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Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Life and Times
Syama Prasad Mookerjee was the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is undoubtedly one of the most iconic and controversial leaders in India's recent history. In spite of his significant political and ideological differences with Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr Mookerjee was inducted to the first cabinet of independent India. However, following the Delhi Pact between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, Dr Mookerjee resigned from the cabinet. His role during the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 and the Great Calcutta Killings and Noakhali Carnage of 1946 was historic. His premature death in custody--in Kashmir--is one of the unsolved mysteries of India's political history.
Dr Mookerjee was an educationist, politician and patriot who often opposed the official narratives of his time but fought consistently for India's independence and pre-eminent position in the world. His life has remained largely unexplored till now. This biography aims to rectify that omission and examines Dr Mookerjee's life in detail and sheds light on the turbulent and contentious events of his times.
Dr Mookerjee was an educationist, politician and patriot who often opposed the official narratives of his time but fought consistently for India's independence and pre-eminent position in the world. His life has remained largely unexplored till now. This biography aims to rectify that omission and examines Dr Mookerjee's life in detail and sheds light on the turbulent and contentious events of his times.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 9, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 16, 2020
The Story of the Bengal Tiger : Syama Prasad Mookerjee
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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Life and times, is thoroughly researched and a well written book. In fact this is the only complete biography we have at present on Dr Mookerjee.
For more information you can visit- https://dontbignorant.in/the-story-of...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Life and times, is thoroughly researched and a well written book. In fact this is the only complete biography we have at present on Dr Mookerjee.
For more information you can visit- https://dontbignorant.in/the-story-of...
September 7, 2019
Great account on Syama Prasad Mookerjee's life. .Tathagata Roy is one hell of a writer. I have read his 'My People, Uprooted: The Exodus of Hindus from East Pakistan and Bangladesh'. It was a great book. Both books are detailed accounts and well researched. There were so many amazing leaders during those times. We must remember these kinds of leaders.
August 20, 2018
This is a seminal work done the author to bring into light the life of a great son of India and Bengal. As Bibek Debroy points out in his foreword of the book that before honouring Syama Prasad people should no about his life.
A contemporary of Netaji and Nehru he roared in the parliament and his debates and speeches are sadly never known to the general public.
The highlight of the book is its nuances about the relationship of Dr. Mookerjee and the illustrious Bose brothers, his relationship with the rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and of course with many other luminaries of his time which includes Sardar Patel and Gandhiji. The roots of this family by tracing them to the furthest direct lineage possible shows the immense dedication on research the author has put into.
The thought with which he started a party just before the first general elections in free India and after almost 50 years, the prime ofshoot of that party is presently at the Centre and gave the country two prime ministers in itself goes to show the intellect and sense of the man about the nation and its society and he was a person who in most real terms saw the future.
Syamaprasad was in politics for a period of almost 10 years before his untimely demise, yet he left a indelible footprint in the political journey of the nation. The book and its narrative is apt which logical references of the author while analysing the impacts of the actions of this great persona. Its sad that the country does not want to remember Dr. Mookerjee and his contribution. A reference quoted in the book says it all, Dr. Mookerjee on his journey to Kashmir, which was to be his final one, he was handed over a copy of the illustrated weekly of india which ran a cover - After Nehru Who? SP Mookerjee or JP Narayan with their pictures on the cover.
Its a cherished biography to read for readers who are interested in politics and Dr. Mookerjee's life and contribution.
Its incredibly sad that Dr. Mookerjee has been labelled communal by many in this present generation including people in his home state
A contemporary of Netaji and Nehru he roared in the parliament and his debates and speeches are sadly never known to the general public.
The highlight of the book is its nuances about the relationship of Dr. Mookerjee and the illustrious Bose brothers, his relationship with the rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and of course with many other luminaries of his time which includes Sardar Patel and Gandhiji. The roots of this family by tracing them to the furthest direct lineage possible shows the immense dedication on research the author has put into.
The thought with which he started a party just before the first general elections in free India and after almost 50 years, the prime ofshoot of that party is presently at the Centre and gave the country two prime ministers in itself goes to show the intellect and sense of the man about the nation and its society and he was a person who in most real terms saw the future.
Syamaprasad was in politics for a period of almost 10 years before his untimely demise, yet he left a indelible footprint in the political journey of the nation. The book and its narrative is apt which logical references of the author while analysing the impacts of the actions of this great persona. Its sad that the country does not want to remember Dr. Mookerjee and his contribution. A reference quoted in the book says it all, Dr. Mookerjee on his journey to Kashmir, which was to be his final one, he was handed over a copy of the illustrated weekly of india which ran a cover - After Nehru Who? SP Mookerjee or JP Narayan with their pictures on the cover.
Its a cherished biography to read for readers who are interested in politics and Dr. Mookerjee's life and contribution.
Its incredibly sad that Dr. Mookerjee has been labelled communal by many in this present generation including people in his home state
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February 5, 2018one of the greatest statesman from the land of bengal. very few people would have heard of him... though he is one of the founders of a political party which is currently ruling the nation... time a d again he has extended his support to various humanitarian work... his support towards the formation of auroville is note worthy... loved reading every bit...
August 26, 2020
Before reading this, I only knew Dr Mookerjee as a politician who was minister in first cabinet and a dissident who raised voice against Nehru’s Kashmir policy. The book has explored many details about him especially his contributions in the field of education and role in creation of West Bengal. This is perhaps only most detailed and objective biography of SP Mookerjee in English.
There is one setback: the biography is not neutral and completely objective. Author’s own biases (given that he is BJP leader, former Tripura governor and was Meghalaya’s governor just before a week) often mixes. Calling Bengali Hindus ‘suicidal’ and furiously attacking Congress—is seemed to be his personal opinions.
Also, the book becomes a bit hagiographical in some chapters. It venerates the leader instead of critically examining his life. I don’t think proper justice has been done to the subject. But, however, this book should be read to know details and facts about a great man and his life.
There is one setback: the biography is not neutral and completely objective. Author’s own biases (given that he is BJP leader, former Tripura governor and was Meghalaya’s governor just before a week) often mixes. Calling Bengali Hindus ‘suicidal’ and furiously attacking Congress—is seemed to be his personal opinions.
Also, the book becomes a bit hagiographical in some chapters. It venerates the leader instead of critically examining his life. I don’t think proper justice has been done to the subject. But, however, this book should be read to know details and facts about a great man and his life.
August 21, 2025
Tathagata Roy’s The Life and Times of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, with a foreword by L.K. Advani, offers one of the most comprehensive and reverential portraits of a man who straddled the worlds of academia, politics, and national service during one of the most turbulent periods in Indian history.
Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee (1901–1953) has long occupied a significant place in the imagination of India’s nationalist politics—as an educationist who modernised learning, as a parliamentarian who stood firm against compromise, and as the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor of today’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Roy’s biography unfolds in twelve chapters, each weaving together narrative detail, historical context, and personal insight. The book moves chronologically, and each chapter adds a layer of depth to a figure who emerges not only as a politician of destiny but also as a man of deep conviction and principle.
The opening chapter places Mookerjee firmly in his ancestral and cultural setting. Born in 1901 into an illustrious Bengali Brahmin family in Calcutta, he grew up in the shadow of his father, Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee, the legendary educationist and jurist who served as vice chancellor of Calcutta University.
The household was steeped in learning, discipline, and public life, and young Shyama Prasad absorbed both the intellectual rigour and the sense of duty that were his father’s hallmarks. His early education at Presidency College and his later pursuit of law at Lincoln’s Inn in England revealed a student of formidable talent, who combined academic brilliance with an evolving sense of national commitment. This chapter sets the foundation by portraying him as a child of privilege, but also one who converted that privilege into responsibility.
The second chapter follows his astonishing rise in academia, culminating in his appointment as the youngest ever vice chancellor of Calcutta University in 1934, at the age of thirty-three. Roy gives careful attention to this phase, showing how Mookerjee pushed through initiatives that were ahead of their time: expanding the teaching of Indian languages, encouraging women’s education, and fostering scientific research.
His tenure was marked by vision and reform, and he acquired the reputation of being not only a dynamic administrator but also a thinker who understood that education was central to the self-confidence of a colonised people. The chapter leaves the impression of a man who could easily have remained in the world of books and institutions, yet who sensed that the challenges of the age demanded more of him.
The third chapter charts his hesitant but eventual entry into politics. First elected to the Bengal Legislative Council in 1929 as an independent, he initially kept some distance from the rough and tumble of political life. Yet the currents of the 1930s and 1940s, with their growing communal tensions and the looming shadow of Partition, drew him in. He developed a complex relationship with the Indian National Congress—sympathetic to its nationalist aspirations but critical of what he saw as its softness on issues of communal balance.
His eventual alignment with the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal is explained by Roy as a matter of principle rather than ideology alone: Mookerjee wanted to defend the rights of Hindus in a province where he felt they were increasingly marginalised. This chapter portrays him as a reluctant politician who, once convinced of the necessity of his role, threw himself into the arena with vigour.
The fourth chapter brings the reader to the Bengal of the 1940s, a landscape scarred by famine and inflamed by communal discord. Mookerjee emerges here as a strong critic of both the British administration and the Muslim League-led provincial governments. The famine of 1943, the misgovernance of Fazlul Haq and later H.S. Suhrawardy, and the rising communal divisions created conditions of desperation.
Mookerjee’s interventions in this period highlight both his compassion and his nationalist fervour. He criticised the apathy of those in power, voiced the suffering of Hindus in Bengal, and denounced compromises that, in his view, jeopardised the fabric of society.
The fifth chapter deals with the epochal question of Partition. Mookerjee was opposed to the partition of Bengal and India’s vivisection, but when it became clear that it was inevitable, he proposed an alternative: dividing Bengal into Hindu-majority and Muslim-majority areas so that Hindus would not be trapped in an unfriendly East Bengal.
His foresight in predicting the persecution of Hindus in East Pakistan proved tragically accurate in the years that followed. Roy’s narrative stresses his advocacy for refugees and his conviction that their plight must remain central to national conscience. This chapter captures the poignancy of a man grappling with history’s cruelties, trying to mitigate its harshest blows through pragmatic, if painful, proposals.
Chapter six takes the reader to the corridors of independent India’s first cabinet, where Mookerjee served as Minister for Industry and Supply under Prime Minister Nehru. In this position he worked tirelessly to stabilise an economy disrupted by Partition, to strengthen the country’s industrial base, and to address the enormous refugee crisis.
Yet ideological differences soon emerged. Mookerjee’s insistence on firmness in dealing with Pakistan, his concerns about the treatment of refugees from East Bengal, and his disquiet over the special concessions granted to Jammu and Kashmir created fault lines with Nehru’s more conciliatory and internationalist stance.
These differences culminated in the events described in chapter seven, when Mookerjee resigned from the cabinet in 1950. His protest against the Nehru–Liaquat Pact, which he believed betrayed the Hindus of East Pakistan, is depicted as a defining act of conscience. Out of office, Mookerjee became one of the most articulate and uncompromising critics of Nehruvian policies.
He questioned what he saw as minority appeasement, voiced concern over centralised economic planning, and insisted on a firmer policy regarding Kashmir. Roy presents this period as the flowering of his independent political identity.
Chapter eight narrates the birth of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951. Here, Mookerjee is shown not just as a critic of Congress but as a builder of an alternative. The Jana Sangh’s ideology of cultural nationalism, self-reliance, justice for refugees, and strong national defence offered a coherent platform that resonated with many.
Roy describes how Mookerjee reached out to grassroots activists, particularly from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and shaped the Jana Sangh into a disciplined political force. It was a daring enterprise, an effort to carve out ideological space in a political landscape dominated by the Congress.
The ninth chapter is among the most dramatic, dealing with Mookerjee’s agitation on Kashmir. He vehemently opposed the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, arguing that no nation could function with two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two flags. His decision in 1953 to enter Kashmir without a permit was a bold act of defiance, intended to expose the anomaly and press for full integration. Arrested by Sheikh Abdullah’s government, Mookerjee was detained in Srinagar.
Chapter ten recounts the tragic conclusion of his life. On 23 June 1953, he died in custody in Srinagar under circumstances that remain controversial to this day. Allegations of medical negligence, suspicions of foul play, and unanswered questions surrounded his death, but what was beyond doubt was its impact. His passing provoked a wave of grief and outrage across India.
In Roy’s telling, it was this moment that transformed Mookerjee from a leader into a martyr, ensuring his permanent place in the narrative of nationalist sacrifice.
The eleventh chapter turns to legacy. Here, Mookerjee is remembered as an educationist who revitalised Indian higher learning, as a nationalist uncompromising on India’s unity, as a voice for Hindu refugees, and as the founder of a political tradition that would ultimately shape the trajectory of Indian democracy.
The Jana Sangh he created would evolve, through years of struggle and transformation, into the Bharatiya Janata Party, which continues to invoke his principles and sacrifice as part of its ideological lineage.
Finally, chapter twelve gathers reflections, including Advani’s foreword. Advani calls Mookerjee a “patriot’s patriot”, a phrase that captures the moral stature with which he is remembered. Roy too emphasises that Mookerjee’s life was cut short before his full potential as a national leader could unfold.
Yet his warnings on Kashmir, his advocacy for refugees, and his alternative vision of politics resonate strikingly in the contemporary landscape. For Roy, the purpose of the biography is to restore him to his rightful place in India’s collective memory, not merely as a regional leader or as a voice of opposition but as a national figure whose ideals and sacrifices transcended his era.
Taken together, The Life and Times of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee is more than a chronological account; it is an act of restoration and homage. Each chapter paints him as a figure of integrity and vision, whose life, though brief, cast a long shadow on India’s political journey.
From the promise of his academic career to the trials of Partition, from his principled resignation to his martyrdom in Kashmir, the book traces a trajectory marked by sacrifice, conviction, and foresight.
Roy writes with sympathy but also with care, grounding his narrative in historical context while allowing the reader to feel the moral urgency of Mookerjee’s choices.
The biography, in the end, leaves one with the sense of a man who gave his intellect, his voice, and finally his life to the cause of India’s unity and strength.
It is a reminder that certain lives, even when cut short, leave legacies that endure for generations.
Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee (1901–1953) has long occupied a significant place in the imagination of India’s nationalist politics—as an educationist who modernised learning, as a parliamentarian who stood firm against compromise, and as the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor of today’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Roy’s biography unfolds in twelve chapters, each weaving together narrative detail, historical context, and personal insight. The book moves chronologically, and each chapter adds a layer of depth to a figure who emerges not only as a politician of destiny but also as a man of deep conviction and principle.
The opening chapter places Mookerjee firmly in his ancestral and cultural setting. Born in 1901 into an illustrious Bengali Brahmin family in Calcutta, he grew up in the shadow of his father, Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee, the legendary educationist and jurist who served as vice chancellor of Calcutta University.
The household was steeped in learning, discipline, and public life, and young Shyama Prasad absorbed both the intellectual rigour and the sense of duty that were his father’s hallmarks. His early education at Presidency College and his later pursuit of law at Lincoln’s Inn in England revealed a student of formidable talent, who combined academic brilliance with an evolving sense of national commitment. This chapter sets the foundation by portraying him as a child of privilege, but also one who converted that privilege into responsibility.
The second chapter follows his astonishing rise in academia, culminating in his appointment as the youngest ever vice chancellor of Calcutta University in 1934, at the age of thirty-three. Roy gives careful attention to this phase, showing how Mookerjee pushed through initiatives that were ahead of their time: expanding the teaching of Indian languages, encouraging women’s education, and fostering scientific research.
His tenure was marked by vision and reform, and he acquired the reputation of being not only a dynamic administrator but also a thinker who understood that education was central to the self-confidence of a colonised people. The chapter leaves the impression of a man who could easily have remained in the world of books and institutions, yet who sensed that the challenges of the age demanded more of him.
The third chapter charts his hesitant but eventual entry into politics. First elected to the Bengal Legislative Council in 1929 as an independent, he initially kept some distance from the rough and tumble of political life. Yet the currents of the 1930s and 1940s, with their growing communal tensions and the looming shadow of Partition, drew him in. He developed a complex relationship with the Indian National Congress—sympathetic to its nationalist aspirations but critical of what he saw as its softness on issues of communal balance.
His eventual alignment with the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal is explained by Roy as a matter of principle rather than ideology alone: Mookerjee wanted to defend the rights of Hindus in a province where he felt they were increasingly marginalised. This chapter portrays him as a reluctant politician who, once convinced of the necessity of his role, threw himself into the arena with vigour.
The fourth chapter brings the reader to the Bengal of the 1940s, a landscape scarred by famine and inflamed by communal discord. Mookerjee emerges here as a strong critic of both the British administration and the Muslim League-led provincial governments. The famine of 1943, the misgovernance of Fazlul Haq and later H.S. Suhrawardy, and the rising communal divisions created conditions of desperation.
Mookerjee’s interventions in this period highlight both his compassion and his nationalist fervour. He criticised the apathy of those in power, voiced the suffering of Hindus in Bengal, and denounced compromises that, in his view, jeopardised the fabric of society.
The fifth chapter deals with the epochal question of Partition. Mookerjee was opposed to the partition of Bengal and India’s vivisection, but when it became clear that it was inevitable, he proposed an alternative: dividing Bengal into Hindu-majority and Muslim-majority areas so that Hindus would not be trapped in an unfriendly East Bengal.
His foresight in predicting the persecution of Hindus in East Pakistan proved tragically accurate in the years that followed. Roy’s narrative stresses his advocacy for refugees and his conviction that their plight must remain central to national conscience. This chapter captures the poignancy of a man grappling with history’s cruelties, trying to mitigate its harshest blows through pragmatic, if painful, proposals.
Chapter six takes the reader to the corridors of independent India’s first cabinet, where Mookerjee served as Minister for Industry and Supply under Prime Minister Nehru. In this position he worked tirelessly to stabilise an economy disrupted by Partition, to strengthen the country’s industrial base, and to address the enormous refugee crisis.
Yet ideological differences soon emerged. Mookerjee’s insistence on firmness in dealing with Pakistan, his concerns about the treatment of refugees from East Bengal, and his disquiet over the special concessions granted to Jammu and Kashmir created fault lines with Nehru’s more conciliatory and internationalist stance.
These differences culminated in the events described in chapter seven, when Mookerjee resigned from the cabinet in 1950. His protest against the Nehru–Liaquat Pact, which he believed betrayed the Hindus of East Pakistan, is depicted as a defining act of conscience. Out of office, Mookerjee became one of the most articulate and uncompromising critics of Nehruvian policies.
He questioned what he saw as minority appeasement, voiced concern over centralised economic planning, and insisted on a firmer policy regarding Kashmir. Roy presents this period as the flowering of his independent political identity.
Chapter eight narrates the birth of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951. Here, Mookerjee is shown not just as a critic of Congress but as a builder of an alternative. The Jana Sangh’s ideology of cultural nationalism, self-reliance, justice for refugees, and strong national defence offered a coherent platform that resonated with many.
Roy describes how Mookerjee reached out to grassroots activists, particularly from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and shaped the Jana Sangh into a disciplined political force. It was a daring enterprise, an effort to carve out ideological space in a political landscape dominated by the Congress.
The ninth chapter is among the most dramatic, dealing with Mookerjee’s agitation on Kashmir. He vehemently opposed the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, arguing that no nation could function with two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two flags. His decision in 1953 to enter Kashmir without a permit was a bold act of defiance, intended to expose the anomaly and press for full integration. Arrested by Sheikh Abdullah’s government, Mookerjee was detained in Srinagar.
Chapter ten recounts the tragic conclusion of his life. On 23 June 1953, he died in custody in Srinagar under circumstances that remain controversial to this day. Allegations of medical negligence, suspicions of foul play, and unanswered questions surrounded his death, but what was beyond doubt was its impact. His passing provoked a wave of grief and outrage across India.
In Roy’s telling, it was this moment that transformed Mookerjee from a leader into a martyr, ensuring his permanent place in the narrative of nationalist sacrifice.
The eleventh chapter turns to legacy. Here, Mookerjee is remembered as an educationist who revitalised Indian higher learning, as a nationalist uncompromising on India’s unity, as a voice for Hindu refugees, and as the founder of a political tradition that would ultimately shape the trajectory of Indian democracy.
The Jana Sangh he created would evolve, through years of struggle and transformation, into the Bharatiya Janata Party, which continues to invoke his principles and sacrifice as part of its ideological lineage.
Finally, chapter twelve gathers reflections, including Advani’s foreword. Advani calls Mookerjee a “patriot’s patriot”, a phrase that captures the moral stature with which he is remembered. Roy too emphasises that Mookerjee’s life was cut short before his full potential as a national leader could unfold.
Yet his warnings on Kashmir, his advocacy for refugees, and his alternative vision of politics resonate strikingly in the contemporary landscape. For Roy, the purpose of the biography is to restore him to his rightful place in India’s collective memory, not merely as a regional leader or as a voice of opposition but as a national figure whose ideals and sacrifices transcended his era.
Taken together, The Life and Times of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee is more than a chronological account; it is an act of restoration and homage. Each chapter paints him as a figure of integrity and vision, whose life, though brief, cast a long shadow on India’s political journey.
From the promise of his academic career to the trials of Partition, from his principled resignation to his martyrdom in Kashmir, the book traces a trajectory marked by sacrifice, conviction, and foresight.
Roy writes with sympathy but also with care, grounding his narrative in historical context while allowing the reader to feel the moral urgency of Mookerjee’s choices.
The biography, in the end, leaves one with the sense of a man who gave his intellect, his voice, and finally his life to the cause of India’s unity and strength.
It is a reminder that certain lives, even when cut short, leave legacies that endure for generations.
April 3, 2023
“Ek Desh Mein Do Vidhan, Do Nishan, Do Pradhan Nahi Chalenge” (Two constitutions, two flags, two Chiefs in one country will not be tolerated), was his last war cry.
So, this is a critical biography of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, India’s first industrial minister, founder of Jana Sangh (predecessor of today’s BJP), the architect of West Bengal and savior of Bengali Hindus.
After two-three chapters, the book becomes a very fast read and unputdownable. After describing his career as a barrister and educationist, it describes how Dr. Mookerjee came into politics and how he became the financial minister of Bengal and how he predicted the famine of Bengal and tried his best to stop it. But, after the ignorance of the Britishers, he gave his resignation. It was heart wrenching story that when people were fighting desperately for food, the Britishers and the Muslim league were spreading communalism. Dr. Mookerjee had fought against it but his struggle mostly got in vain.
Then the book describes how Dr. Mookerjee snatched West Bengal from Jinnah’s mouth. It also tells the Muslim league origin of Bengali parochialism, which is a driving force of the politics of West Bengal today. Then, it describes Dr. Mookerjee’s contribution in Indian Industrial revolution. But, after pogroms in East Bengal following Nehru’s defeatism policy towards Pakistan which fruited to Nehru- Liyaqat Ali Pact forced him to resign from his ministry. After quitting Hindu Mahasabha for quarrels with conservatioves, He made his party Bhartiya Jana Sangh.
His final war for the fully integration of Kashmir to India ended up with his mysterious death. The book gives a very sad impression at the end. What I liked is the fast pace of this book but I disliked that the author gave Mookerjee’s view on sleeveless dress which is like to bring domestic quarrel into battlefield. This book is a must read for every patriotic Indians. This book deserves to be a bestseller.
So, this is a critical biography of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, India’s first industrial minister, founder of Jana Sangh (predecessor of today’s BJP), the architect of West Bengal and savior of Bengali Hindus.
After two-three chapters, the book becomes a very fast read and unputdownable. After describing his career as a barrister and educationist, it describes how Dr. Mookerjee came into politics and how he became the financial minister of Bengal and how he predicted the famine of Bengal and tried his best to stop it. But, after the ignorance of the Britishers, he gave his resignation. It was heart wrenching story that when people were fighting desperately for food, the Britishers and the Muslim league were spreading communalism. Dr. Mookerjee had fought against it but his struggle mostly got in vain.
Then the book describes how Dr. Mookerjee snatched West Bengal from Jinnah’s mouth. It also tells the Muslim league origin of Bengali parochialism, which is a driving force of the politics of West Bengal today. Then, it describes Dr. Mookerjee’s contribution in Indian Industrial revolution. But, after pogroms in East Bengal following Nehru’s defeatism policy towards Pakistan which fruited to Nehru- Liyaqat Ali Pact forced him to resign from his ministry. After quitting Hindu Mahasabha for quarrels with conservatioves, He made his party Bhartiya Jana Sangh.
His final war for the fully integration of Kashmir to India ended up with his mysterious death. The book gives a very sad impression at the end. What I liked is the fast pace of this book but I disliked that the author gave Mookerjee’s view on sleeveless dress which is like to bring domestic quarrel into battlefield. This book is a must read for every patriotic Indians. This book deserves to be a bestseller.
June 6, 2020
A moving and vivid portrayal of one of great sons of India. Tathagatha Roy does a great job of highlighting the contributions of Dr SPM towards freedom movement as well as Bengal, especially his role in saving the lives of Hindu victims of Noakhali genocide, his succour to the victims of famine caused by British policies and his efforts in ensuring Kolkata and West Bengal remained with India when he realised partition was inevitable. The final chapters surrounding his efforts on Kashmir and the events and unanswered questions surrounding his mysterious death under incarceration by Sheikh Abdullah govt are especially moving. A great tribute to a great and one of the many many largely unsung heroes of India.
July 12, 2020
The story of great Indian thinker and politician. He was one of the great stalwalt-in the field of education became Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University at the age of 33. Became India's first industry minister and led to the establishment of Chittaranjan Locomotive Factory, HAL Bangalore and Sindhri Fertilizer Plant. He resigned due to PM Nehru's policy of appeasement to Muslims in India and the controversial Nehru- Liaquat pact in 1950. He then led towards unification and consolidation of state J&K in Union of India as President of Bhartiya JanSangh. However, he was arrested while entering Jammu and later died under mysterious circumstances in jail on 23 June 1953.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews