Agencies | Kolkota:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the Narendra Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 fulfilled the long-standing vision of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is now an “integral part of India.”
Addressing a programme marking the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Mookerjee in Kolkata, Shah said the Jana Sangh founder had laid down his life while opposing the special constitutional status granted to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir under the slogan, “Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan, do Nishan nahi chalenge” (One nation cannot have two constitutions, two prime ministers and two flags).
“Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee sacrificed his life for the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled his resolve by removing Article 370. Today, Jammu and Kashmir is an inseparable part of India,” Shah said.
The Home Minister also recalled Mookerjee’s resignation from the first Union Cabinet over the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, stating that he believed the agreement had failed to protect the interests of Hindus who remained in Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Shah said the Modi government had fulfilled another of Mookerjee’s objectives by enacting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which provides a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries.
“We have removed Article 370, granted citizenship to persecuted Hindu refugees through the CAA, and will identify and remove every infiltrator from Indian soil to strengthen the nation’s security,” he said.
On the occasion, Shah announced that a 125-foot statue of Dr Mookerjee would be installed in Kolkata. He described the memorial as “the beginning of the resolve for Sonar Bangla” and said a Syama Prasad Mookerjee Institute dedicated to research on national security would also be established alongside the statue.
The Home Minister said Mookerjee had envisioned an India rooted in its civilisational values while embracing modern development, adding that the vision was being realised under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
He also highlighted Mookerjee’s role in founding the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which later evolved into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and said the party now governs a majority of India’s population and geographical area.
Shah welcomed the West Bengal government’s decision to declare Dr Mookerjee’s birth anniversary a public holiday and said several commitments, including welfare initiatives, anti-corruption measures, women’s safety programmes and action against illegal infiltration, had begun to be implemented.
Launching a political attack on previous Left Front and Trinamool Congress governments, Shah accused them of holding West Bengal back and expressed confidence that the present administration would fulfil its promises and lay the foundation for a “Sonar Bangla.”
A recorded message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi was played during the event, which was attended by senior BJP leaders, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari.
