Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Indian Politics

Book excerpt: This book is a pioneering work on the multi-faceted contributions of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee to India. Dr Mookerjee helped to oust the League ministry in Bengal (1941) and install the Progressive Coalition ministry of which he was the Finance Minister. He resigned in 1942 to protest against the Governor's policy of repression against the Quit India movement. As the Working President of the Hindu Mahasabha, he was responsible for its ascendancy in Indian politics from 1940-1944. As the Central Industries and Supplies Minister (1947-1950), he framed free India's industrial policy but resigned due to acute differences with Prime Minister Nehru's appeasement policy towards Pakistan. He, together with M.S. Golwalkar of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, formed a new political party, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. Despite Dr Mookerjee's tragic death in 1953, the party drew adherents from all parts of India, and eventually was renamed the Bharatiya Janata Party.