Kolkata, Oct 31 BJP West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday claimed that Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee is getting his due honour only after a “nationalist government” assumed office in the state.
Speaking at the inauguration of a bust of Mookerjee at WEBEL Bhavan, the headquarters of West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited in Salt Lake, Bhattacharya accused the Congress and Left parties of trying to suppress the history associated with him.
Mookerjee’s move to secure the adoption of a resolution in the Bengal Provincial Assembly on June 30, 1947, helped prevent the western part of Bengal from becoming part of East Pakistan and ensured that Bengali Hindus remained in India, the BJP leader said.
He said that besides Mookerjee, intellectuals such as jurist N C Chatterjee, historian Ramesh Chandra Majumdar and scientist Meghnad Saha played a crucial role in shaping West Bengal as it exists now.
Without naming the Congress, Bhattacharya said, “Those who accepted dominion status had betrayed the people, and only individuals like Syama Prasad stood for them.”
The state BJP president also referred to Mookerjee’s “murder” in Jammu and Kashmir on June 23, 1953.
“After his mysterious death, some people burnt trams on the streets of Kolkata in an obvious attempt to divert focus from the issue,” he claimed.
Bhattacharya was alluding to the Left parties, which had burnt trams in Kolkata during widespread protests against a one-paisa fare hike by the British-owned Calcutta Tram Company.
“History cannot be suppressed. After a nationalist government assumed office in West Bengal on May 4, 2026, we are unveiling a bust of Mookerjee and remembering his contribution to the country and Bengal,” Bhattacharya said.
He said Mookerjee’s contribution was being remembered and highlighted from Gangotri in Uttarakhand to Gangasagar in West Bengal.
Asking the employees of Webel to rise above industrial disputes, he said the country should follow ideals of Mookerjee.
The BJP’s West Bengal observer Sunil Bansal was also present on the occasion.
(PTI News)
