By Pankaj Madhukar
Day before yesterday, I came accross an article by "v sundaram" which states about "The mysterious end of Dr S P Mookherjee" . Below are its contents.
In these columns I had written about Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who was a true and fearless nationalist. He died under mysterious circumstances on 23 May 1953 while under illegal detention without a trial in a private home in Srinagar, Kashmir. It is a known fact that Nehru had unconcealed contempt for the Hindus of India in general and the Hindus of Bengal in particular. On the other hand his infatuation for the Muslims of both India and Pakistan was total and indivisible. Further, he had a special regard and consideration founded on unrequited love for Sheik Abdullah for a lifetime.
On 1 April 1950, Dr S P Mookerjee, who was Minister for Industry and Supply, resigned from the Jawaharlal Nehru Ministry as a mark of angry protest against the Indian government's appeasement policy towards Pakistan. In a Cabinet meeting held in the afternoon of that day, Dr S P Mookerjee told Nehru: 'When Muslims in Kashmir were attacked you sent the Indian Armed Forces and spent crores of rupees. What do you care for us Bengali Hindus? What do you care for the criminal assaults on our women?' This is quoted in a book called 'Soundings in Modern South Asian History' edited by D A Low, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London in 1968. In the same book it has also been reported that Pundit Nehru stood up and began to advance towards Dr S P Mookerjee. For a moment it looked as if the Cabinet meeting would become a battle field. The other Ministers present tried to pacify Dr S P Mookerjee and Pundit Nehru. When things came to such a pass, Sardar Patel cleverly left the meeting. He was soon followed by other Ministers. Nehru reacted with relief in the following manner: 'Half the Cabinet has gone away. I think the meeting should be adjourned'. Thus ended another comically great pseudo-secular episode in modern Indian history.
In his capacity as president of the Jan Sangh, Dr S P Mookerjee was elected as leader of the National Democratic Group in the Lok Sabha when he entered Parliament after the general elections in 1952. In January-February 1953, by-elections were held in four constituencies in Delhi and Jan Sangh won three seats and the Congress party could win only one seat. Nehru was known for his violent bursts of temper and cherished the hallucination that any gregarious 'loss' of his temper meant a glorious 'gain' for India! Sharp words were exchanged between Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr S P Mookerjee on 17 February, 1953 in the Lok Sabha. I am giving below the words exchanged by them during the Parliamentary debate:
