Kolkata, 06 July (H.S.): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that the foundation stone laying ceremony for the statue of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee was not merely the beginning of a memorial project but the foundation for realising the vision of a Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal).

Addressing the ceremony in Bagnan, Shah said the initiative reflected the aspiration to rebuild the Bengal envisioned by great personalities such as Rabindranath Tagore, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Khudiram Bose, and Raja Rammohan Roy.

The Union Home Minister said that, after many years, Dr. Mookerjee's birth anniversary had been officially observed with state honours in West Bengal. He congratulated Leader of the Opposition-turned-Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for the initiative.

Shah also announced that, alongside the proposed statue, the government plans to establish the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Institution, a research centre dedicated to studies on national security.

Highlighting Dr. Mookerjee's ideological legacy, Shah said the former Union Minister had sown the seeds of cultural nationalism through the founding of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which, he said, has grown into a vast tree in the form of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He further said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is moving forward by following Dr. Mookerjee's ideals, pursuing policies centred on self-reliance and national interest.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh