CP Thakur at the news conference in Patna. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, July 6: The BJP leaders today remembered the founder-father of Bhartiya Jan Sangh, Dr Syamaprasad Mookerjee on the occasion of his birth centenary.

The Bhartiya Jan Sangh was later converted into the BJP, which is seen in the present day mode.

Paying tributes and reverence to the stalwart, Dr C.P. Thakur, the state’s BJP chief and former Union minister, said Mookerjee was a visionary and one of the greatest parliamentarians of all time in the country.

“After all these years, he still remains the guiding lamp for the party. The party and all its leaders and workers draw immense inspiration from his towering personality,” Thakur said at a news conference the party office on Wednesday.

Another BJP leader Hridaynath Singh, who was also present at the conference, recalled the secular ideas of Mookerjee.

Singh said: “Even though the BJP was often touted as a communal party, Mookerjee, who was the first and greatest guardian of the party, had left the Hindu Mahasabha after the organisation decided not to include Muslim members into its fold.”

The leader said: “He had immense respect for all the religions and faith. And though now we are living in a coalition politics era, it was Mookerjee, the first leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who brought all the non-Congress parties together and bound them.”

Singh shared a brief life history of the veteran leader with the reporters. He also spoke about the mysterious circumstances under which Mookerjee died after being arrested in Kashmir, where he had entered without the central government’s permit.

During the news conference, Thakur also spoke about the four-day party training camp, which concluded in Pawapuri today.

“Our aim is to create a party with a difference and to promote humanitarianism and nationalism. Therefore, we want our workers to behave, think and express in that manner,” said Thakur, adding that the leaders at both the national and state levels interacted with the workers during the workshop, which was attended by about 250 party workers.

Thakur said he was “not bothered” about reports about the RJD chief joining the Union cabinet. “Now, our only concern is to fight against corruption and we are focussing on that,” he added.