Opinion In the beginning,a National Democratic Front

The news was a shock for millions. Earlier that year,Dr Syama Prasad’s newly launched party,the Bharatiya Jana Sangh,had had its first all-India Session at Kanpur. I had the privilege of being one of the delegates from Rajasthan who attended this session. It was here that Dr Mookerjee had given to the thousands of delegates assembled at Phool Bagh this scintillating slogan: “Ek desh mein do pradhan,do nishan,do vidhan,nahin chalenge,nahin chalenge (Ours is one country: we can’t have two presidents,two flags,and two constitutions).”

It was at Kanpur that the party resolved to launch its first nationwide movement — for the complete integration of J&K with India. Dr Mookerjee decided to lead the movement from the front — by personally defying the permit system introduced by Sheikh Abdullah. He also decided to go to different parts of the country to mobilise public opinion in support of the movement. He asked Shri Vajpayee to accompany him on this pre-campaign rail tour.

I was at Kota,in Rajasthan,those days. When I learnt that Dr Mookerjee and Atalji were passing through Kota junction,I met them at the station. I could never have imagined that that was destined to be the last time I would see this great founder of our party,Dr Syama Prasad.

On May 8,1953,Dr Mookerjee left Delhi for Punjab en route to Jammu. At Amritsar,a massive crowd of over 20,000 gave him a rousing reception. His journey from Amritsar to Pathankot,and thence to Madhopur,was also like a victory procession. Madhopur is a small town,some 12 kilometres away from the army cantonment of Pathankot. It is situated on the banks of the Ravi,the river that separates Punjab from J&K. Dr Mookerjee,accompanied by Atalji,boarded a jeep to cross the bridge over the Ravi in order to enter J&K. Halfway down the bridge,the jeep was halted by a posse of J&K policemen and Dr Mookerjee was asked whether he had a permit with him. He replied in the negative and said that under the Indian Constitution every Indian citizen had a right to travel to any part of the country. When the police arrested him,he said to Vajpayeeji: “Please go back and tell the people that I have entered Jammu and Kashmir state without a permit,though as a prisoner.”

It is noteworthy that,at Pathankot,senior police officials of Punjab had called on Dr Syama Prasad and told him that they had instructions from the Punjab government that even if he did not have a permit with him he should be allowed to go past Madhopur on to the bridge. Evidently,it was a joint operation of the Union government and the J&K state government to keep Dr Mookerjee prisoner in J&K,and not in Punjab.

The upshot of this planned operation was a devastating calamity for the country. On June 23,1953,the nation was shocked to learn that Mookerjee,who had been kept in detention in a house in Srinagar,had suddenly fallen ill and,after a brief illness, passed away.

Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy,Congress chief minister of West Bengal,Dr Mookerjee’s venerable mother,Srimati Jogamaya Devi,and many,many more eminent citizens from all parts of the country flooded the prime minister’s office with telegrams and letters,not just expressing their shock and anguish,but also urging that an immediate inquiry be ordered on how the tragedy had happened. The nation’s anguish elicited no response. The death of this titan remains a mystery till today. In other similar situations,a formal inquiry has almost invariably been instituted. But not in this case. One cannot say whether it was just criminal insensitivity or actually a feeling of guilt.

However,the intense public indignation aroused by the passing away of Dr Mookerjee under suspicious circumstances triggered off a series of developments in the next few months that significantly promoted the process of national integration.

First and foremost,the permit system was abolished. Until this time,the Supreme Court,the Election Commission and the comptroller and auditor general did not have any jurisdiction over J&K. The authority of these three constitutional bodies was extended to the state. Till then,the chief minister of the state had been called prime minister,and the head of state the sadr-e-riyasat. In theory,thus,neither the president nor the prime minister of the Union had authority over the state. Dr Mookerjee’s martyrdom brought about a change in this situation too. In the state,prime minister became chief minister,sadr-e-riyasat became governor,and the Union president and PM’s formal authority was extended to it as well.

In a way,of the three strands in the inspiring slogan,two pradhans became one,and though two nishans continue still,the national tricolour started flying in the state in a superior position. Besides,two prime ministers became one,two apex courts became one,two election authorities became one,two principal auditors became one — all because of Dr Syama Prasad’s sacrifice. The country eagerly awaits the day when Article 370 would be repealed,and the two vidhans also would become one.

Dr Mookerjee was a great democrat. His innate commitment to democracy made him acutely conscious of the fact that if the prevailing hegemony of the Congress continued in the whole country,democracy could not flourish. He had just launched the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and was alive to the fact that it would take many years for the party to grow. Therefore,even at the very first national conference of the Jana Sangh at Kanpur,he invited not only members of the regional Praja Parishad of J&K,but even delegates of the Ganatantra Parishad (GP) of Orissa. Besides,within the Lok Sabha itself,the Jana Sangh’s own members,including Dr Mookerjee,numbered only three. And yet,he tried to to form a National Democratic Front of 21 MPs,including the Akalis,the GP and others. This showed the vision he had for the future. I am recalling this also to stress that in 1998 Vajpayeeji succeeded in gathering a large number of parties with the BJP,which had only 182 MPs at the time,to bring up the strength to over 280. And at that time,when the name of the alliance was being thought of,I suggested to Vajpayeeji,why not the name Dr Mookerjee chose for the 21-member group in the first Lok Sabha. That had been called the National Democratic Front. We called it the National Democratic Alliance,“front” being more temporary than “alliance”. It is therefore that I have often said that the main achievement of the Jana Sangh-BJP over the last 60 years has been to smash Congress hegemony over national politics and convert India’s polity into a bi-polar polity.

The writer is a senior BJP leader and chairperson of the NDA. This is a version of his latest blog post,specially modified for ‘The Indian Express’