S.P. Mookerjee laid foundation of Indian industrialization: Modi

New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday credited Jan Sangh ideologue Shyama Prasad Mookerjee with laying a solid foundation to India's industrialisation in his capacity as the country's first Industry Minister.

"Shyama Prasad Mookerjee became the first Industry Minister of India and laid a solid foundation to the country's industrialisation. The first industrial policy of independent India had Mookerjee's signature all over it," Modi said in his ‘Mann Ki Baat' address.

India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inducted Mookerjee into the Interim Central Government as Industry Minister on August 15, 1947.

Mookerjee died on April 23, 1953 at age 52 in Jammu and Kashmir. He was arrested on entering Kashmir on May 11, 1953 and his condition deteriorated while he was in custody. 

He was declared dead early on June 23 due to heart attack.

"The most important thing for Mookerjee was the country's unity and integrity and for this he had to lay down his life at the age of just 52 years," Modi said.

Modi also highlighted that Mookerjee was the youngest Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University at the age of 33.