SHYAMA PRASAD MUKHERJEE – HISTORY
News: What
was the Liaquat-Nehru pact, due to which Syama Prasad Mookerjee resigned from
the Union cabinet?
What's in the news?
● Syama
Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the
Bharatiya Janata Party, died, purportedly of a heart attack, on June 23, 1953.
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee:
● He
was born on July 6, 1901.
● He
was India's first Minister of Industry
and Supply.
● He
was the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
Other key takeaways:
● At
the age of 33, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee became the youngest vice-chancellor of
Calcutta University in 1934.
● Mukherjee
demanded the partition of Bengal in 1946 to prevent the inclusion of its
Hindu-majority areas in a Muslim-dominated East Pakistan. A meeting held by the
Mahasabha on April 15, 1947, in Tarakeswar, authorized him to take steps for
ensuring partition of Bengal.
● He
also opposed a failed bid for a united but independent Bengal made in 1947 by
Sarat Bose, the brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy,
a Bengali Muslim politician.
Opposed Special Status to Jammu and Kashmir:
● Mukherjee
had famously said, “Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan aur Do Nishan nahi
chalenge” (trans: “One country cannot have two constitutions, two prime
ministers and two flags”), referring to the provisions of Article 370.
Not a Member of Congress:
● Mukherjee, a member of
the Hindu Mahasabha, was inducted into the
interim government on August 15, 1947, as the Minister for Industry and Supply.
He would keep his ministership for just under three years, resigning in April
1950 over the controversial Nehru-Liaquat Pact.
○ Despite
the Congress having an overwhelming majority, Nehru invited two members from outside the party to join his cabinet.
○ These
were Dr BR Ambedkar and Syama Prasad
Mookerjee.
Go back to basics:
Nehru-Liaquat Pact:
● The
Nehru-Liaquat Pact, also known as the Delhi
Pact, was a bilateral agreement signed between India and Pakistan in order
to provide a framework for the treatment
of minorities in the two countries.
● It
was signed by the two country’s prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat
Ali Khan in 1950.
Key provisions of the Agreement:
1.
The Governments of India and Pakistan agreed that each shall ensure, to the
minorities throughout its territory -
● complete equality of
citizenship irrespective of religion,
● a
full sense of security in respect of
life, culture, property and personal honour,
● freedom
of movement within each country and
● freedom
of occupation, speech and worship, subject to law and morality.
2.
Members of the minorities shall have
equal opportunity with members of the majority community to participate in
the public life of their country, to hold political or other office, and to
serve in their country’s civil and armed forces.
3.
A Commission of Enquiry to be set up
to look into the causes of disturbances and to suggest measures to prevent them
in future.
4.
Refugees were allowed to return unharmed
to dispose of their property.
5.
Measures to be taken for safe return of
abducted women and recovery of looted property.
6.
Non recognition of forced conversions
in respective countries.