What was the Liaquat-Nehru pact, due to which Syama Prasad Mookerjee resigned from the Union cabinet?

Source: The post is based on the article “What was the Liaquat-Nehru pact, due to which Syama Prasad Mookerjee resigned from the Union cabinet?” published in Indian Express on 23rd June 2023

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Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, had resigned from the cabinet in April 1950 over the controversial Nehru-Liaquat Pact.

What is the Nehru-Liaquat Pact?

The Nehru-Liaquat Pact also known as the Delhi Pact was a bilateral agreement signed between India and Pakistan in order to provide a framework for the treatment of minorities in the two countries. 

It was signed by the two country’s Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan.

The need for such a pact was felt by minorities in both countries following partition, which was accompanied by massive communal rioting.

What are the key provisions of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact? 

Under the pact, both countries agreed to: a) Ensure complete and equal right of citizenship and security of life and properties to their minorities, b) Ensure full fundamental human rights which include the rights of freedom of movement, freedom of thoughts and expression and the right of religion, c) Set up a minorities commission to make sure that minorities would be represented.

They also agreed not to violate the rules of the pact and to make all efforts to reinforce it. If the minorities faced any problem, it would be the duty of both the governments to redress their problems without delay. 

In short, this pact agreed to guarantee full right to their minorities and to accord them the status of citizens

What were the issues Syama Prasad Mookerjee had with the pact?

Syama Prasad Mookerjee had initially been an advocate for a united India.

However, as Partition became increasingly inevitable, he shifted his focus towards advocating for a divided Bengal, with West Bengal specifically meant for Hindu Bengalis.

When the Delhi Pact was signed, which promised minority rights and the establishment of minority commissions in both India and Pakistan, Mookerjee was extremely angry.

He felt that the Pact would essentially leave Hindus in East Bengal at the mercy of the Pakistani state.

Instead, he argued for a systematic exchange of population and property at the governmental level between East Bengal and the states of Tripura, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.

He also favoured a plan granting the Hindu minority in East Bengal an opportunity to settle in India while pushing the Muslim minorities in India to East Bengal.