While addressing the nation on his 9th Independence day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, who championed the Partition of Bengal against the wishes of SC Bose and who sat in free India’s first Cabinet “while the tragic consequences of Partition were becoming evident”.
The Bhartiya Janta Party on August 14, 2022, released a film detailing its version of the events that led to the partition of India in 1947, taking swipe at the Congress as the government observes the second “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.” The seven-minute movie tangentially accuses Jawaharlal Nehru of giving in to the demands of the Muhammad Ali Jinnah-led Muslim League for the establishment of Pakistan by using archive material and dramatised pictures of the partition set to compelling music and sophisticated editing.
With a series of Tweets Mr Ramesh mentioned and argued that the “true objective” of the PM observing this day, is to “exploit the most horrific historical tragedies as fuel for his current political struggles.” and also asked the PM will he mention Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, the Jan Sangh founder who supported the Partition of Bengal against Sarat Chandra Bose’s desires and who served in the first Cabinet of independent India “when the dreadful consequences of Partition were becoming clear.”
The BJP movie also attributes the split to Indian communists, alleging that their leaders supported the Muslim League and legitimised the call for a separate Muslim nation. However, the majority of the video is made up of images of Mr. Nehru and Mr. Jinnah.
And yet, today in his address to the nation he not only mentioned Shyama Prasad Mookherjee but also did not shy away from recalling Dr Rajendra Prasad, Nehru ji, Sardar Patel, LB Shastri, Deendayal Upadhyaya, JP Narayan, RM Lohia, Vinoba Bhave, Nanaji Deshmukh, Subramania Bharati and also added that today is the day to pay tribute to such outstanding characters and the pivotal contribution made by those who fought for independence or created the nation.
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