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| June 23, 1953: 67 years and counting, Dr Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee’s death awaits enquiry | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 23: On June 23, 1953 Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee laid down his life in Kashmir Valley. 67 years have passed but mystery continues to shroud how such a great leader died under normal circumstances in Valley.
Dr Mookerjee is widely hailed as a great statesman and national leader who sacrificed his life for national integration and social unity. He breathed his last under mysterious circumstances on June 23, 1953 in a jail at Srinagar. No enquiry was done. His last diary, which he used to keep meticulously, was never returned to his family by the then J&K government. After his sacrifice the permit system to enter J&K was abolished and the nomenclatures of Wazir-e-Azam and Sadr-e- Riasat were changed to the Chief Minister and the Governor.
But, still the two flag system remains in operation in J&K. I demand the government must abolish the two flag system for J&K and allow only Indian National tricolour for their state as is applicable in all other Indian provinces.”
Now when the state flag is nowhere and so is not its constitution, the demand for tracing Dr Mookerjee’s last diary is only turning pertinent with each passing day.
Sheikh Abdullah in his autobiography ‘Aatesh-e-Chinar’ recalls the time when Mookerjee was arrested and kept in Srinagar jail. He said: “I often made enquiries about Mookerjee’s health. I was every time told that he was fine. The speaker of parliament Sardar Hakum Singh also came to Kashmir to see Mookerjee. After he had met him, he complained to me that Mookerjee was restrained from moving outside for his walks.”
Sheikh Abdullah further writes: “During Mookerjee’s detention, Nehru and Azad came on visits here one after other and stayed for some time. They were put up in state guest house near Chashma Shahi, hardly within a mile from where Mookerjee was. But neither expressed a desire to meet him. Seeing this, I also avoid meeting him. I thought if I did, it might create a new misunderstanding. I was at home it was early morning when Saraf appeared and broke the sad news that Mookerjee is no more. When I asked for the details, all he said was that his death was due to a heart attack. I was sad. I had been repeatedly told that he was doing fine. How negligent the minister was in this regard can be realised from the fact that Mookerjee had died the previous night but had withheld the news from me until the following morning. |
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