Thursday, January 23, 2014

Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Birth Centenary Commemorative Coin (1901-2001)


To view high-resolution images, click on the images above.
Originally issued in 2001, the India Government Mint decided to have a re-issue of this special commemorative coin set and opened bookings for the same for a period of two months in April, 2013. Received my ordered set from the mint in January, 2014.


Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was an Indian politician, who served as Minister for Industry and Supply in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. After his falling out with Jawaharlal Nehru due to Mukherjee's opposition to the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir, Mookerjee quit the Indian National Congress party.


He termed the arrangement under Article 370 as Balkanisation of India and three nation theory of Shaikh Abdullah. He launched a massive Satyagraha to have the pernicious provisions removed. Mookerjee went to visit Kashmir in 1953 and was arrested on May 11, 1953. He died in custody under suspicious circumstances on June 23, 1953, termed the 'Nehru conspiracy' by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India's 10th prime minister.

It was Mookherjee's martyrdom, which later compelled, Nehru to remove the infamous Permit system, the post of Sadar-e-Riayasat and the post of Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir.
Legacy

On 22 April 2010, Municipal Corporation of Delhi's newly constructed Rs. 650-crore building (the tallest building in Delhi) was named 'Doctor Syama Prasad Mookerjee Civic Centre.' Delhi also has a major road named after Dr. S. P. Mookerjee.

On 27 August 1998, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation named a bridge after Mookerjee.

A BEST bus junction near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum) and Regal Cinema in Mumbai (Bombay) is named as "Syama Prasad Mookerjee Chowk" in his honour.

In 2001, the main research funding institute of the Government of India, CSIR instituted a new fellowship named after him. The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Fellowship is the most prestigious fellowship given in India for doing PhD. Only the top 20% students who clear the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF CSIR/UGC) are eligible to sit for this examination.


On 15 January 2012, Mathikere flyover under Bangalore City Limits was inaugurated and named 'Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Flyover.'


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