Syama Prasad Mukherjee; Source: Creative Commons

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> “There cannot be two Constitutions, two Prime Ministers and two Flags in one Nation.” Do you remember these lines by the barrister who founded Bharatiya Janta Party?

Born in a Bengali Brahmin family on 6 July 1901, Syama Prasad Mukherjee was a prodigy to his family. Right from the very beginning of his academic career, he was a top-notch student. After completing his matriculation, Mukherjee took admission in the Presidency College. He graduated in English and then enrolled himself as an advocate.

> An advocate by profession, what caused him to take this decision of restarting his career as a politician?

He kickstarted his political career in 1929, when he entered as an INC candidate in the Bengal Legislative Council to represent Calcutta University. He then contested in the election of 1937 as an independent candidate and was elected as well which brought the Krishak Praja Party to power. He then joined the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal in 1939. He also served as the Finance Minister of Bengal Province in 1941-42 under A.K. Fazlul Haq’s tenure. He was consecutively elected as an independent candidate from the Calcutta University and then as a Member of the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946.

The year 1947 was the turning point of his life. On 15 August 1947, he was elected as the Minister for Industry and Supply by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Soon after his appointment, he started to have conflicts with the Mahasabha regarding the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the accusation of Sardar Patel wherein he blamed the organization for creating such an atmosphere which led to such a circumstance. Mukherjee also suggested the organization to suspend its political activities for the time being. He also opposed the participation of Non-Hindus to become members of the organization.

He also had issues regarding the Hindu Muslim minorities in both India and Pakistan. There were some Hindus left behind in Pakistan and India too had a large Muslim population to look after. To discuss the welfare and security of these minorities, the PM of Pakistan, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan visited India. Both India and Pakistan agreed upon the fact that they will take good care of the minorities in their respective countries. But Mukherjee did not support this mutual agreement and was of the view that India should’ve asked Pakistan to give the land which is equivalent to the amount that Hindus have left behind in East Pakistan.

Well, if you think that these are some of the issues that he opposed, then let us get into the greater problems. Mukherjee was absolutely against Article 370, which gave Jammu and Kashmir a special status in terms of governance and autonomy. He felt that this was a threat to the national unity of India and it should be immediately revoked.

> Finally, after none of his demands were fulfilled, he decided to resign from the Cabinet along with K.C. Neogy on 8 April 1950.

Even after his resignation, he continued to fight for the people of India with an even higher amount of zealousness. He also  founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the year 1951 which is the predecessor of Bharatiya Janta Party.

The founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, Syama Prasad Mukherjee's falling out with Nehru would prove to be fatal to Congress as his ideals still echo till this day and also lead the country.