Will NDA govt live up to Netaji’s ideals?
THE unveiling of an imposing statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8 at India Gate in New Delhi was a historic event. It was the right decision, taken after years of vacillation on how to use the vacant canopy where British monarch King George V’s statue once stood. Also, Netaji has posthumously found a pride of place in New Delhi, a quest he began on January 26, 1941, when he went on exile to try other means for freedom.
Modi was right in hailing Bose as the “the first head of Akhand Bharat” for “freeing the Andamans from the colonial rule” and hoisting the Tricolour before 1947. However, he lamented that after 1947, the “path” shown by Subhas Babu was forgotten. From now on, he said, this statue would be the “medium” for conveying Netaji’s energy to the nation.
What were Netaji’s ideas of a free India? Many in our present generation might not know that Netaji had tried out an experiment in Europe on how India’s security forces should be structured after Independence. This was well before he assumed leadership of the “Indian National Army” (INA) on August 25, 1943, prior to forming the “Provisional Government of Azad Hind” on October 21, 1943, in Syonan (Singapore).
The person with whom he constantly discussed his ideas on foreign policy, defence and internal governance since 1934 was the late ACN Nambiar, an Indian journalist, who became his closest collaborator in Europe between 1942 and 1945. He was also a close friend of the Jawaharlal Nehru family.
Bose’s first meeting with Nambiar was in 1934 in Prague, where he was staying after the Nazis had expelled him from Germany, accusing him of involvement in the 1933 Reichstag fire. Till 1938, they were together during Bose’s various visits to Europe. In March 1939, Nambiar went into hiding when Hitler marched into Czechoslovakia.
After escaping from India in 1941, Bose tracked Nambiar in Foix on the Spanish border and formally appointed him in January 1942 as his deputy at the “Azad Hind Office”, which was attached to the German Foreign Office in Berlin, with full diplomatic status.
Bose confided to Nambiar that he had chosen him to assume leadership of the European operations after his move from Berlin to the Far East. No one else knew about this. This was after Hitler had suggested to Bose, in May 1942, to seek Japanese help to oust Britain from India. Also, India was falling under the Japanese “domain” after the Berlin Pact 1940 on the “New World Order”, which had divided the world into Italian, German and Japanese “spheres” of influence.
On February 8, 1943, Bose left Europe secretly. Nambiar kept in close touch with him through German/Japanese channels. His last communication, dated January 12, 1945 and sent through the German boat U-234, did not reach Bose as it surrendered to the American Navy on May 14, 1945. Also, Bose died in an air crash on August 18, 1945.
Nambiar told me that Bose’s scheme was to mould all governance structures based on Gandhiji’s vision of communal harmony even during the freedom struggle from abroad. One of the initial activities undertaken by Bose in Germany was to raise the “Indian Legion” ,beginning December 1941, with German help from volunteers among the Indian Prisoners of War (PoWs) captured and interned in Germany from the Africa campaign. Within a year, nearly 4,000 volunteers had enlisted. The second was the “Azad Hind Radio”, which broadcast “Delhi Chalo” for the first time on January 6, 1942.
Bose wanted this army to be taken back to India to form the core of the future Indian army: “The principal communities of India were represented in the Legion which functioned as an integrated organisation. Bose was especially attentive to seeing to the welfare of the Muslims and Sikhs as members of the minority communities.” Bose did not want his new army to be separated into regiments based on religion, caste or region, as was the practice then.
The National Anthem and the flag were carefully chosen not to hurt the sentiments of the minorities: Instead of “Vande Mataram”, which was resented by Muslims, he chose Rabindranath Tagore’s “Jana Gana Mana”. Historian Sugata Bose says the tricolour flag of the Indian Legion (Azad Hind Army) incorporated a “Flying Tiger” in the middle to inspire the memory of anti-British warrior Tipu Sultan of Mysore. This was later modified by the INA with Gandhiji’s “charkha” (spinning wheel).
Bose strongly believed that the multiplicity of languages among the Indian Legion had threatened their unity. Rudolf Hartog, visiting lecturer at the Oxford College of Technology, who had worked as a Hindi-German interpreter for the Indian Legion (1941-1945) said Hindustani written in the Roman script was adopted by the Legion: “By combining the linguistic stock of both Hindus and Muslims, Hindustani was a language that contained elements of the two leading cultures of India.”
Although Bose had distanced himself from Gandhiji after 1939 due to his fight with the “Right Wing” in the Congress, it did not diminish his respect for him. All his freedom activities from abroad were to strengthen Gandhiji’s leadership. After Gandhiji’s call for the 1942 Quit India Movement, he used the “Azad Hind Radio” from Germany to give clarion calls to all Indians to support Gandhiji’s campaigns vigorously. Sugata Bose mentions that he even called upon all disparate groups, like the Akali Dal, the Krishak Praja Party of Bengal and even the “progressive elements” in the Muslim League, to join Gandhiji.
On July 6, 1944, Bose made a special radio address from Singapore to seek Gandhiji’s blessings for the INA campaign: “Father of our Nation, in this holy war for India’s liberation, we ask your blessings and good wishes.” This was the first ever time that Gandhiji was called the “Father of the Nation”, according to a Government of India RTI reply in 2012.
If the NDA government now wants to follow Bose’s priorities, a lot of improvement in the communal situation, especially in BJP-ruled states, needs to be achieved. Otherwise, it will only remain as another slogan.
Views are personal
