- In 2021, the birthday of Netaji was formally declared as Parakram Divas, to commemorate his effort of raising the Indian National Army [INA] for liberating India from the Britishers
- It was he who had proposed the present-day progressive taxation structure of India
ABHIMANYU JOON
On 23rd January, 2023 the country celebrated the 126th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a hardcore patriot and son of the soil. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi renamed Ross, Neil and Havelock islands of the Andaman group of islands as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep, Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep. In 2021, the birthday of Netaji was formally declared as Parakram Divas, to commemorate his effort of raising the Indian National Army [INA] for liberating India from the Britishers. Last year on 8th September, a 28-feet tall black granite statute of Netaji sculpted by Mysuru-based sculpture Arun Yogiraj, was unveiled under the canopy opposing India Gate, as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebration.
It is here we should pause for a moment and think, if these actions, though highly commendable are indeed a true tribute to the contribution of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, for the national freedom struggle.
on This day in 1939, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was duly elected president of Congress. Despite his best attempts, Mahatma Gandhi could not prevent this from happening.
He considered Bose’s election his personal defeat. The stage was thus set for Bose’s ouster from Congress. pic.twitter.com/HYf2TMToPU
— Soulwhisper 🪔 💫✨ (@Soulwhisper15) February 4, 2023
Formation of the Indian National Army & freedom struggle
Netaji was no ordinary personality. He was among the countable number of Indians who cleared the Indian Civil Service exam in 1919. One of the highly literate personalities available in India, during the first half of the 20th century. He was well versed with languages like Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Burmese and Pashto. He had deep understanding of political science. It was he who had proposed the present-day progressive taxation structure of India, as well as direct elections to the Central Assembly, for the first time in 1928 while raising objection over the proposal of dominion status of Nehru report. He was one of the youngest Indian leaders, who spent 2 years in exile at Mandalay jail, Myanmar from 1925-1927. In his lifetime, he was jailed 11 times. It was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who constituted the first form of Indian National Army in Europe, which consisted of Indian Prisoners-of-War captured by Germany and Italy from North Africa in 1940. It was the fear of growing support of the masses for members of Indian National Army, during the famous Red Fort trial that Britishers were compelled to pass the Indian Independence Act, 1947 in the British Parliament.
I am attaching 2 pages from N.G.Ganpuley‘s book on Netaji in Germany, which explains why Netaji decided to introduce Jai Hind (victory to India) as the common greeting amongst Indians as opposed to Ram Ram, Salam Aleikum,Sat Shri akal or any of the other religion based greetings. pic.twitter.com/CDqd1McIFs
— Shubham Sharma ⚔️⭐🇮🇳⭐⚔️ (@ShubhamAzadHind) January 26, 2023
Jinnah was wary of Netaji’s popularity
According to the former members of Kirti Kisan Party, who participated during the Bombay Labour movement in late 1920s, Jinnah was wary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, since he had a strong following among Congressmen as well as within the Muslim League. Possibly this could be the reason why Jinnah waited to raise the demand of Pakistan only after Subhash Chandra Bose was arrested in 1939 under Defence of India Act and imprisoned.
*Statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose* pic.twitter.com/S6NGxti9Wj
— ANIL KUMAR MITTAL (@ANILKUM05405587) January 27, 2023
It’s time to get his name removed from list of ‘War Criminals’
If the Government of India and the die-hard fans of Netaji intend to pay tribute in true sense for his selfless effort in securing India its freedom, then they must utilize all their might to get his name removed from the list of ‘War Criminals’, which is being maintained till date by the British Foreign Intelligence Service as known in popular culture as MI6 [Military Intelligence – Section 6]. MI6 along with MI5 [British Counter Terror Unit] is known to have hunted down enemies of Britain such as Nazi Germans for nearly 70 years after World War -2 ended. It is a well known fact that British Intelligence Agencies had their presence in India, operating from the Headquarters of the Intelligence Bureau in Delhi, for as long as mid 1980s. They were known to track the movement and snoop upon Netaji’s kith and kin, in blatant violation of the sovereign principles of a republic country. This reflects the lack of diplomatic skill and will that existed in last century, in India that had crippled the government of the day to protect its own people.
*Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) display on Jan 22 & 23 at Marina Park, Nicobar Island, to commemorate 126th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.* An aerial ballet created out of years of dedication and practice by those who touch the sky with glory.🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/2mfSppYZcw
— AVM Amit Aneja 🇮🇳 (@amit14668) January 27, 2023
Netaji survived Taihoku air-crash: Retd Colonel Baljit Singh
According to a retired Indian military war veteran and 3rd generation officer, Colonel Baljit Singh, who resides in Vallabh Vidyanagar town of Anand district in Gujarat, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had survived the Taihoku air-crash of 1945 and was successful in reaching USSR, for securing necessary assistance to keep the fight of Indian National Army against British imperialism alive. Colonel Baljit Singh, who served in military from 1964 till 1991, was posted to 4 Bihar NCC battalion, Bhagalpur from 1975 till 1979. It was there, when he met Anand Mohan Sahay, military secretary of the Indian National Army and Treasurer of Azad Hind Bank. Anand Mohan Sahay and his daughter Asha Sahay, who served as a young Lieutenant in Rani Jhansi Brigade had settled down at Nathnagar town near Bhagalpur, after independence.
Doctoral thesis on Netaji vanished from Bhagalpur varsity
Based on his interaction with father-daughter duo and other veterans of the Indian National Army like Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, who was living in Kanpur, Colonel Baljit Singh realized that due to strong influence of UK and USA, post World War-2, USSR was unable to extend any support to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and he was incarcerated in Siberia. It was only after 1950, when India became a republic that Government of India under Jawaharlal Nehru allowed Netaji’s return to India in a clandestine manner.
Colonel Baljit Singh got so enthused by these revelations that he independently conducted a research on Netaji’s mystery. He shunted between National Archives, Delhi and National Library, Kolkata to study and analyse all records regarding Netaji and the role of Indian National Army in India’s freedom struggle. He came across several foreign publications from Malaysia and Singapore, which corroborated the theory of survival and possible return of Netaji to India. The content collected was so enriching that Colonel Baljit Singh got himself registered as an independent researcher with Bhagalpur University to accomplish his doctorate on this subject. However, quite surprisingly his thesis upon submission with the University went missing just after his transfer from Bhagalpur.
As per Colonel Baljit Singh, had Netaji’s survival and return been made public, the Jawaharlal Nehru led government would have failed to protect him because the British government would have utilized the provisions of the treaty signed by Commonwealth nations, to extradite Netaji and trial him in the British court for waging war against England. This would have been highly embarrassing for India.
Of charismatic PM & competent Minister of External Affairs
However, the present-day Government of India is much stronger than before, the Prime Minister is charismatic and the Minister of External Affairs highly competent. More than 1.4 million Indians are living in UK, forming the largest ethnic minority in that country. The list of war criminals maintained by MI6 is directly supervised by the British Prime Minister, so as to order extradition of any identified war criminal, even several years after World War-2 ended.
The real tribute to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose would be to get his name deleted from this list, as he was not a war criminal. He was a patriot, who fought for liberation of our motherland. Neither did he nor any member of the Indian National Army commit any war crime. So why should his name be included in the list of war criminals?
Indifferent treatment of British govt & Bengal famine
Interestingly, in 2013 the British government agreed to pay to Kenyan government reparations for torturing Kenyans during the Mau Mau uprising. In 1995, Queen Elizabeth issued a signed apology to Maori people of New Zealand for unlawful confiscation of their land. However, till date no official apology was issued to India for siphoning out $45 trillion wealth to England, for the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar in 1919 where close to 1,000 Indians died or for the perpetrated Bengal famine of 1943-45 due to deliberate diversion of food grains on orders of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, leading to death of 4 million Indians due to hunger and starvation. 2.6 million Indian lost their lives while fighting for UK in the World Wars, under the false impression that Indian contribution to Britain’s war effort would be honored with independence of India.
India is no longer a colony or a weak nation. With 5th largest economy in the world on the basis of purchasing power parity, 67% of its 1.417 billion population falling in the working age group and having the fourth largest standing military, we are capable of protecting the interest of our citizens, as we did last year by purchasing crude oil from Russia, in the face of rising prices of mineral oil products. In the recent past, on several occasions India has refused to tow the line to superpowers, be it refraining from joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) for protecting Indian dairy industry and farming communities or by continuing our trade relations with Iran with whom we have been trading since the time of Indus Valley civilization, despite the threat of sanctions from the west.
It is high time that Indian leaders and diplomats put up a brave front before the present government of UK and compel it to issue an official statement regarding removal of tag of a war criminal from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s name, which if done, would be a befitting honour to that great soul.
The author of this article, Abhimanyu Joon, is a Design Engineer and freelance writer
