Shayma Prasad Mukherjee was considered the godfather of modern Hindutva and Hindu Nationalism. He founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the first Hindu nationalist political party, and was also the leader of the Hindu Mahasabha and closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Background
Mukherjee was born in a Bengali Hindu Kulin Brahmin family on 6 July 1901 in Calcutta. His father was Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, a well-respected advocate in Bengal, who became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, and his mother was Lady Jogmaya Devi Mookerjee. Syama Prasad enjoyed only eleven years of married life and had five children – the last one, a four-month old son, died from diphtheria. His wife was heartbroken after this and died of pneumonia shortly afterwards.
Education
He earned his graduation degree in English in the year 1921 from the University of Calcutta and went on to complete his masters from the same institution in 1923. The same year, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee became a member of the Senate of the University of Calcutta and started studying in law. He earned the BL degree in 1924.
Career
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee entered into active politics after the end of his term as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. He joined the Indian National Congress, from where he was elected to the Legislative Council of Bengal. However, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee resigned from the legislative council after only a year in office in support of Congress' decision to boycott the legislature. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee decided to contest elections as an independent candidate after his resignation. He won the elections and assumed office as the Finance Minister of the Bengal province for the term 1941-1942. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee protested against the communalist and separatist ideas propagated by Muslim League leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah wanted a separate Muslim state, a condition that Shyama Prasad Mookerjee decided to protest against.
He gradually became popular as a spokesman for Hindus in Bengal and after he joined the Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was appointed its President in the year 1944. However Shyama Prasad Mookerjee soon realized that all that the Muslim League promoted was communal disharmony. He realized the futility of compromising with the Muslim League and being a part of a Muslim dominated state. Therefore Shyama Prasad Mookerjee no longer protested against separation, rather he spoke in favor of the partition of Bengal in 1946, saying that the Muslims could live in a separate state of East Pakistan. Later it was the Hindus who were blamed for violence when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic. The Hindu Mahasabha, of which Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was the president, came under attack after the assassination and was highly criticized.
After August 1947, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was made a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru cabinet and given the office of the minister for industry and supply. Having worked with the Indian National Congress before, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was a favorite with several within the party. But differences between him and Jawaharlal Nehru forced the former to resign from his position in the government on April 6, 1950. While Jawaharlal Nehru had forwarded an invitation to the Pakistan Prime Minister to discuss issues on minority commissions and minority rights, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was of the opinion that Pakistan was responsible for the influx of refugees from East Bengal in West Bengal. He even believed that the violence that was meted out to Hindus in East Pakistan was the result of Pakistan's support to the government of the country. Though Jawaharlal Nehru was prepared to appease Pakistan, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee refused to relent from his beliefs and thus quit the Congress. For his act, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was hailed as a hero of West Bengal.
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee formed the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) on October 21, 1951 after his fallout with Jawaharlal Nehru. The BJS supported Hindu nationalism in the country. It stood for free market economies as opposed to the socialist economic policies followed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee did not believe in discriminating against the Muslims, and as such, he practiced the same civil code for both the Hindus and the Muslims. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee repeatedly spoke out against the ritual of cow slaughter followed by the Muslims and the special favors given to the Muslim majority state, Jammu and Kashmir. There was a rule during that point of time which prevented any Indian, including the President of India from entering Jammu and Kashmir without the permission of the Prime Minister of the state. The 1952 general elections in the country saw Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and the BJS winning three seats in the Parliament. Protesting against the rule applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee visited Kashmir in 1953 and crossed the borders without the permission of the state's authorities, thus facing arrest on May 11, 1953.