Mookerjee and Bengal’s Unravelling

As the commemoration of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s 125th birth anniversary was announced, the mind flitted to some crucial and defining episodes in his life. These defining moments were characterised by Dr Mookerjee’s connection to the RSS and to his interactions and relationship with both Dr Hedgewar and Sri Guruji Golwalkar. When he met Doctorji in Nagpur in May 1940, Syama Prasad Mookerjee was not yet 39 years old. By then, he had completed two successful tenures as the youngest Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University, between 1934 and 1938 and had made his mark as an educationist and as a deft administrator of educational affairs.

However, his increasing concern with the condition of Hindus in Bengal, then ruled by a Muslim League-dominated coalition, gradually drew Syama Prasad into the political arena, from the relatively secure and sedate field of education. Syama Prasad’s tenure as Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University was not free from controversies. The Muslim League and its student fronts went up in arms against his decision to institute an annual day for the University and his decision to launch the annual celebrations with the singing of “Vande Mataram.” They also opposed and vociferously attacked his decision to institute an emblem and motto for the university that expressed the Indian ethos. There was an attempt to even physically assault him during this period. It would be interesting to look at some of these events since they reflected the currents of that age.

Bengal was seeing the rise and consolidation of Islamists in the form of the Muslim League. It was against this rising tide of extremism that Syama Prasad called on Doctorji in Nagpur. However, first, let us examine some of the events that unfolded to understand the political climate and backdrop against which the meeting between Doctorji and Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee took place.

The Calcutta University annual day celebrations left an indelible impression on historian Susobhan Sarkar (1900-1982), who, as a young teacher at the Presidency College, remembers the occasion. In his study of Rabindranath Tagore, “Prasanga Rabindranath”, Sarkar tells us that as Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University, Syama Prasad had requested Rabindranath Tagore to compose a song to which he wished to march with the students of the University on the Foundation Day.

Tagore sent in a powerful song for youth, “Chalo Durjoy Praner Anondo” (let us march forward, with an invincible power of soul/life). On the Foundation Day, recalls Sarkar, each college, carrying the University flag, marched through the streets of Calcutta singing that song, and converged at the Maidan, where Syama Prasad welcomed and felicitated the students. As the students walked through the streets of Calcutta, thousands cheered them along the way towards the Maidan. It was an unprecedented event in the annals of the University of Calcutta.

Historian Dinesh Chandra Sinha, in his Bengali article on “Dr Syama Prasad and Calcutta University”, writes that until 1935, Calcutta University did not have its own flag nor did it have a Foundation Day, while its emblem reflected the dominance of British power and imperialism. Even before he became Vice Chancellor, Syama Prasad had advocated the need for an Indianised emblem, a flag and a foundation day. In 1935, as Vice Chancellor, he initiated the commemoration. He also ensured that “Vande Mataram” was sung to salute during the function. Attending the convocation in Indian dress, giving primacy to education in the mother-tongue, a new motto “Advancement of Learning” with a full-blown lotus and the letter “Sri” drawn in it, as the new Indianised insignia of the University, were Syama Prasad’s contribution, among other things, as Vice Chancellor.

By 1937, Bengal came under Muslim League rule. Since no political parties won a majority in the 1937 provincial election in Bengal, a coalition ministry was the only option. Fazlul Huq of the Krishak Praja Party (KPP) was forced to join hands with the Muslim League. In his comprehensive study of Muslim politics in Bengal, “The Foreshadowing of Bangladesh: Bengal Muslim League and Muslim Politics: 1906-1947”, historian and political thinker Harun-or-Rashid observes that Fazlul Huq “initially preferred Congress to the League for a coalition ministry.”

The Congress had won 52 seats, independent Hindus, nationalist Hindus and Hindu Mahasabha, between them, had won a total of 44 seats, the Muslim League – the League Parliamentary Board, had won 39 seats, Huq’s Krishak Praja Party had won 36 seats, and among the other groups, the European Group was the largest with 25 seats. This group often came to the support of the Muslim League and followed the dictates of colonial officialdom.

But because of the indecision of the Congress High Command on the issue, “the Bengal Congress leaders initially agreed to support Huq without joining his cabinet”, but ‘soon their understanding broke down on the issue of priorities of the programme to be implemented by the government.”

On the other hand, simultaneously, “in fear of the prospect of Huq’s coalescing with the Hindus (including Congress)”, writes Rashid, Jinnah and the leaders of the Bengal Muslim League “made a very strategic move by offering Huq their full cooperation, including the acceptance of his premiership in a coalition.” In June 1937, Iqbal had written to Jinnah, saying, “Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as a Nation entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside areas?” Jinnah saw this as an opportune moment to concretise this ideologically loaded communal proposal.

Devoid of any other option, “Huq and his party accepted the offer.” It was an inflexion point in Bengal politics, which “paved the way for the further success of the Muslim League in the province,” observes Rashid. “The Congress – both High Command and the Bengal Provincial branch – through their indecision and lack of foresight, forced him into the arms of erstwhile adversaries,” Rashid tells us. Eventually, the Muslim League took an upper hand, and Huq, seeing his party wither away, joined the Muslim League, only to quit it later in trying to save his own political existence and career.

In his diary entry of October 21, 1944 (Leaves from a Diary), we read of Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s assessment of that period. After the 1937 elections, Syama Prasad records, “the Congress swept the polls so far as the Hindu seats were concerned. In Bengal, as elsewhere, the Muslim League did not cut much ice. Fazlul Huq was certainly stronger here and his Krishak Praja Party came to the legislature with a fairly large representation…and it looked as if the reactionary elements among the Muslims had received a death blow.” Huq did not “wish to fall into the arms of the League” and he “implored the Congress to form a coalition ministry in Bengal with himself as Premier. If this had been done, Bengal would never have gone under the heels of League-cum-British conspiracy…The High Command of the Congress did not allow this to be done,” rued Syama Prasad.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), BJP, and the Chairman of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation