New Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee on his 123rd birth anniversary on Saturday.

Modi said Mookerjee made India proud with his fierce nationalistic ideas, and that his sacrifice and dedication to the motherland will always inspire people.

Mookerjee was one of the founders of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He was a member of Jawaharlal Nehru's Cabinet, which he quit in protest over his differences with the prime minister and then formed the Jana Sangh with support from the RSS.

Mookerjee died in 1953 following his arrest in Jammu and Kashmir during his agitation against the restriction imposed there on Indian citizens who were not from the state. He was opposed to the special status given to the state.

Modi had described his government's decision to revoke Article 370, which granted the state special rights, in 2019 as a fulfilment of Mookerjee's wish.