SRINAGAR: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday while recalling Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee final journey in Jammu and Kashmir in 1953 questioned the moral and political responsibility of the then state government headed by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah which had arrested him for entering the Himalayan region without a permit. Mookerjee later died in detention in Srinagar under circumstances that, a senior party leader said, remain deeply disturbing even today.
While describing Mookerjee as a towering nationalist leader, BJP National General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh, who is also the party in-charge for J&K, said that he sacrificed his life for the complete integration of erstwhile state of J&K with India.
Speaking at a function here, Chugh said Mookerjee symbolised the national sentiment of an all-inclusive Bharat and stood firmly against the idea of a separate constitution, separate flag and separate political arrangement for J&K. He said Mookerjee’s historic call of “Ek Vidhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Pradhan” became the voice of millions who believed that no Indian citizen should require permission to enter any part of the country.
Giving the historical background, Chugh said that in May 1953 Mookerjee travelled from Delhi towards Jammu to extend support to the Praja Parishad movement, which was opposing the permit system and the special political framework then prevailing in the state. Mookerjee deliberately chose to enter J&K without seeking a permit, arguing that the state had acceded to India and therefore an Indian citizen could not be treated as a foreigner in his own country.
Mookerjee was arrested on May 11, 1953, at Lakhanpur in Kathua district, the gateway to J&K from Punjab, and was later taken to Srinagar, where he was kept in detention in a cottage near Mughal-era Nishat Bagh that had been converted into a temporary sub-jail. Critics and accounts of his detention have described the place as isolated, located on a hill facing Dal Lake, with limited facilities, poor communication access and inadequate immediate medical arrangements.
Chugh said the most painful part of that chapter was that Mookerjee remained under detention without trial and died on June 23, 1953, in Srinagar. He said the absence of a credible and independent inquiry into his death had left behind unanswered questions about the conditions of his incarceration, the medical care provided to him and the role of the then political establishment in J&K.
“Dr Mookerjee’s death was not merely the death of a political leader; it was a defining moment in the struggle for national unity,” Chugh said. He alleged that Sheikh Abdullah’s political approach had encouraged separatist tendencies and weakened the emotional and constitutional bond between J&K and the rest of India. “Dr Mookerjee opposed the idea of a separate constitution, a separate flag and a separate political system for J&K, which Sheikh Abdullah was seeking to institutionalise under Article 370,” he added.
Sheikh Abdullah, then Prime Minister of J&K, had repeatedly denied any negligence in the medical treatment provided to Mookerjee, saying, “We did our best to save him and doctors were attending to him day and night.” In his posthumously published autobiography, Aatish-e-Chinar (Flames of the Chinar), Abdullah gives a brief and largely defensive account of the episode. He refers to Mookerjee as the founder of the Jana Sangh and notes his opposition to J&K’s special status and his association with the Praja Parishad agitation in Jammu. Abdullah also writes that after Mookerjee was arrested for entering the state without a permit and detained in Srinagar, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad visited Kashmir but did not meet him. He further claimed that he later wrote to the Centre seeking an inquiry into the circumstances of Mookerjee’s death, but the request received no response.
Chugh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to abrogate Article 370 fulfilled the long-cherished vision for which Mookerjee had struggled. He said the move gave J&K a new constitutional identity, opened the door for equal rights, and placed the Union Territory on the path of growth, investment, development and democratic empowerment.
The BJP leader also criticised the Abdullah family, alleging that dynastic politics had denied the people of J&K their full share of democratic rights, economic prosperity and opportunities for progress for decades.
Dr Anirban Ganguly, member of the BJP National Executive Committee and Chairman of the Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, recalled Mookerjee’s contribution to nation-building and said his political and ideological legacy continues to inspire the BJP. He said it was historic that during the 125th birth anniversary year of Mookerjee, his vision of “One Country, One Constitution” had been realised through Prime Minister Modi’s idea of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat”.
Sat Sharma, MP and president of the J&K BJP, called for the revival of national sentiment among the people of J&K and said Mookerjee’s sacrifice should be remembered by every generation.
Later, while speaking to reporters, Chugh reiterated that the statehood of J&K would be restored as promised by the Prime Minister. He said the BJP remained committed to peace, development, grassroots democracy and the welfare of every section of society in the Union Territory.
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