Narendra Modi pays tribute to Syama Prasad Mookerjee

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee on his birth anniversary, saying his contribution to the nation is "invaluable".

Modi along with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien and BJP patriarch L K Advani paid floral tributes to the founder leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of BJP, at the Central Hall in Parliament House.

"If there was something that mattered most to Dr Mookerjee it was serving people. He always spoke about education for the youth. His contribution to our nation is invaluable," Modi twitted.

Several ministers, including Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Kalraj Mishra, Jitendra Singh and Manoj Sinha also paid tributes to Mookerjee, who was born in 1901.

The Secretaries-General of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, P Sreedharan and Shumsher K Sheriff, respectively, were also present on the occasion.

A booklet containing the profile of Mookerjee, brought out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in Hindi and English, was presented to the dignitaries who attended the function.

The portrait of Mookerjee was unveiled in the Central Hall of Parliament House by the then President R Venkataraman, on May 31, 1991, in recognition of his outstanding services to the nation.