Modi pays rich tributes to Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the indomitable courage, nationalistic spirit and ideologies of Bharatiya Jana Sangha founder Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee continued to be a guiding force of new India, forever inspiring the goals of Viksit Bharat envisaged by his Government.

“When Dr Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangha the predecessor of today’s Bharatiya Janata Party the largest political outfit of the world … the writ of the Congress Party ran everywhere… he was surrounded by adversities … but he did not give up … and eventually established an atmosphere where diverse views could flourish … the same Bharatiya Jana Sangh is today’s BJP the Deepak (lamp) that he lit then has taken the shape of millions of Lotus today … the seed that he sowed then has grown into a giant ideological belief… thanks to the crores of his admirers kept his spirit burning and immortalised his ideology,” the Prime Minister said in a virtual address to the nation on the occasion of Dr Mookerjee’s 125th anniversary that was celebrated in Kolkata with much fanfare.

Once again taking a potshot at those responsible for the partition of India, the Prime Minister said quoting Dr Mookerjee, “the best way to express my feelings is to repeat what he said about the conspiracy to let the entire Bengal go into Pakistan in 1947… but his relentless political struggle ensured that West Bengal remained in India … and later on he said ‘Congress divided India and I divided Pakistan.”

The BJP Government was proud to live Dr Mookerjee’s traditions of ek vidhan, ek nishan, ek pradhan (one law, emblem and one leader), the Prime Minister said, adding that the “slogan coined by the great leader reflected the national consciousness … he gave the maximum sacrifice for Kashmir … and today we are proud that we have finally pulled down the wall of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.”

He said that walking in the path shown by Dr Mookerjee, his Government had ensured that all States and regions were treated equally and from North to South and from East to West.

Saying that there could be no better occasion and place for celebrations of Dr Mookerjee’s 125th anniversary than in Bengal and when the new BJP Government had come to power in the State, Modi said his Government firmly believed in Dr Mookerjee’s temperament of doing “the work that you take up until it is finished and doing it with utmost sincerity.”

The Prime Minister’s address followed the laying of the foundation stone by Union Home Minister Amit Shah of a 125-foot statue of Dr Mookerjee at Eco Park in Rajar Haat north of Kolkata. The statue will be cast with bronze and require about 140 tons of steel to stand that high, sources said.

Speaking at a function on the occasion, Shah said that he had requested Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to ensure that all the dreams of Dr Mookerjee were fulfilled. “I must thank Suvendu Adhikari for implementing in such a small time all that I had requested of him, including the grand celebrations of the anniversary of Bharat Kesari— (Indian lion), himself the son of Bengal Tiger Sir — Asutosh Mookerjee… who sowed the seeds of nationalism that have grown into a big banyan tree … his soul must be blessing us from heaven.”

Saying that the Jana Sangh founder died a mysterious death in Kashmir without his death being probed by the then Congress Government, Shah reminisced how Dr Mookerjee quit the national Government protesting the Nehru-Liaqat pact “that ensured the safety of Muslims in India but not of the Hindus in Pakistan.”

Today, his party is implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act in letter and spirit and will ensure that it is implemented thoroughly in Bengal so that no infiltrators who were patronized by the previous regime live here, Shah said.

Shah who was all praise for Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for implementing in a short time a plethora of programmes that were promised in the BJP’s election manifesto, said “in a short time Suvendu has implemented the schemes like Annapoorna Yojna, Ayushman Bharat, free travel for women in the buses, Laadli Behna … I must congratulate him also for celebrating today’s programme throughout the day in such a massive way.”

Apparently warning the corrupt politicians of the previous Trinamool Congress regime, he said, “Not a single corrupt person will be spared after the committee investigating the corruption cases files its report.”

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari too hinted at a desirable change in the State’s school and college syllabus. Taking a dig at those “who drove away Tatas from Bengal,” he said, “there is no need to read the history of those who drove away the Tatas from Singur … we will introduce Dr Mookerjee’s life and his history that was for long suppressed by the previous Congress, Left and the Trinamool regime.”

Earlier Adhikari announced a complete makeover for Mitra Institution, the school where Dr Mookerjee went adding he would try to.

Meanwhile, following a state Government directive, all the madarsas in the State remained closed after the Government declared a State holiday on Monday.