Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee is one of the most remarkable public figures that adorned the Indian political scene in the crucial pre-independence and post-independence decades of Indian history. He was a fearless patriot for whom his country always came first. His elegant personality and brilliant intellect were all the more admirable for his lofty idealism, impeccable character and simple lifestyle. Beginning as an educationist at the young age of 23, he rose to be the youngest Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University. Entering politics a few years later, he made his mark as a dynamic and far-sighted political leader when he outwitted the British and the Muslim League by uniting the nationalist forces in Bengal to oust the League Ministry and install the Haq-led Coalition Ministry, in which he became the Finance Minister.

Making his debut on the all-India stage soon there after as President of the All-India Hindu Mahasabha, which he had joined on account of the magnetic influence of Veer Savarkar's pure nationalism, patriotism and realism, he became the most effective spokesman of nationalist opinion on the critical question of the unity of the country, which was being threatened by the Muslim League with the direct encouragement of the British Government. Even though he was a member of the Government, Syama Prasad took up the cudgels against the British Government on behalf of nationalist India in 1942 when all the Congress leaders were in jail following the Quit India Movement.