Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and his views on Education and freedom

Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was born on July 6, 1901 in Kolkata, the capital of British India.  A 1^st class graduate of English securing the first position in class he completed his Master degree in 1923 and Law degree in 1924. Dr Mukherjee, a brilliant student of English language and literature, took up his M.A degree in Bengali at the insistence of his father Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, who had been struggling to give Indian vernaculars including Bengali, their rightful place in the University curricula, for which there was no respectful place in the British period. He was elected fellow of the Senate Calcutta University at the age of 23. Subsequently, he left England in 1926 to study at Lincoln's Inn and became a barrister in 1927. At the age of 33, Mukherjee became the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, and held the office till 1938.  He was the President, Post- graduate Councils in Arts and Science for successive years and also the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Member and then Chairman, Inter-University Board.

During the four years of his service as the Vice-Chancellor, he did not spare time, energy, health, convenience or anything worth having in life; which stood in the way of his duty, against the advice of his doctors. He initiated new departments and courses and developed and improved existing ones. His was a leader in true respect an had the highest regards for the Indian culture and its education system as was reflected by his speech delivered at Patna University Convocation on 27th November 1937.

       In his words, “In India also, for century, education imparted through the medium of a foreign language has unduly dominated its academic life and it has now produced a class of men who are unconsciously so denationalised that any far reaching proposal for the recognition of the Indian languages as the vehicle of teaching and examination up to the highest University stage is either ridiculed as impossible or branded as reactionary. But I plead earnestly for the acceptance of this fundamental principle not on account of any blind adherence to things that I claim as my own but out of a firm conviction that the fullest development of the mind of a learner is possible only by this natural approach and also that by this process alone can there be a great revival of the glory and richness of the Indian languages.”

Bihar is the epic center of all great nationalist movements in India. Democracy, Freedom and its values were understood and defined here from times immemorial.  Licchavis ruling from their Capital at Vaishali (Bihar) was the oldest democracy of the world and was a federation of democratic republics.  Anga, Magadha and Licchavis were the democracies existed in the state of Bihar. Mahatama Gandhi started his revolution of Freedom by holding his first satyagrah movements in Chauparan in Bihar. To restore democratic values and democracy in India, Jai Prakash Narayan started his  Sampurna Kranti revolution from Patna. True to the spirit and teachings of this great land when Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee visited this great land the thinking of  divine soul’s and the blessing of the land,  converted into words and that was delivered  in form of  his speech.

            “Freedom consists not only in the absence of restraint but also in the presence of opportunity. Liberty is not a single and simple conception. It has four elements – national, political, personal and economic. The man who is fully free is one who lives in a country which is independent; in a state which is democratic; in a society where laws are equal and restrictions at a minimum; in an economic system in which national interests are protected and the citizen has the scope of secure livelihood, an assured comfort and full opportunity to rise by merit.  This freedom, so truly and courageously defined, is not ours today and until this condition is reached, India will never achieve true greatness or happiness, based on the glorious features of her past civilisation.”

इसका मेरे द्वारा  किया गया हिंदी अनुवाद यहां वर्णित है :-

स्वतंत्रता केवल संयम के अभाव में ही नहीं बल्कि अवसर की उपलब्धता में भी निहित है। स्वतंत्रता कोई एकल और सरल अवधारणा नहीं है। इसके चार तत्व हैं - राष्ट्रीय, राजनीतिक, व्यक्तिगत और आर्थिक। वह व्यक्ति पूरी तरह से स्वतंत्र है जो एक ऐसे देश में रहता है जो स्वतंत्र है; एक ऐसे राज्य में जो लोकतांत्रिक है; ऐसे समाज में जहां कानून समान हों और कम से कम प्रतिबंध हों; एक ऐसी आर्थिक व्यवस्था में जिसमें राष्ट्रीय हितों की रक्षा हो और नागरिक के पास सुरक्षित आजीविका, एक सुनिश्चित सरल व्यवस्था जहां योग्यता के आधार पर उन्नति का पूरा अवसर मिले। यह स्वतंत्रता, जो सही मायने में यहां साहसपूर्वक परिभाषित है , आज हमारी नहीं है और जब तक यह स्थिति नहीं हो जाती, भारत अपनी पौराणिक गौरवशाली सभ्यता  पर आधारित अपनी भव्यता  या सौभाग्य कभी हासिल नहीं कर पाएगा।

Hindu society from the earliest times considered the education of its members as one of its primary obligation; this indeed was a system on which society was based. This system was known as Varnasama Dharma, meaning thereby life being regulated by different classes (Varanas) and stages (Ashrams). The disciples had his physical birth at home of his natural parents but his spiritual birth at the place of his preceptor, where he accepted brahmachaya, with strict discipline of life, regulation about diet, dress, study, social service and religious practices. The view of the education as a process of ones’ inner growth and self-fulfillment evolved its own technique, its rules, method and practices. It recognised that the making of man was primarily the training of mind as the instrument of acquiring knowledge so as to increase its intrinsic potency and creative capacity. As per Manu Shamriti a disciples gets rebirth only thought Sansakar (which is performed after attaining education and knowledge) and then attains the heights and place of his life.

Indian people have got their Political independence on 15^th August 1947, but other freedom as economical, personal, social and national still elude them. Over 70 Crores people in India have an average income of less than Rs. 20 per day. World Bank's latest estimate on global poverty states had 456 million people or about 42% of the population living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day. The number of Indian poor also constitutes 33% of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people.  India is home to roughly one-third of all poor people in the world. The gap between common man and Capitalist’s has widened. In the list of top 50 capitalist of the world there are as many as 7 Indian’s. According to the World Wealth Report recently released by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, while most countries in the world have increased their High Net-Worth Individuals Count, India has more than doubled it – maximum compared to any other country in the world. India has more black money than rest of the world combined. India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost $1,456 billion in Swiss banks, followed by Russia $470 billion, the UK $390 billion, Ukraine $100 billion and China, with $96 billion. Indian Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the country’s national debt. Most of this money has been stashed away in banks in ‘tax havens' abroad over the last 60 years by corrupt  politicians, industrialists, bureaucrats and middle-men. If the estimates of Rs 70 lakh Crore of Indian black money parked abroad are brought back, this can give economic freedom to the people and can surely lift the 40 crore Indians living below poverty line out of poverty, or it can fund entire infrastructure building for the next 15-20 years. It can also educate all Indian children for next 50 years. Personal, social and national freedom still eludes the people of India. The recent police atrocity on Baba Ramdev and his disciples in Delhi and the treatment received by the Government to Anna Hazare and Civic Society members has clearly revealed the same and too much is desired in this direction.
The writer is Executive Member to BJP’s National Trade Cell N.Delhi