Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 6, 2026, paid tribute to Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee on the leader’s 125th birth anniversary, calling him a model of courage, public service and conviction who placed India’s unity and national interest above all. Modi said Mookerjee’s life — from his academic leadership to his political activism and ultimate death in detention — continues to shape conversations about nationhood and service.
Modi recalled Mookerjee’s privileged background as the son of eminent educationist Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee and noted that, despite opportunities for a comfortable life, Mookerjee chose sacrifice and active public engagement. He highlighted personal losses the leader endured, including the deaths of an infant child and later his wife, saying these tragedies deepened Mookerjee’s resolve to serve.
Central to Modi’s tribute was Mookerjee’s commitment to India’s indivisibility. He remembered Mookerjee’s efforts during Partition to keep West Bengal within India and his later activism in Jammu and Kashmir, which led to imprisonment and, ultimately, his death in detention. Modi quoted Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s view that Mookerjee “sacrificed himself for a cause in which he had faith,” and said the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A in 2019 was a fitting tribute to that sacrifice.
Modi emphasised Mookerjee’s contributions to education and institution building. He noted that Mookerjee became the youngest vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta and instituted reforms to strengthen libraries, scientific research, agriculture courses, sports, teacher training and student welfare. Quoting Mookerjee, Modi wrote that “it is incorrect to look upon educational institutions as factories to produce potential clerks and low-paid staff,” and stressed the need to produce leaders for self-governing institutions.
On politics, Modi described Mookerjee’s founding of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh as an effort to provide an alternative voice rooted in India’s cultural traditions; he noted the party’s diya (earthen lamp) symbol as emblematic of a modest light dispelling darkness. As India’s first minister for Industry and Supply, Mookerjee backed projects such as the Damodar Valley Corporation and the Sindri fertilizer plant and promoted policies that balanced industrial development with support for handlooms, cottage industries and artisans.
Modi also recounted Mookerjee’s humanitarian work during crises, citing his relief efforts during the Bengal famine of 1943 and his response to the 1942 Medinipur cyclone; he referenced Mookerjee’s book Panchasher Manwantar as an expression of that anguish. Modi recalled that Mookerjee served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet before resigning on matters of principle, and he criticised the First Amendment of 1951 for its impact on free speech, linking it to later erosions of liberal democratic norms such as the Emergency of 1975 and the 42nd Amendment in 1976.
Concluding his remarks, Modi quoted Mookerjee addressing students: “Whatever work you undertake, do it seriously, thoroughly and well; never leave it half-done or undone,” and urged today’s youth to build a strong, united, self-confident and compassionate India in keeping with Mookerjee’s vision.
Original Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/a-life-devoted-to-indias-unity-and-progress
Category: Public Space
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Publish Date: 2026-07-05 19:37:00
