Kolkata: Krishnadas Das, a 105-year-old retired policeman who was posted with the Constituent Assembly security in Delhi in 1946-47, can still recall Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s towering presence at the House and his frustration with the efforts to divide the country that eventually prompted his decision to move to Kashmir. The resident of Bolpur on Sunday said that he could never get in touch with him after that memorable meeting.Das was with the police force and was posted outside the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi at that time. Those were turbulent times, and the Muslim League had boycotted the Constituent Assembly’s inaugural session. After winning 73 of the 296 allotted British India seats, the Muslim League demanded a completely separate constituent assembly for Muslims and resorted to “Direct Action” to push for Pakistan. During the 1946 crisis, Mookerjee stood firmly behind affected populations in Noakhali and criticised the then Prime Minister of undivided Bengal HSSuhrawardy’s ministry.Mookerjee spotted Das while he was speaking to a colleague in Bengali outside the Constituent Assembly. As he started talking to the young officer from Bolpur, Mookerjee told him about his strong opposition to Partition. “He told me that he was not agreeable to Partition and conveyed that to Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru). It was Jinnah who was putting pressure on the govt, and the country was being divided. He could foresee the aftermath of the Partition,” the centenarian recounted.Anirban Ganguly, director of the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, who went to meet Das on Saturday, said that Das narrated to him the events during those days. “Our volunteers met him during a campaign in 2019, and I was surprised to find that he remembers everything clearly. He spoke to Mookerjee at length that day,” said Ganguly.“Mookerjee told me that he was not feeling like continuing anymore as he apprehended bloodshed and killings. He wanted the youth and young officers to understand the gravity of the situation and oppose Partition,” recounted Das. Mookerjee also reportedly told Das about his plans to go to Kashmir. “He said that the people of Kashmir needed him. Mookerjee went to Kashmir in 1953. News of his death reached us much later,” he recalled.Sitting inside his Bhowanipore residence, 85-year-old Nirmal Sarkar, who had learnt ‘lathi khela’ or stick fighting from Syama Prasad Mookerjee, broke into tears as he recounted Mookerjee’s final journey.“I was a flute player in a band, and he liked my playing. He asked me to attend ‘lathi khela’ regularly. He spoke about the country and the youth, but I was too young to understand. But I will never forget his last journey. After his death in detention in Kashmir, his body was brought to Kolkata. I still remember that his mortal remains were flown in and a massive funeral procession was held on June 24, 1953. The funeral procession went via Lansdowne to reach Keoratala crematorium,” he said.
