On July 6 last year, India had two Constitutions as also two flags. The State Flag of Jammu and Kashmir as also its Constitution existed side by side with the Indian Constitution and Tricolour.
On August 5, 2019, things changed drastically and the State Flag as also J&K Constitution got scrapped. This happened when Article 35-A was scrapped and 370 was made infructuous effectively. Only one Constitution and one flag then remained in vogue. With this, the dream of nationalist Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had come true.
When he was martyred in custody in Srinagar on June 23, 1953, the country had “2 Vidhan, 2 Nishan, 2 Pradhan”. His followers did not give up their struggle all these years and today, on his 119th birth anniversary today, his dream of “Ek Vidhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Pradhan” stands fulfilled. Several senior BJP leaders recalled while paying tributes to Mukherjee in party office at Jammu, and elsewhere. Former Deputy CM Kavinder Gupta, Vibodh Gupta, Narinder Raina and many others visited the party office to pay tributes to the ideologue who founded Jan Sangh, precursor of the BJP.
In most of their speeches, they recalled that it was his inspiration that guided them all. In view of the precautions being observed due to virus infection and social distancing norms, the party decided to desist from organising public functions. However, the party office saw unusual footfalls in view of Mukherjee’s birth anniversary falling on Monday.
Mukherjee had entered J&K on May 11, 1953, in defiance of the “Permit System” then prevalent, Vibodh Gupta recalled. This system promoted perception of J&K being a “separate entity” and strengthened separatism, he added.
This was challenged by Mukherjee and after his arrest, he was taken 400 km away to Srinagar. There, he attained martyrdom 44 days after his arrest on June 23, 1953. That sordid story could be read here.
Incidentally, it bears mention here that Narendra Modi had held his first public rally after becoming the BJP’s main campaigner in Madhopur near Mukherjee’s statue on June 23, 2013. It clearly showed Modi’s reverence for Mukherjee who was then Gujarat CM.
Named “Sankalp rally”, it was attended by veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar, JP Nadda, late Vinod Khanna, Prakash Singh Badal and several others. However, it was only in his second term as PM that Modi could set aside J&K Constitution as Mukherjee had advocated.
