Hindutva icon Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee was a collaborator
Of British Rulers+Muslim League and stood for article 370
Dr Syama
Prasad Mookerjee (1901-1953) is a prominent Hindutva icon for the RSS/BJP
brigade. It was he who, on the advice of M.S. Golwalkar, the second chief of
RSS and its most prominent ideologue, founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), predecessor
of the present Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1951 and became the first
president of the political arm of the RSS. He died in Srinagar, Jammu and
Kashmir, on 23 June 1953, when he was under arrest. His death is mourned every
year as 'End Article 370 Day' and 'Save Kashmir Day'. It may be interesting to
note that despite this hype around Article 370 and Kashmir, BJP ran coalition
government with pro-Separatist and diehard supporter of the Article 370,
People's Democratic Party (PDP) for three years beginning 2016.
The Hindutva brigade is fond of declaring
Mookerjee as great nationalist and patriot who laid down his life for the unity
of the nation. Modi described him as "a statesman, thinker and a patriot
who devoted his life towards strengthening national integration." The
Hindutva rhetoric about patriotism of Mookerjee needs to be cross-checked with
the contemporary documents available even in RSS and Hindu Mahasabha archives.
Perusal of these documents clearly shows that the claim that Dr Syama Prasad
Mookerjee was a 'selfless patriot' and a great patriot right from his birth is
a white lie. Mookerjee never-never participated in the anti-colonial freedom
struggle. If patriotism means being part of the freedom struggle and making
sacrifices, Mookerjee not only kept aloof from it but also betrayed it by
collaborating with the British rulers and the Muslim League in order to crush
and communally polarize the anti-British liberation movement.
In
pre-Independence times he was a prominent leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, which
was led by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. When in 1942 Congress gave a call to the
British rulers to leave India immediately by launching Quit India Movement
(QIM), the rulers responded to this mass movement by unleashing a reign of
terror. Congress was banned, its provincial governments were dismissed, whole
of India was turned into a jail and thousands died in the repression unleashed
by armed forces of the British and native rulers. The crime of many of those
who were killed was that they dared to carry or unfurl the Tricolour, flag of
the resistance. Hindu nationalist organizations namely, Hindu Mahasabha and RSS
with the Muslim League (which since 1940 was ferociously demanding Partition of
India) not only boycotted Quit India Movement but also decided to support the
British government in its repressive campaign. The Hindu nationalists under the
leadership of Savarkar even ran coalition governments with the Muslim League
led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
The Hindu
Mahasabha president 'Veer' Savarkar chronicled this ganging up of Hindu
Mahasabha with the Muslim League in his presidential speech to the 24th session
of the Hindu Mahasabha at Kanpur in 1942 in the following words:
“In
practical politics also the Mahasabha knows that we must advance through
reasonable compromises. Witness the fact that only recently in Sind, the
Sind-Hindu-Sabha on invitation had taken the responsibility of joining hands
with the League itself in running coalition Government. The case of Bengal is
well known. Wild Leaguers whom even the Congress with all its submissiveness
could not placate grew quite reasonably compromising and sociable as soon as
they came in contact with the Hindu Mahasabha and the Coalition Government,
under the premiership of Mr. Fazlul Huq and the able lead of our esteemed
Mahasabha leader Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji, functioned successfully for a year
or so to the benefit of both the communities.”
[VD Savarkar, Samagar Savarkar
Wangmaya (Collected Works of Savarkar), Hindu Mahasabha, Poona, 1963, pp.
479-480.]
Later this
coalition arrangement was extended to NWFP also.
Following
the Hindu Mahasabha directive to co-operate with the British, the Hindutva
icon, Dr. Mookerjee assured the British masters through a letter dated July 26,
1942. Shockingly, it read:
“Let me
now refer to the situation that may be created in the province as a result of
any widespread movement launched by the Congress. Anybody, who during the war,
plans to stir up mass feeling, resulting internal disturbances or insecurity,
must be resisted by any Government that may function for the time being”
[Mookherjee, Shyama Prasad, Leaves from a Dairy. Oxford University
Press, p. 179.]
His letter
to Bengal governor that the Fazlul Haq led Bengal Government, along with its
alliance partner Hindu Mahasabha (Mookerjee being Deputy CM in this ministry)
made concrete suggestions for crushing the QIM. He wrote:
“The question is how to combat this movement
(Quit India) in Bengal? The administration of the province should be carried on
in such a manner that in spite of the best efforts of the Congress, this
movement will fail to take root in the province. It should be possible for us,
especially responsible Ministers, to be able to tell the public that the
freedom for which the Congress has started the movement, already belongs to the
representatives of the people. In some spheres it might be limited during the
emergency. Indian have to trust the British, not for the sake for Britain, not
for any advantage that the British might gain, but for the maintenance of the
defense and freedom of the province itself. You, as Governor, will function as
the constitutional head of the province and will be guided entirely on the
advice of your Minister.
A
prominent historian R.C. Majumdar who
is also regarded as a 'Hindu' historian by the Hindutva brigade commenting on
this letter wrote:
“Shyam
Prasad ended the letter with a discussion of the mass movement organised by the
Congress. He expressed the apprehension that the movement would create internal
disorder and will endanger internal security during the war by exciting popular
feeling and he opined that any government in power has to suppress it, but that
according to him could not be done only by persecution…. In that letter he
mentioned item wise the steps to be taken for dealing with the situation…”
[RC Majumdar, History of Modern
Bengal. vol. 2, G. Bharadwaj & Co, Calcutta, p. 350.]
The Hindu
Mahasabha decision to betray Quit India Movement resonated with the RSS also.
MS Golwalkar, the then chief of RSS admitted:
“In 1942
also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the
routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly.
However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued.
Sangh is an organization of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only
outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly
disgusted too.”
[Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of
Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. IV, Bhartiya
Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, p 40.]
Nowhere in
pre-Partition RSS literature have we found references to any work which RSS
might have done 'indirectly' for Quit India Movement.
In a more
shocking development, the Hindu Mahasabha of Dr Mookerjee decided to help the British
rulers in World War II. It was the time when Subhash Chandra Bose, known as Netaji, was organizing the INA (Azad Hind Fauj) in a
military campaign to force the British out. The extent to which the Hindu
Mahasabha was willing to help the British masters is clear from the following
directive issued by Savarkar as President of the Mahasabha:
“So far as
India’s defence is concerned, Hindudom must ally unhesitatingly, in a spirit of
responsive co-operation, with the war effort of the Indian government in so far
as it is consistent with the Hindu interests, by joining the Army, Navy and the
Aerial forces in as large a number as possible and by securing an entry into
all ordnance, ammunition and war craft factories…. Again it must be noted that Japan’s
entry into the war has exposed us directly and immediately to the attack by
Britain’s enemies. Consequently, whether we like it or not, we shall have to
defend our own hearth and home against the ravages of the war and this can only
be done by intensifying the government’s war effort to defend India. Hindu
Mahasabhaites must, therefore, rouse Hindus especially in the provinces of
Bengal and Assam as effectively as possible to enter the military forces of all
arms without losing a single minute.”
[V.D. Savarkar, Samagra Savarkar
Wangmaya: Hindu Rashtra Darshan, vol. 6, Maharashtra Prantik Hindusabha, Poona, 1963, p. 460.]
Syama Prasad
Mookerjee ratified Article 370 and concurred with the decision to refer the Kashmir
issue to UNO
Another lie which RSS/BJP rulers
brazenly spread is that this Hindutva icon opposed Nehru on Article 370 and
referring Kashmir dispute to the UNO. They claim that Mookerjee laid down his
life for revocation of this Article at Srinagar, Kashmir on June 23, 1953.
RSS/BJP has been mourning Mookerjee's day of death every year as 'End Article 370 Day' and 'Save Kashmir Day'. Let's
compare these claims with the contemporary documents relating to Mookerjee.
Mookerjee as member of the
Constituent Assembly of India signed Indian Constitution with Article 370 as
its integral part following its ratification by the Constituent Assembly on
November 26, 1949. So far as,
the issue of sending Kashmir dispute to UNO is concerned both Sardar Patel and Mookerjee
were parties to it. Mookerjee when he was minister of Nehru's first Cabinet
admitted that he was part of the decision making. Addressing Lok Sabha on
August 7, 1952 he said: "It has been
said that I was a party when the decision was taken to refer the Kashmir issue
to UNO…That is an obvious fact".
[Lok
Sabha Debates, August 7, 1952, Cols. 5885-5899 cited in Eminent Parliamentarians Series: Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Lok
Sabha Secretariat, Delhi, 1990, p. 109.]
More
importantly, this Hindutva icon did not think it fit even to mildly express his
unease against the special status of Jammu & Kashmir which was done by a
Hindu nationalist member, Jaspat Roy Kapoor while discussing the Draft
Constitution on November, 21, 1949. He said:
"I only
wish that Kashmir should also have been brought in on the same level as other
States but, unfortunately, much to our dissatisfaction and chagrin, if I may
say so, this would not be done. This is a delicate subject and I will not say
anything more on it."
[Constituent Assembly Debates, vol. XI, Lok
Sabha Secretariat, Delhi, 2003 [4th reprint], p. 762.]
Despite
all these shocking facts being available in the Hindutva archives, the Hindutva
brigade continues to falsify history. The Hindutva juggernaut is in full steam
demolishing the great, heroic and selfless sacrifices of thousands of Indian
who laid down their lives for the freedom of India against the colonial masters
and their stooges like native Princes and Muslim League. The Hindutva gang is
trying to replace the braves and heroes of anti-colonial history with stooges
and collaborators. It makes one fact very clear that BJP/RSS do not have a
single person to be presented as freedom fighter. However, it is terribly sad
that those who love martyrs of the great anti-colonial struggle and respect
glorious liberation struggle are not there to encircle places in protest where
the Hindutva denigrates the real martyrs and freedom fighters and attempts to
establish collaborators as patriots.
Shamsul
Islam
November
8, 2019
Link for some of S. Islam's writings in
English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati
and video interviews/debates:
Facebook: shamsul
Twitter: @shamsforjustice
http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/
Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
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