, Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh, MPs Manoj Tiwari, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Yogender Chandolia, and Bansuri Swaraj, Mayor Pravesh Wahi, Deputy Mayor Dr Monika Pant, former Delhi BJP presidents Virendra Sachdeva, Dr Harsh Vardhan, and Adesh Gupta, along with a large number of Yuva Morcha workers.
Gadkari inaugurated the memorial lecture by lighting the ceremonial lamp. He said India’s history of freedom has been written through the sacrifice of countless patriots and that Mookerjee was among the most distinguished. He said ideas outlast individuals and Governments. “Unfortunately, Dr Mookerjee is no longer with us. Any Government can eliminate an individual or dismantle a system, but no one can destroy ideas,” he said.
Gadkari said the BJP draws its ideological inspiration from Mookerjee, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and works toward the goal of Antyodaya, good governance, and inclusive development. He said cultural nationalism was the ideological foundation laid by Mookerjee and that India has historically respected all faiths. “The same reverence that we hold for Lord Shri Ram and Lord Shri Krishna, we also hold for Lord Mahavira and Gautama Buddha, because we believe that a person’s greatness lies in his virtues. When people cannot convince others, they try to confuse them,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the India envisioned by Mookerjee is steadily taking shape and cited Prime Minister Modi’s abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, as the fulfilment of Mookerjee’s core demand for a single constitution, single flag, and single head for the nation. “It is a matter of great satisfaction that the India envisioned by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee is taking shape and progressing every day,” she said.
In his presidential address, Malhotra traced Mookerjee’s life and political journey. He said Mookerjee was born on July 6 into the distinguished Mookerjee family of Kolkata, became a Senate member of Calcutta University at 24, and its Vice-Chancellor at 33, making him the youngest Vice-Chancellor in India’s history. He was proficient in English, Bengali, Sanskrit, French, and German.
Malhotra noted that Mookerjee resigned from independent India’s first Cabinet on April 6, 1950, in protest against the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, arguing it failed to protect Hindus in East Pakistan. He recalled a widely cited anecdote about that moment. “After resigning from the Cabinet, when Pandit Nehru urged him to stay, Dr Mookerjee reportedly replied, Nehru ji, I can relinquish the post of a minister, but not my duty towards the nation. That became his defining identity,” Malhotra said.
He said Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh on October 21, 1951, in Delhi, with Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya as its General Secretary. He opposed the permit system for entering Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested crossing the border in May 1953, and died in detention in Srinagar on June 23, 1953.
