New Delhi, June 23 With less than a year to go for the West Bengal elections where the BJP hopes for "poriborton", the biggest roadblock it faces is a lack of a credible leader in the state. Now, it seems that debate is put to rest till the elections are over, with the BJP seemingly unanimous with going ahead with Jan Sangh founder and a fellow Bengali - Syama Prasad Mookerjee, to counter Trinamool Congress' Bengali card and yet stay on course with its nationalism base.
No wonder then, that a nearly seven-decade-old book,focussing on Mookerjee's death in mysterious circumstances, has been resurrected this year, just ahead of the 2021 Bengal assembly polls. Sangh insiders of the Bengal unit says that this is not just a book but the brand of Mookerjee, which is re-launched. The message is clear to educate Bengalis, particularly the younger generation of a leader who paid with his life in his pursuit to unify Jammu and Kashmir with India and has since, been pushed out of popular Bengali consciousness.
Anirban Ganguly, who heads the Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, admits: "Bengalis of my generation used to heatedly debate about Mookerjee. But today's generation may not be as aware of him. The book will help them reconnect with a Bengali personality who has been the tallest since Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's disappearance."
After decades in the cold, "Shyama Prasad Mukherjee: His death in detention, A case for enquiry", first published in 1953 in Bengali and English, will be relaunched by BJP President J.P. Nadda himself. Ganguly himself has written a forward in the book, which was written by Uma Prasad Mukherjee, the Jan Singh founder's brother.
The goal is simple - to counter TMC's 'Bengali card' that it is playing against the BJP in the state and corner it further for its association with the Congress by suggesting a foul play in the death of one of Bengal's tallest political leaders under the leadership of then Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru.
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( With inputs from IANS )