BJP to ask J&K government to declassify files on Shyama Prasad Mookherjee's death

LUCKNOW: BJP today resolved to demand declassification of files related to the death of Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, founder leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, BJP's forerunner.

The working committee of state BJP resolved to ask the Mehbooba Mufti government in Jammu and Kashmir to declassify all files and correspondence related to the death of Mookherjee, a party spokesman said in a statement here.

Mookherjee is given credit by his supporters for abolition of the permit system which prevailed in Jammu and Kashmir requiring non-state subjects to carry a permit before entering the state.

While trying to illegally enter the state, he was arrested on May 11, 1953, and died as a détenu on June 23, 1953, under mysterious circumstances.

Mookherjee had also opposed the then Congress government's decision to grant Kashmir a special status with its own flag and Prime Minister, saying, "Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan aur do Nishan nahi chalenge (One country can't have two constitutions, two prime ministers and two emblems)".