Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Life and Times

• The book traces Mookerjee's journey from educationist and public intellectual to national political leader. It covers his involvement in Bengal's politics, his role during the Bengal Famine and the communal violence of the 1940s, and his entry into the first Cabinet of independent India.

  It also examines his differences with Jawaharlal Nehru, his resignation from the Cabinet following the Delhi Pact, his role in founding the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, and the circumstances surrounding his death in custody in Kashmir.

• Tathagata Roy is an Indian writer, politician and former Governor of Tripura. Trained as a civil engineer, he worked with Indian Railways and later taught at Jadavpur University. He has written extensively in English and Bengali on political and social subjects.

The biography presents Syama Prasad Mookerjee against the backdrop of India's freedom struggle, Partition and the early years of the Republic. It explores his intellectual development, political activism and his increasingly significant role in Bengal and national politics.

Roy discusses Mookerjee's participation in major events including the Bengal Famine of 1943, the Great Calcutta Killings and the Noakhali violence. The book also follows his relationship and ideological disagreements with Nehru, his Cabinet career, his opposition to aspects of government policy and his eventual emergence as the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

The final part examines his controversial death while in custody in Kashmir, an event that has continued to attract historical and political interest. Overall, the book offers an extensive portrait of a major figure in twentieth-century Indian political history.