Dr.Syama Prasad Mookerjee was martyred for the cause of integrating Kashmir with the rest of India. He was detained for 45 days for violating Article 370, which required Indians to seek a permit to enter Kashmir. His death in prison shook the country and the Permit System was ended. A slogan of the Period was “Nahi Chalengey ek desh mein do Vidhan, do pradhan our do nissan”
Dr. Mookerjee’s mother Jogmaya Debi exclaimed, on hearing of her son’s death: “Proudly do I feel that the loss of my son is a loss to Mother India”. He was born on 6th July 1901 in a famous family. His father Sir Ashutosh was widely known in Bengal. Graduated from Calcutta University he became a fellow of the Senate in 1923. He enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court in 1924 after his father’s death. Subsequently he left for England in 1926 to study in Lincoln’s Inn and became a barrister in 1927. At the age of 33, he became the world’s youngest Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University and held the office till 1938. During his tenure, he introduced a number of constructive reforms and was active in Asiatic Society of Calcutta as well as was a member of the Court and the Council of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Chairman of the Inter-University of Board.
He was elected as member of the Legislative Council of Bengal as a Congress candidate representing Calcutta University but resigned next year when Congress decided to boycott the legislature. Subsequently, he contested the election as an independent and got elected.
He became the opposition leader when Krishak Praja Party – Muslim League coalition was in power 1937-41 and joined the Progressive Coalition Ministry headed by Fazlul Haq as a Finance Minister and within less than a year resigned. He emerged as a spokesman for Hindus and shortly joined Hindu Mahasabha and in 1944, became the President.
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was the leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh from 1953 to 1968. A profound philosopher, organiser par excellence and a leader who maintained the highest standards of personal integrity, he has been the source of ideological guidance and moral inspiration for the BJP since its inception. His treatise Integral Humanism, which is a critique of both communism and capitalism, provides a holistic alternative perspective for political action and statecraft consistent with the laws of Creation and the universal needs of the human race. “अनेकता में एकता और विभिन्न रूपों में एकता की अभिव्यक्ति भारतीय संस्कृति की सोच रही है”
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was born on September 25, 1916, in the sacred region of Brij in the village of Nagla Chandrabhan in Mathura District. His father was a well known astrologer. An astrologer who studied his horoscope predicted that the boy would become a great scholar and thinker, a selfless worker, and a leading politician – but that he would not marry. While at Bhatpur tragedy struck the family, he lost his brother to illness in 1934. He later went to high school in Sikar. Maharaja of Sikar gave Pandit Upadhyaya a gold medal, Rs. 250 for books and a monthly scholarship of Rs.10.
Pandit Upadhyaya passed his Intermediate exams with distinction in Pilani and left to Kanpur to pursue his B.A. and joined the Sanatan Dharma College. At the instance of his friend Shri. Balwant Mahashabde, he joined the RSS in 1937. In 1937 he received his B.A. in the first division. Pandit Upadhyaya moved to Agra to pursue M.A.
Here he joined forces with Shri. Nanaji Deshmukh and Shri.Bhau Jugade for RSS activities. Around this time Rama Devi, a cousin of Deendayalji fell ill and she moved to Agra for treatment. She passed away. Deendayalji was very depressed and could not take the M.A. exams. His scholarships, received earlier from Maharajaj of Sikar and Shri. Birla were discontinued .
At the instance of his aunt he took a Government conducted competitive examination in dhoti and kurta with a cap on his head, while other candidates wore western suits. The candidates in fun called him “Panditji” – an appellation millions were to use with respect and love in later years. Again at thisexam he topped the list of selectees. Armed with his uncle’s permission he moved to Prayag to pursue B.T. and at Prayag he continued his RSS activities. After completion of his B.T., he worked full-time for the RSS and moved to Lakhimpur District in UP as an organizer and in 1955 became the Provincial Organizer of the RSS in UP.
He established the publishing house ‘Rashtra Dharma Prakashan’ in Lucknow and launched the monthly magazine ‘Rashtra Dharma’ to propound the principles he held sacred. Later he launched the weekly ‘Panchjanya’ and still later the daily ‘Swadesh’. In 1950, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, then Minister at the Center, opposed the Nehru-Liaquat pact and resigned his Cabinet post and joined the opposition to build a common front of democratic forces. Dr.Mookerjee sought Shri.Guruji’s help in organizing dedicated young men to pursue the work at the political level.
Pandit Deendayalji convened on September 21, 1951 a political convention of UP and founded the state unit of the new party, Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Pandit Deendayalji was the moving spirit and Dr.Mookerjee presided over the first all-India convention held on October 21, 1951.
Pandit Deendayalji’s organizing skills were unmatched. Finally came the red letter day in the annals of the Jana Sangh when this utterly unassuming leader of the party was raised to the high position of President in the year 1968. On assuming this tremendous responsibility Deendayalji went to the South with the message of Jana Sangh. On the dark night of February 11, 1968, Deendayal Upadhyaya was fiendishly pushed into the jaws of sudden death.
Source: BJP.ORG
