Syama Prasad Mookerjee should be included in school and university syllabi, and the chapters on the Singur movement introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government should be dropped, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Monday.
Suvendu made the remarks at Mookerjee’s birth anniversary celebrations at his alma mater, Mitra Institution in Bhowanipore. The founder of the Jana Sangh, the political arm of the RSS, studied at the school from 1906 to 1917.
“The two education ministers are present here. From the next academic year, I think, the role of Syama Prasad Mookerjee in creating West Bengal, his patriotism, his idea for a united India, particularly his role in integrating Bengal with India, his role in building India, should be printed, studied and discussed in syllabuses from school to university level,” Suvendu said.
Later, he told reporters: “I think Syama Prasad Mookerjee should be included in the school syllabus, and the chapter on Singur, which is about throwing out the Tatas from there, should be dropped. I have requested this of the school education minister, the higher education minister and the education secretary. The history of throwing out Tata should be dropped.”
He added: “As an MLA of the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, I can only propose this. There is a syllabus committee. They will decide.”
School education minister Dipak Barman, higher education minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay and education secretary Binod Kumar were present.
Like many, the BJP believes the scrapping of Tata Motors’ Nano project in Singur in 2008 accelerated the flight of industry from the state and deepened unemployment.In July 2016, then education minister Partha Chatterjee announced that the Singur movement would be included in the school curriculum. The following year, the Bengal government introduced a seven-page chapter on the anti-land acquisition movement, led by Mamata Banerjee, in the Class VIII history textbook Ateet O Oitijyho (Past and Heritage).
Since the BJP formed the government in Bengal in May, the party’s teachers’ cell has been pressing for the chapter’s removal.
A member of the teachers’ cell told Metro on Monday: “At a time the state government has initiated steps to pay due respect to Mookerjee... the Singur chapter is set to be dropped, and the void will be filled by Mookerjee.”
Suvendu also announced an allocation of ₹25 lakh for renovating Mitra Institution. “The school had appealed for renovation funds to the previous government. However, nothing was done. The former MLA was not keen on this,” he said, referring to Mamata Banerjee, who represented Bhabanipur.
The government had directed all state-aided educational institutions to observe Mookerjee’s birth anniversary on July 6 with the “active participation” of teachers and staff, and to submit photographs of the programmes the same day.
Campus events
Autonomous institutions, including St Xavier’s College on Park Street, also marked the occasion. Principal Father Dominic Savio spoke about Mookerjee’s contributions to education and nation-building and urged the gathering to uphold the values of integrity, service and responsible citizenship.
At Lady Brabourne College, historian and former Calcutta University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das delivered a lecture on Mookerjee, who was the university’s youngest vice-chancellor and headed it from 1934 to 1938. The college also organised a quiz and an essay competition.
“Geo-tagged pictures of the observance were shared with the higher education department as part of a compliance report,” principal Siuli Sarkar said.
Programmes were held throughout the day at Calcutta University, which Mookerjee headed as vice-chancellor from 1934 to 1938.
Vice-chancellor Ashutosh Ghosh said the university had planned year-long celebrations to mark Mookerjee’s 125th birth anniversary.