Why Himanta govt named a Guwahati flyover after a Bengali nationalist leader

Assam's Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has named Guwahati's new Rs 376 crore flyover after Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). It's not just because the BJS was the BJP's precursor. There's a reason in the history you might want to know.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated a new flyover in Guwahati on Friday evening. Built at a cost of Rs 376 crore, the 2.8 km long structure connects the busy Lalganesh and Cycle Factory areas, promising relief from long-standing traffic congestion. But the real story lies in the historical figure it is named after. That's Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

Many might wonder why a major infrastructure project in Assam is named after a Bengali barrister, educationist, and a nationalist politician from Calcutta (now Kolkata). A barrister by training, a minister in both the provincial and national governments, and a passionate advocate of national unity, Mookerjee is best known for his role in founding the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (which the present day BJP traces its lineage to). He is also known for his fierce opposition to the granting of special status using Article 370 to Jammu and Kashmir (which ultimately resulted in his death while in police custody).

Returning to the question as to why an infrastructure project in Assam is named after Mookerjee? Himanta Biswa Sarma made it crystal clear why. That's because Mookerjee played a critical role in preserving Assam as an integral part of India, protecting it from being merged into East Pakistan, and for his strong advocacy of the Assamese language and culture.

HOW SYAMA PRASAD MOOKHERJEE ENSURED ASSAM REMAINED AN INDIA STATE

The year is 1947, and the British Raj in India is in the midst of its long overdue last breaths. This was also at the same time that the Partition of India was, more or less, inevitable. The question now, was where would the new international borders separating the newly-independent India and Pakistan fall.

The Muslim League, under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, aggressively pursued territorial claims over large parts of eastern India. Under the Cabinet Mission Plan, there were serious proposals to group Assam with Bengal. Both the regions had been classified as Group-C states, which classified them as Muslim provinces.

Should such a plan succeed, it could have eventually pulled the entire North East into the newly created East Pakistan. Assam, with its significant Bengali Muslim immigrant population at the time, was under serious threat of being separated from India through demographic and political manoeuvring.

As the history of independent Pakistan, and its sordid record of treating minorities would later demonstrate, this would have doomed Assam and the rest of North East India's rich cultural heritage to eventual erasure under the heavy boot of Islamabad.

Himanta explained this danger. "In 1947, when Partition was no longer a question of 'if', only of 'where the lines would fall', the Muslim League had a plan of taking the entire Bengal, including Calcutta and the entire North East, into East Pakistan. Had they succeeded, there would be no Assam in India today," said Himanta.

Working alongside freedom fighter and later Chief Minister of Assam Gopinath Bordoloi, Syama Prasad Mookherjee provided key support at the national level.

While Bordoloi led the resistance in Assam through protests, mobilising local leaders and personally negotiating with the Congress high command and British authorities in Delhi — Mookherjee leveraged his considerable influence in national politics and as a prominent leader of the Hindu Mahasabha to amplify Assam's concerns on the larger stage.

The joint efforts of Brdoloi and Mookherjee ultimately helped convince the Congress leadership to reject the Cabinet Mission's Grouping proposal for Assam. This joint struggle succeeded in keeping Assam firmly within India.

SYAMA PRASAD MOOKHERJEE'S ADVOCACY FOR ASSAMESE IDENTITY

Syhama Prasad Mookherjee's efforts for Assam extended well beyond the political battle during Partition.

As Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University from 1934 to 1938, he actively promoted the use of regional languages in education. He pushed for Assamese to be recognised as a medium of instruction in schools and took concrete steps to strengthen higher education in the language.

Himanta Biswa Sarma noted the important contribution on X. "During Dr Mookerjee's tenure as VC, he advocated for Assamese as a medium for school education in Assam, with Dr Birinchi Kumar Baruah playing a key role in strengthening Assamese language studies and higher education".

Sarma also emphasised that Syhama Prasad Mukherjee's biggest contribution went beyond politics and language. He saw Assam not as a remote border region but as an essential part of India's national identity.

"Most importantly, he treated Assam as central to India's idea of itself. Not as a peripheral frontier or a forgotten corner but as a region whose people, language and land were inseparable from Maa Bharti. That is the Assam he helped save. This is the Assam we live in today," Himanta posted on X.

The Assam Chief Minister stressed the importance of passing this history to younger generations.

He said, "Everyone in Assam, especially the next generation, should know that the very fact of being able to call themselves Indian today, to be able to study in their language, practice their faith and be in their motherland, is owed to stalwarts such as Syama Prasad Moojherjee and Gopinath Bordoloi".

Himanta concluded that the new flyover carries more than just traffic, saying, "Today, when commuters drive over the flyover in Guwahati, they will be more than just crossing a bridge, they will be travelling over a piece of history that Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, more than most, helped preserve for us. This is not just a flyover. It is a long overdue. Thank You".

- Ends