Netaji remark lands ex-Justice in trouble

The Pioneer, 30 January, 2010
http://epaper.dailypioneer.com/ThePioneer/Pioneer/2010/01/30/ArticleHtmls/30_01_2010_023_007.shtml

Saugar Sengupta

Kolkata: An `off the record' assertion by retired Supreme Court Justice Manoj Mukherjee has upset Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's kin. The single-member Mukherjee Commission had investigated Bose's reported death and Mukherjee confirmed that Faizabad's Gumnami Baba, or Bhagwanji, was Bose himself. Some of Bose's relatives have demanded a fresh inquiry into his death. Former MP and Bose's niece-in-law Krishna Bose termed Mukherjee's assertion as `unfortunate,' wondering "why he did not raise the issue earlier in the Mukherjee Commission report. Such a statement was not expected from a legal luminary like Justice Mukherjee." Even Professor Purabi Roy of Jadavpur University - whose startling revelations had led to a PIL and a subsequent order by Calcutta High Court for formation of the commission in 1999 - felt Mukherjee should have weighed his words. The Mukherjee Commission was different from the earlier Khosla Commission and Shah Nawaz Commission in many respects. It denied established reports that Bose had died in the Taihoku air crash, which it said was stage-managed to give cover to the INA chief's flight to the USSR. Subsequently, however, the report was rejected by the Government. During an "informal" conversation with the director of a documentary film, Black Box of History, Mukherjee declared he was "100 per cent sure that Gumnami Baba was none other than Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose." To strengthen his argument, he cited that the Baba was in possession of a large number of family documents - including letters and communiqués inside 24 trunks - till his death in 1987, which could only be possessed by Netaji. Mukherjee's statements were reinforced by evidence. According to reports, Netaji had come to Lucknow, Ayodhya and Basti via Nepal in the 1950s. In 1984, he was found to be residing at Ram Bhavan with Guru Basant Singh. In those days, no one was allowed to enter Ram Bhavan and even he would speak to visitors from behind a veil. The fact that some very close relatives and friends of Netaji were regular visitors of Gumnami Baba was suspicious. These visitors included Leela Roy and Sunil Das. B Lal, an expert, had also confirmed that "to best of my knowledge, I came to the opinion that the writings of the Baba were matching to that of Netaji."

'UP monk was Bose in hiding'

Mail Today, 29 January, 2010
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/81464/India/%27UP+monk+was+Bose+in+hiding%27.html

Aloke Banerjee

Kolkata: The mystery of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 'death', which has fascinated India for over 60 years, is in the news again. Four years after the government trashed the Mukherjee Commission report, the issue has been raked up in a documentary on Bose. Justice Manoj Mukherjee, in his inquiry report on the revolutionary leader's death, had said Bose did not die in the 1945 plane crash, as is popularly claimed. Now, the judge has told filmmaker Amlankushum Ghosh he "strongly believes" Gumnami Baba, the mysterious monk who lived in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, was Bose in disguise. In his inquiry report, Mukherjee had ruled out the possibility of the sadhu being Bose, though he believed Netaji had not died in the crash. The judge's statement will be shown in Ghosh's documentary, Black Box of History, which will be screened in Kolkata on February 18. Mukherjee said he had made the comments "strictly off the record". "I don't even want to talk about it. I had made those comments strictly off the record. If he (Ghosh) has disclosed these personal discussions, it is neither legally justified nor ethical," Mukherjee said. "What I had said (in the film) concerns my belief. It has no legal basis. At the end of the day, what is important is what I had said in my report," he added. In the film, the former Supreme Court judge, while talking about his scrutiny of Gumnami Baba 's documents after the sadhu died in 1985, said: " It is my personal feeling...Don't quote me...But I am 100 per cent sure that he (the monk) is Netaji." Ghosh defended his decision to use Mukherjee's statement. "What Justice Mukherjee told me was of national importance. It can't be considered mere private chat. I don't think what I did was unethical," he said. " A person of Justice Mukherjee's stature could not gather the courage to go public about something as important as this. People have the right to know the truth about Netaji," he added. Ghosh interviewed many people associated with Bose as well as Gumnami Baba and claimed the leader entered UP via Nepal in the guise of a sadhu and started staying in Ram Bhavan, Faizabad, from 1983. Also interviewed was handwriting expert and former additional director of the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, Dr B. Lal, who said the writings of the sadhu and Netaji " matched perfectly". According to the monk's personal doctors R. K. Misra and P. Bandopadhyay - who were also interviewed for the film - about 40 of his trunks contained documents on India's freedom struggle and photographs of Bose's family members, which could be in possession of no one else apart from Netaji.

Ekdin, 28 January 2010. Click here for the full news

Two famous nonagenarians

Business Standard, 28 January 2010
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/pranab-bardhan-two-famous-nonagenarians/383822/

Pranab Bardhan

Most obituaries have missed out some important aspects of Samuelson and Jyotibabu’s life. Over the last few weeks, two famous nonagenarians I knew a bit passed away in two different parts of the world. One is from the world of economics, Paul Samuelson, and the other from that of politics, Jyoti Basu. The latter I met a few times in Kolkata over the years, the former I knew a bit more closely when I was his colleague at MIT at my first teaching job in the US (for one semester we even co-taught a course in international economics). Several obituaries of both I have read cover different aspects of their lives and their contributions. The main reason for this article is to point to some aspects of these two very different people that those obituaries seem to have missed. [By the way, I don’t know if Jyoti-babu knew of Samuelson, but it is a sign of Samuelson’s infinite curiosity about the world that he definitely knew of the Bengal politician; whenever someone named Bose was introduced to him, he’d ask if the person was related to the physicist Bose (meaning Satyen Bose) or the fascist Bose (his way of describing Netaji) or the communist Bose.]

Netaji and the Lal Chowk tricolour: Inconvenient. Take them both off!

Times of India, 27 January 2010
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/clicklit/entry/netaji-and-the-lal-chowk

Anshul Chaturvedi

There are a few things in the past few days which may, or may not, have a link, but they seemed to have an underlying thread. They served to bug me, however, fairly thoroughly at that, so much as to provoke an awakening from prolonged blogging hibernation. Endure this, then. One, this year, the government seemed to have decided to save a lot of public money by not spending anything of consequence on Netaji Subhash’s birth anniversary, on the 23rd of Jan. Newspapers which are flooded with commemorative ads and special features from government ministries and departments on the birthdays of Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, and many other members of our extended pantheon of leaders, must have found similar activity about Bose conspicuous by its absence. Perhaps we are saving money by not releasing ads like that. Or perhaps we are saving that money so we can release other ads where we can place pictures of more deserving national heroes, such as the former chief of the Pakistan Air Force, who’s smiling face adorned ads taken out the very next day by a ministry. Anyways. I flipped through papers of Nov 14th, Oct 2nd, Oct 31st - the birth anniversaries of Nehru, Gandhi, Patel respectively - to confirm the perception that the realization that we need to stop spending public money to commemorate leaders gone by has struck the government pretty recently, perhaps just before Bose’s birthday. And I’d like to see the government take the same thought forward and have the guts to do a similar blackout on April 14th, Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, or on August 20th – Rajiv Gandhi’s birthday. I am not in the least saying we should not be making an effort to reinforce their place in public memory – but surely there isn’t a need to play political favouritism with the dead? Bose, in any case, is owned, disowned, owned, and disowned by all parts of India’s political spectrum - but more on that later; I have much to say on that, and to start off now will take this piece on a long, different tangent. Two, at the risk of sounding like a jingoist, I do not understand the point behind discontinuing the 17-year old practice of hoisting the Indian flag at the Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Reports suggest that the government saw the practice of hoisting the tricolour at the chowk as “needless provocation’ to the separatists in the area. And those opposing the move were sold the line that it was just a “symbolic gesture”. (What is the flag hoisting at every single place in the country on R-Day, if not a “symbolic gesture”, pray? The flag IS a symbol, remember?) The BJP’s whining on this is not the point; MM Joshi’s yatra in 1991 – which finally ended in helicopters and bulletproof cars, was completely devoid of the bravado he was trying to exhibit – was a joke. But the flag hoisting wasn’t. Lal Chowk would see Pakistani flags hoisted. If troops, as a counter gesture, had an R-day celebration at the chowk, and it became a practice, is it something that needs active state intervention to be DISCONTINUED? Is this a ‘change in strategy’, is it over appeasement, or is it plain stupid? Try asking a trooper posted in the valley and I daresay his choice of answer will not be a difficult one. If you want to avoid hostility, make your troops behave in a more disciplined and civil manner, ensure the administration doesn’t function in a corrupt and indifferent manner, punish soldiers – and civilians – who harass, molest or kill innocents. Do all of that, and more. But why the hell do you have to be defensive about the national flag? How can you do away with it so as not to ‘aggravate’ the separatists? How can you possibly make soldiers apologetic about hoisting the national flag? What is there to “discontinue” in it? If we think hoisting the Indian flag on what – to the best of my knowledge – is Indian soil is something that uniformed personnel have to be told not to do, it is downright crazy. Symbolism matters. The symbolism of not acknowledging Bose matters because it sends a message, of discomfort with the man’s thinking, with his nonconformity with the Congress’ family tree, so to say; discomfort with his unapologetic adoption of militarism as a valid nationalistic philosophy when it was required. The symbolism of not hoisting the flag at Lal Chowk matters because for foot soldiers, the flag is a very, very potent symbol. Soldiers relate to the planting of flags as symbols of being in control of an area, and usually the only time they face the prospect of NOT having the right to hoist the flag where they used to, is when they have lost territory. The whole Lal Chowk idea may be one overly ‘sensitive’ idea in the context of local vibes, but it is horrendously bad morale management of troops. If the state itself is apologetic about its soldiers, why are they there? This is not the IPKF in Lanka- partII, after all. Or is it? So perhaps our government doesn’t understand symbolism. Or perhaps it understands it too well. I don’t know. But then, enough of my rantings. I stand humbly corrected if I dare say we don’t know how to honour our national heroes, that we don’t value symbols and symbolism. Heck, didn’t we just give the Padma Bhushan to Sri Sant Singh Chatwal?

(The views are my personal maverick-y fundas; they needn’t necessarily reflect those of TOI)

A case for counter views

25 January, 2010
http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/58/2010012520100125024115328ba06eacd/A-case-for-counter-views.html

N Vittal

Our irrepressible, smart, and very clever Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, got into hot waters recently for his remark at a seminar about the foreign policies of Jawaharlal Nehru. Media reports said, “I agree with the British MP Bhiku Parekh’s opinion of Nehru and (Mahatma) Gandhi’s foreign policies. It was more like a moralistic commentary.” Posters of Liu Xiaobo, who was jailed for writing against the Chinese government. Unlike China, India’s democracy allows for open debates with no paranoia over opposing views We are proud of our open democracy, though Tharoor’s remarks set the cat among the pigeons of the Congress – the political arm of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. As Tharoor happens to be a member of the party and a minister to boot, his lapse from propriety became an object of instant and vigorous criticism from the party panjandrums. Fortunately, the intra-party contretemps was resolved soon. A mature democracy must have enough space in our political dialogue for opposing points of views to be expressed and freely debated. Our contrast with China, with which we are often compared in the global context, is extremely striking when it comes to freedom of expression and open debates. A recent example of the paranoia of the rulers of China is the harsh treatment of human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, sentenced to 11 years in prison on Christmas day last year in Beijing. His crime was “inciting subversion of state power”. He was accused of writing Charter 08, which attracted more than 300 Chinese signatures in December 2008. Its publication marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Toleration of open criticism and freedom of expression distinguishes India from China. Some experts predict India will beat China in the medium term on economic as well as other fronts for this reason.

Now that we are 60 years old as a republic, we come across counter views about some of the sacred icons of our freedom struggle. My generation, born before 1947, was brought up on the idea that Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership got us freedom from the British. He is rightly honoured as the ‘Father of the Nation’. There is, however, a counter view that Gandhiji did not get us freedom. The British abandoned their empire. In support of this view, historian R C Majumdar is on record to say Clement Atlee, the British PM during India’s Independence, confirmed this to the then Governor of West Bengal, when he visited in the fifties. He said that the British left because of the Naval revolt of 1946 in Bombay and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s INA. These developments made the British realise they could not protect the interests of His Majesty’s government using Indian armed forces. On the role of Gandhiji getting India freedom, Atlee slowly spelt with clenched teeth, “Mi-ni-mal.” So after all, we did not win freedom from the British. The British quit India. It is not only about sacred icons that we have counter views. Take the universally condemned phenomenon of corruption and mega scams. The Spectrum scandal has been estimated to be of nearly Rs 90,000 crore. Well, there is a counter view to this also. This view says the Spectrum scam is a blessing to the commoners using mobile phones. If it were not for this scam, we would not be able to enjoy the ever-reducing tariff and the exponentially exploding cell phone networks. Each call may cost not less than Rs 2. As a former CVC, I was shocked. However, a little reflection made me realise the weakness of this claim. First, the details of the numbers claimed must be checked out. Furthermore, the dynamics of a competitive environment in a level playing field, which is possible only if corruption is avoided, will naturally lead to ever-decreasing prices. Even so, having counter views plays a useful role in rediscovering the validity of our beliefs.

The Tribune, 25 January 2010
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100125/himachal.htm#4

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala: A nonagenarian freedom fighter, Prithvi Singh, from the Dehra area is in a destitute state. Though age has taken toll on his body, with eyes and ears going weak, his spirit still seems to be undeterred. The shrill in his voice attracted everybody’s attention when he presented himself before Chief Minister PK Dhumal at a programme organised in Dehra today. Prithivi Singh came with a laminated certificate carrying his photo with Netaji Subash Chander Bose. He narrated his tale of woes with dignity and demanded what was his right from the system. Prithvi told the CM that though he was a freedom fighter and had been struggling against the system, he was finding it hard to make both ends meet. “I do not have anything to eat,” he said plainly before the CM. The candid admission of the freedom fighter moved the CM and other officials present there. The CM asked the local magistrate to immediately process his case for old age pension and freedom fighter’s pension. However, his state illustrates how destitute the senior citizens are in society. Later, when questioned by mediapersons, Prithvi said he had applied for freedom fighter pension a few years ago. However, unfortunately he had shown his photo with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to officials concerned. Since the Congress was the ruling party at that time, they considered him a BJP worker and allegedly did not process his case for pension. Now, that Dhumal has intervened, it remains to be seen how quickly misery of the old man will be resolved.

Netaji’s birthday observed

The Morung Express, 25 January 2010
http://www.morungexpress.com/regional/42199.html

Kohima (MExN): The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Memorial Development Society of Nagaland (NSCBMDS) had observed the 114th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Bose at Netaji Peak, Chezezu village. According to a press release issued by the society, to mark the occasion, the society members, along with living eye-witnesses and village elders, visited several places including Netaji’s last camp in India, Chezezu, where they paid homage to Netaji. Recalling Netaji’s immense contributions to the nation during the freedom struggle, the society said Nagas are proud to have given Netaji a hand in his journey for freedom of India at his last camp at Chesezu where he monitored battles to defend India, the note stated. Moreover, lamenting that nothing much has been done yet to develop this historic last camp of Netaji with the exception of the construction of a resting shed constructed by the state Art & Culture department, the society has urged the state as well as the central government to give special attention for infrastructural development of the site as a national heritage site, the press note stated.

Netaji Subhas Bose

http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=Snipp8..260110.jan10

Imphal, January 25 2010: The Sainik Parishad will be organising the Netaji Subhash Moirang Utsav on April 13 and 14 at Imphal and Moirang this year as part of the exercise to spread its wing. In a statement, the Sainik Parishad said that the celebrations will be inaugurated at Guwahati on April 11 by National President of the Parishad, Lt Gen SPM Tripathy. The participants, drawn from all over the country will gather at Dimapur on April 11 and then will move to Imphal on April 12. Cultural programmes will be highlight of the celebrations, said the statement and added that the Sainik Parishad will also participate in the ceremony to be organised by the Art and Culture Department of the State Government to pay homage to Netaji on April 14 at Moirang.

Whose portraits to garland? It’s CM Buddha’s call now

The Indian Express, 26 January, 2010
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/whose-portraits-to-garland-its-cm-buddhas-call-now/571650/0

From now on, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will decide which portrait of eminent personalities — kept at the Writers’ Buildings, New Secretariat Building and the state Assembly — will be garlanded on days of their birth and death anniversaries. This was decided at a meeting of officials of the Information and Cultural Affairs department on Monday. The meeting was held following the fiasco on garlanding Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s portrait - kept in front of the chief minister’s chamber at Writers’ Buildings on January 23 - on his birthday. It was only after Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee pointed out that the portrait had neither been cleaned nor garlanded, that Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti and Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen had garlanded the portrait. Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee, on the instructions of party leader Mamata Banerjee, had also rushed to the Writers’ to garland the portrait twice. The chief minister later called it a “miss” and promised that such goof-ups would not be repeated.However, an investigation conducted by The Indian Express showed that it has never been the practice of the state government to garland all portraits kept in front of the chief minister’s chamber at Writers’. This was precisely because the state government officially holds the garlanding ritual at public places. For instance, the government holds a function to pay tribute to Netaji at a statue at the crossing of Red Road and Eden Gardens. Rabindranath Tagore’s brith anniversary is also observed in a similar fashion at functions held at Rabindra Sadan. According to the department officials, the portrait was put up in front of the CM’s chamber on Netaji’s birthday in 2007. “We collected a photograph of Netaji from Mahajati Sadan, got it blown up and put it up in front of the chief minister’s chamber. On that day, the chief minister offered flowers at a brass bowl kept on a platform in front of the portrait. But last year, no such ceremony was observed and nobody said anything,” said Neeloy Ghosh, Director of Information, Information and Cultural Affairs department.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was Tata Steel workers' union prez

DNA, 25 January, 2010
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_netaji-subhash-chandra-bose-was-tata-steel-workers-union-prez_1339040

Bhubhneswar: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was president of the workers’ union at the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur for nine years between 1928 and 1937. This was revealed when the Tata Group handed over related documents to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on the occasion of Netaji’s 114th birth anniversary on Saturday. He was the third president of the union formed in 1920. During his tenure, Netaji fought with the management to appoint more Indians in key positions. In a letter written to the then Tata Steel chairman NB Saklatvala on November 12, 1928, he said, “One of the most important problems before the company is that it lacks senior officials from India. I have no doubt that if you go ahead with your policy of Indianisation of Tata steel, you will be able to ingratiate yourself with your Indian employees, your countrymen as well as with public leaders of all shades of opinion.” After the appeal, Tata Steel got its first Indian general manager. Netaji also forced the management to implement maternity benefits for employees. On his call, the company also witnessed its first and last strike in 1928. Bowing to the just demands of workers, Saklatvala, general manager CA Alexander and Netaji signed an historic agreement which also paved the way for a profit-sharing bonus for Tata Steel employees for the first time in 1934.

Saluting a Stalwart

Times of India, 25 January 2010
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Saluting-a-Stalwart/articleshow/5496631.cms

“I would like to see West Bengal take the lead in establishing human rights institutions and you have my full support and authority to carry out any activity that will help us in doing so...We the Government of West Bengal will host your proposed Inter-Regional Commonwealth meeting here in Kolkata...” Jyotibabu told me as I sat across from him in the Chief Minister’s office in Writers’ Buildings. It took Jyotibabu only a few minutes to take this decision. He was, as is well known, a man of few words, forthright and determined. I was very pleased. My unspoken desire for Kolkata to host the very first Commonwealth Asian meeting on human rights was about to become a reality! In 1997 as the Commonwealth human rights officer I was visiting India and the other Commonwealth countries in the region to consult with member Governments on the Commonwealth Heads of Governments’ agreed agenda on human rights. I was disappointed with my meetings in New Delhi. Notwithstanding the Commonwealth’s collective commitment to and mandate for human rights, our Central Government was reticent to take a proactive stand. With the Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu enthusiastically inviting representatives of Commonwealth member governments to Kolkata for an open and constructive dialogue to find ways to further strengthen policy, law and institutions to promote and protect human rights, any protocol or any reluctance on the part of Delhi was set aside. Kolkata hosted the Commonwealth human rights meeting in the summer of 1997 and Jyotibabu himself inaugurated it. My memories of Jyotibabu go back to 1977 when he became the Chief Minister of West Bengal. I have often accompanied my father Amiya Nath Bose when he went to see him in his office or at home. I was then a keen student of international politics. Jyotibabu never failed to ask me a few pertinent questions to which I responded to the best of my ability. Jyotibabu’s contact with the Bose family began many years ago in January 1938 when Subhas Chandra Bose visited England just prior to assuming the office of President of the pre-Independence Congress. My father, who was then a student at Cambridge, was asked by his uncle Subhas to plan and organise his visit. Subhas Bose addressed several key meetings in London, Cambridge and Oxford, and also met with leading Labour and Conservative Party members to urge them to support his demand for Indian Independence. A tea party was organised for the Indian student community in London and among the assembled students was Jyoti Basu. “We had gone too far in criticising Netaji...We were wrong...” Jyotibabu told me. During a recent conversation Jyotibabu reminisced about those days in 1945 when Sarat Bose was released from four years in prison and formed the Socialist Republican Party. Jyotibabu told me how he felt humbled in the presence of this great man. The Communist Party of India (CPI) was not popular then. It was Sarat Bose who allowed Jyotibabu and his co-workers of the newly formed Civil Liberties Union to function from his own house in 1 Woodburn Park. This, Jyotibabu said, helped us enormously.

(The author is the daughter of Amiya Nath Bose and grand-daughter of Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. She is a Human Rights advocate currently based in Jerusalem)

Netaji dragged in Left-Oppn war of words

The Indian Express, 24 January, 2010
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Netaji-dragged-in-Left-Oppn-war-of-words/571112

The ruling Left Front and the Opposition combine of Congress and the Trinamool Congress again found a reason to trade blame today — over the garlanding of a portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the Writers’ Buildings on his 114th birth anniversary — with both sides accusing each other of disowning the legendary freedom fighter. It all started when Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee was passing by the corridor outside Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s chamber while on his way to attend a meeting with Labour Minister Anadi Sahu around 2 pm. Upon seeing that Netaji’s portrait was not garlanded, Mukherjee was furious, saying: “If the government fails to pay tributes to the leader, I shall come back and garland the portrait.” When the word got around, Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty and Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen were quick to react. They collected garlands and offered it to Netaji’s portrait around 3 pm. Within an hour, the police cleaned the portrait and placed it on a table. “We have come here to garland Netaji. It does not matter whether it is 12 noon or 3 pm,” the chief secretary said. The CM too was prompt to react, saying it was regrettable but also blamed the Congress for “denying” Netaji’s legacy during its rule. “The day was observed throughout the state with due respect. Regarding the portrait at the Writers’ Buildings not being garlanded, I must admit there was a lapse. But the chief secretary promptly garlanded the portrait,” the CM said in a statement. “I must mention in this context that throughout the Congress rule, there was not even a photograph of Netaji in the Writers’ Buildings. They, for political reasons, have denied Netaji’s legacy,” he said. Reached by reporters, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee too joined the issue and promptly sent Leader of the Opposition Partho Chatterjee to the Writers’ Buildings to offer flowers to Netaji’s portrait. Later, at a function at Red Road, the chief minister echoed his predecessor Jyoti Basu’s admission 14 years ago that the assessment of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by Communists was “wrong”. “Communist assessment and evaluation of Netaji was wrong and it was stated by none other than Jyoti Basu,” the chief minister told a gathering after garlanding Netaji’s statue.

Rich tributes paid to Netaji on birth anniv

Times of India, 24 January 2010
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Rich-tributes-paid-to-Netaji-on-birth-anniv/articleshow/5493894.cms

PATNA: The 113rd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was observed here on Saturday as "Patriotism Day" with chief minister Nitish Kumar making an appeal to the Union government to declare the day accordingly at the national level. Nitish and others paid floral tributes to Netaji at his statue near Gandhi Maidan. He said Netaji fought the war of freedom in his own style and showed exemplary valour and deep patriotism. He said the state government has sent a proposal to the Centre to observe Netaji's birthday as "Desh Prem Diwas". Nitish said the the people, particularly the youth, would get inspiration from the services and sacrifices of Netaji to be patriotic. The strong feeling of patriotism will help India grow at a faster pace and become a world power, he added. Others who paid tributes to Netaji at Subhash Park here included deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, parliamentary affairs minister Ramashray Prasad Singh and several other legislators. The jawans of armed police, NCC cadets, Scouts and Guide held a march past. A function wasalso held at the office of All India Forward Bloc on the occasion where party state general secretary Azad and others spoke on the life and achievements of Netaji and paid him glowing tributes. Azad said the views expressed by Netaji in his book "Tarunai" were still relevant to make India economically independent.

109-year-old freedom fighter pays tributes to Netaji

The Indian Express, 24 January, 2010
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/109-year-old-freedom-fighter-pays-tributes-to-Netaji/571057

One-hundred-and-nine-year-old Santa Singh Athwal, a former soldier of the Indian National Army (INA), on Saturday took an autorickshaw from his home to Subhash Bridge, where the statue of his beloved leader Subhash Chandra Bose has been installed. He came here to pay his respects to the freedom fighter on his 114th birth anniversary. Accompanied by his grandson, Athwal recalled how he and his INA comrades had fought against the British. Born in Panghupura village of Lahore district on September 1, 1901, then part of undivided India, Athwal first rose to the rank of a captain in the Royal Indian Army, before he joined the INA. “I joined the Army in 1931 and fought the Japanese in Singapore, where I was taken a prisoner of war.” Later, Singh joined Bose’s army. Kashmir Singh, one of his grandsons, said: “He is still fit and has no major health problems.”

The Bose Brothers

Kolkata Mirror, 23 January, 2010
http://www.kolkatamirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=6&contentid=2010012320100122124529453ecf55ef4&sectxslt=

By Madhuri Bose

Amiya Nath Bose was the second son of Sarat Chandra Bose. From a very early age and throughout his life, he was inspired by and committed to the enduring vision of his father Sarat and uncle Subhas, popularly known as the Bose Brothers, for an independent and united India. From late 1920s Amiya became very close to his uncle Subhas who was then living in Sarat Bose’s house at 1 Woodburn Park. “When uncle Subhas would return home at mid-night or later after a hectic day’s work he would wake me up from sleep and talk to me about men and events. He spoke in great detail about the nature of the struggle against British imperialism and also about the social order that should be established after political freedom was won. Uncle Subhas believed that a true revolutionary and statesman should always take the ‘long view’, that is to say, he should plan and work towards his goal years or even decades ahead. It is only such an attitude of mind that can help him to divorce his struggle from personal and immediate gain.”

The beginning

From the 1930s the Bose Brothers rapidly rose to become Congress stalwarts and the undisputed leaders of the progressive left within the Congress. Amiya had an opportunity to observe first-hand the unfolding political process and the roles played by Gandhi, Nehru and others. When he left for England in early 1937 for graduate studies at Cambridge and to qualify for the bar, Amiya became the unofficial envoy and personal assistant to his uncle Subhas. In January 1938, he had planned and organised his uncle Subhas’ brief but important visit to England. During that visit Subhas Bose not only addressed key meetings in London but also met with President De Valera of Ireland, members of the British Labour and Conservative Parties and also Bertrand Russell. Amiya accompanied his uncle during these meetings and described in detail what he saw and heard.

Courage in the blood

Perhaps the most critical and also dangerous task that Amiya undertook for his uncle Subhas, was when he carried a handwritten message from his uncle to the Soviet Government in October 1939 in which Subhas had asked for Russian assistance to liberate India. Amiya then a student at Cambridge had carried the message to the designated KGB agent in London. Amiya later noted, “If I had been caught with that letter by the British, I would have been hanged and Subhas Chandra Bose would have been executed too.”

Subhas with Mahatma Gandhi

It is now well-known that Subhas Bose had hoped to secure Russian assistance to help free India from the British, but the outbreak of the Second World War and the subsequent turn of events had closed that option. According to Amiya if any single body of thought of his uncle Subhas encapsulates his message for the India of today it is his thesis on Hindusthani Samyvadi Sangha which he wrote when he was detained in the Madras Penitentiary in 1932.

Vision for India

Subhas believed that the ideology for India is Samyavad which translated means – the doctrine of synthesis or equality. That thesis also echoes Swami Vivekananda’s eternal message to his countrymen – A hundred thousand men and women should travel across the length and breadth of the land preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of equality. Amiya had the opportunity to hear from his uncle about the ideas and strategy detailed in that document when he accompanied him on a train journey that took Subhas, still a prisoner, to Bombay from where he sailed for Europe in 1933. Despite many efforts, Amiya was unable to trace a copy of that remarkable document which Subhas had taken with him to Vienna where he discussed it with key persons including representatives of the Comintern. Some aspects of this thesis can be gathered from Subhas’ book The Indian Struggle and also from his speech presented in absentia at the Indian Political Conference in London in 1933. The Bose Brothers throughout their lives had worked towards a free and united India. They had warned that partition of the country would not resolve the communal problem but increase the conflict manifold. Events since 1947 and recent developments in the sub-continent have proven that they were right and those of the Congress Party who then carried out the division of the country were wrong. Amiya after his return to India from England in November 1944 took an active part in the anti-partition agitation and in his father Sarat’s efforts to prevent the partition of India, failing which at least to protect the unity of Bengal. Amiya’s accounts of those events and insights into this tragic succession of events reveal many historical facts known so far to very few.

Looking ahead


Upon his father Sarat’s untimely death on 20 February 1950, Amiya inherited from him both the mantle of family protector, and the wider responsibility for placing the Bose legacy in historical and contemporary perspective for the benefit of future generations. As the book shows, Amiya strove throughout his lifetime to keep the flame and spirit of the Bose Legacy alive. He began assembling key materials including documents, official dossiers, photographs and films on the lives and activities of Sarat and Subhas from around the world and travelled widely in Asia and Europe in a never-ending quest for information. He deposited the collected materials in Netaji Bhawan, the ancestral home of the Bose family entrusted to the nation by his father Sarat Bose, in order that the life and work of the Bose Brothers could be preserved and their ideas propagated to build India on the principles and goals they had envisioned.
(The book is primarily based on Amiya Nath Bose’s writings including his many lectures both in India and abroad, published articles as well as his unpublished manuscripts and memoirs on the life and work of Sarat Chandra Bose and Subhas Chandra Bose)

Netaji’s patriotism unquestionable: Buddhadeb

The Hindu, 23 January, 2010
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article93916.ece

KOLKATA: Communists have given Netaji Subhas Bose the respect and the recognition he commanded, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said at a ceremony held here to mark Netaji’s 113th birth anniversary. Mr. Bhattacharjee garlanded Netaji’s statue on this occasion. The Chief Minister said the patriotism of Netaji was above question. Communists had corrected their earlier evaluation and assessment of him. Netaji’s strategy during the Second World War was different and the party had erred in its initial evaluation and assessment of the great leader, he said. Mr. Bhattacharjee said he was extending his full support to a demand made by four left parties — the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) - that January 23 be declared as “patriotism day.” Leaders of these parties had jointly written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard. The appeal, which was signed by Prakash Karat, A.B. Bardhan, Debabrata Biswas and T.J.Chandrachudan, general secretaries of the CPI(M), CPI, AIFB and the RSP respectively, regretted that although this decision was announced in 1996 by the then Prime Minister, it had not been implemented as yet.

Agartala remembers Netaji on 114th birthday with a colourful rally

23 January, 2010
http://sify.com/news/Agartala-remembers-Netaji-on-114th-birthday-with-a-colourful-rally-news-National-kbxtEcfddae.html

The 114th birth anniversary of the charismatic leader of India's freedom struggle, Subash Chandra Bose, was celebrated here on Saturday in a special way. On this occasion, a programme was organized by the students of Netaji Subash Vidya Niketan School in Agartala from where a colourful rally was also taken out in the morning. The rally intended to draw public attention on Subhash Chandra Bose's ideology and the freedom struggle and also focused on various burning social issues and evils. "We are organizing the 114th Birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, we are in apposition that different school students, guardians and government departments helped us to organize this in a successful manner." the Principal of Netaji Subash Vidya Niketan School H.Debnath said on Saturday. Hundreds of school students, different organizations and clubs participated in the rally that traversed the main thoroughfares of Agartala amid thousand of spectators on both sides of the roads turned up to witness the rally. The onlookers also paid tribute to their hero Netaji, as Bose was popularly called, and who founded the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to drive the British rulers out of India. The Ajad Hind flag was raised along with the national flag on this day to remember Bose. The participants felt that youngsters should follow the ideals of Netaji to fight the evils of society. "Netaji should be our ideal. If we take his path, we will take the nation to progess and we will also progress personally," Soma Das, a participant said. Born in a Bengali family of Cuttack, Subhash Chandra Bose was the catalyst in sowing the seeds of independent India and revolutionary ideals in the minds of the youth of that time. Though the death of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose remains a mystery despite several investigations, but official documents declassified by the Government says that the revolutionary leader was a victim of an air crash on August 18, 1945. In his death, Netaji sill remains an immortal hero. By Pinaki Das (ANI)

Dainik Jagaran, 23 January 2010

Click here for full news

Portrait of a govt in panic

The Telegraph, 23 January, 2010
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100124/jsp/frontpage/story_12022939.jsp

Calcutta: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had his revenge on the communists today. The CPM-led Bengal government literally quaked in its boots today when it was discovered by an Opposition politician that Netaji’s portrait at Writers’ Buildings had not been garlanded on his birthday. The hawk-eyed discovery and the potential for uproar sent so chilling a shiver down the government’s spine that the unthinkable unfolded: Writers’ buzzed with activity on a holiday. In the scramble that followed to garland the portrait, the Bengal government lived up to its now-forgotten and rarely enforced “do-it-now” motto. A ladder was fetched, currency notes were fished out by the home secretary, a police officer was despatched on a mission to New Market to buy flowers, incense sticks were lit and then the chief secretary and the home secretary garlanded the portrait. Mission accomplished. But the last garland had not been hung yet. The Trinamul Congress, never known to miss such dramatic moments, entered the picture. Opposition leader Partha Chatterjee rushed in soon after, garlanded the portrait, declared that “an unpardonable offence” had been committed when the picture was ignored earlier and held it up as another instance of “absence of governance” in Bengal. The issue was accorded such gravity that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee felt compelled to term the initial absence of the garland “a lapse” and issue a clarification. “The main function for celebrating the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is held in front of the statue of Netaji (on Red Road). Like previous years, this year, too, Netaji’s birthday had been observed there in a befitting manner. But at Writers’, no garland had been offered to Netaji’s picture. That was a lapse on the part of the administration. But as soon as the matter came to the attention of the government, the chief secretary and home secretary offered garlands to Netaji’s picture. But what I want to remind is that there was not a single picture of Netaji at Writers’ during the entire Congress rule. That amounts to disowning Netaji politically.’’ Communists had once called Netaji a “quisling” for his support to the Axis Forces but had changed their stand later. Bhattacharjee referred to the shift at a meeting earlier in the day. “Some people are again raising an old issue. Almost a decade back Jyoti Basu had admitted that the communists were wrong in evaluating Netaji. We were wrong in raising questions about Netaji’s patriotism.” The rush to garland the picture came in the same week the state government agreed to hold a state funeral for Basu. Netaji’s photograph at the secretariat had been personally chosen by the chief minister and put on a mount in the protected area of Writers’. Around 2.15pm, state Congress working president Subrata Mukherjee arrived at Writers’ to attend a meeting on the ongoing jute strike. While walking down the corridor Mukherjee saw Netaji’s picture. He paused and wondered aloud: “Is the government working or not? They didn’t bother to offer flowers to Netaji at Writers’? If no flowers are placed, I will personally bring them and pay my tribute.” Within minutes, word spread that there could be a Congress or Trinamul Congress agitation over the issue. Police rushed to the VVIP entrance to take guard while some officers went to the home secretary’s chamber to alert him, following which the chain of events was activated. In the highest traditions of bureaucracy, the next most important question: was there a precedent in garlanding the portrait? Hear the answer from the director of information, Niloy Ghosh: “Netaji’s picture was chosen by the chief minister and placed at Writers’ in January 2007. He had paid floral tributes on January 23, 2007. After that, Netaji’s picture hasn’t been garlanded in 2008 or in 2009…. In fact, pictures of Rabindranath Tagore and C.R. Das in front of the chief minister’s chamber are also not garlanded.’’

Nation remembers Subash Chandra Bose on his 113th birth anniversary

The Indian Express, 23 January, 2009
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Nation-remembers-Subash-Chandra-Bose-on-his-113th--birth-anniversary/570908/

On the occasion of 113th birth anniversary of Subash Chandra Bose, the great Indian freedom fighter and head of the Indian National Army (INA) set up against the British, the nation paid rich tributes to him on Saturday. In New Delhi, the chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, led the people on Saturday (January 23) in paying homage to Subhash Chandra Bose, on this special occasion. Bose, who led his Indian National Army (INA) against the British Army on the Burma border, died in mysterious circumstances. It is believed he died in a plane crash over Japan in 1945. Delhi CM, on this occasion, also inaugurated a medical emergency room named ''Shushrusha'', where a blood donation camp was organised. "Today, when you are holding a blood donation camp, (it) is, I am sure, supposed to be inspired by Subhash Ji''s great line-- ''You give me blood and I will give you freedom''. Now if you learn from that when you donate blood, we are (actually) giving freedom to live to a person," said Sheila Dikshit. Those present on this occasion included Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, senior Bhartiya Janta Party leader Lal Krishna Advani and Union Finance Minister Prabab Mukherjee. After escaping a British government’s prison sentence for his role in the freedom movement, Bose left India in 1943 and took help from European and fascist communist leaders in his struggle against the colonial regime.

Netaji museum to get national monument status

23 January, 2010
http://www.ptinews.com/news/482588_Netaji-museum-to-get-national-monument-status

Cuttack, Jan 23 (PTI) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state government would make all endeavour to convert Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Birthplace Museum at Odia Bazar here into a National Monument. "We restored Netaji's ancestral place into a museum. We will also see that the museum gets the status of a national monument. We will keep endeavouring in that direction," Patnaik said after inaugurating a welcome arch of the museum on the occasion of 113th birth anniversary of the visionary leader. On the occasion, Orissa Culture Minister D P Mishra unveiled three new galleries of the museum after garlanding the statue of Netaji in the museum premises. With the addition of the new galleries, the two storied museum now has 15 galleries. One of the new galleries is named Azad Hind Bank and another called Azad Hind Radio.

Netaji's aide waits to hand over 'legacy'

23 January, 2010
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=165842

New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) Eighty-nine-year-old Trilok Singh Chawla, a close aide of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, has a wish before he breathes his last - to return to India two pistols belonging to the freedom fighter - and has sent his son from Thailand to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The octogenarian, who worships the two pistols every day, said Netaji had handed them to him before the freedom fighter left Bangkok for the last time saying: "See you in the Red Fort soon." The Colt .32 and FN .635 are still lying with Chawla, who was Netaji's secretary in Thailand, and he is keen to see that the legacy is back with the country he fought for. Netaji left them with Chawla a week before he was announced dead in a plane crash in August 1945. Chawla's son has been camping in Delhi for the past two weeks to meet the prime minister and apprise him of the two pistols. Jan 23 is Netaji's 113th birth anniversary. "He wanted me to return the pistols to him at Red Fort after independence. However, eight days later he was announced dead in a plane crash in Taiwan. I still don't believe he died then and I am still waiting for him. But with increasing age I think it is his legacy and should be with the country he fought for," Chawla told IANS over phone from Bangkok. His youngest son, Santokh Singh Chawla, arrived in India Jan 10 to see to it that his father's wish is fulfilled, though he is not carrying the pistols with him. "I am on a mission; my father's duty will be over once these pistols come to India, the country of Netaji's origin and get the deserving honour. We feel the people of India should not be deprived of the right to see them," said Santokh Singh, a realtor in Thailand and president of the Indo-Thai Friendship Association. According to Santokh Singh, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Afairs has shown interest in the matter. Indian Ambassador to Thailand Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty has also asked Chawla to meet him to facilitate the return of the pistols. "I know mystery and controversy still shroud Netaji's death but he was our hero in the freedom struggle. India should give all honour and respect to his legacy," said Santokh Singh. "It is unfortunate that Netaji is only being remembered in India through the controversial story of the plane crash and differences in opinion with Mahatma Gandhi. I feel that he should be remembered through these pistols, which are his personal belongings and deserve to be among the people of his country and placed with honour and dignity," he said. According to Chawla, the Indian government looks reluctant to accept the pistols for reasons not known to him. "We want the Indian government to approach the Thailand government to take them back. The Thai government has no problem in handing over Netaji's legacy to India. When India can bring back Gandhiji's belongings from an auction, why can't Netaji's? After all both of them fought for the country's independence," Chawla said. In the 1970s, then prime minister Indira Gandhi asked Chawla during a visit to Thailand to give the pistols to the National Museum in Delhi. "But my father did not agree because he was not willing to part with them for sentimental reasons. He still thinks Netaji will come back," said Santokh Singh. Indians in Thailand had played a crucial role in assisting Netaji Bose when he was garnering support in Southeast Asia for India' freedom. After World War II broke out, Netaji fled from India and travelled to Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union, seeking an alliance with the aim of attacking the British in India. With Japanese assistance, he reorganised and later led the Indian National Army from Indian prisoners of war and plantation workers from Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia against the British forces. He is believed to have died Aug 18, 1945, in a plane crash over Taiwan. Many theories float about his death, with some believing he was indeed killed that day and others, like Chawla, still hoping that he will return.

Dimapur remembers Netaji

The Morung Express, 23 January, 2010
http://www.morungexpress.com/regional/42095.html

DIMAPUR (MExN): Dimapur along with the rest of the country on Saturday, January 23 celebrated a very special occasion. It was the 114th birth anniversary of one of India’s most revered revolutionary figures -‘Netaji’ Subhash Chandra Bose - during the struggle against British imperialism. Marking this auspicious date Dimapur’s ‘Netaji Birthday Celebration Committee’ organised a quaint programme at Ramakrishna Sevashram located near Railways High School, Dimapur. President of Naga Council, Dimapur, Savi Liegise was the chief guest while DMC councillor, Lipok Pongen was the guest of honour. Describing ‘Netaji’ as a patriot and a hero, Liegise said that the revolutionary was a man who stood up against Imperialist Britain at the height of its supremacy. He said that ‘Netaji’ sacrificing his own life fought for right, justice and against oppression and added let all people emulate his life. Recalling the special connection, Nagaland has with Bose; the chief guest refreshed the gathering to take pride in the fact that ‘Netaji’ had once set foot in Naga soil in 1944. Manoj Bhattacharjee, principal of Pranab Vidyapith Higher Secondary School gave a rousing commentary recounting the rather short-lived but chequered life of the revolutionary figure. Guest of honour, Lipok Pongen and his DMC colleague, T Lotha also spoke on the occasion.

Birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Bose celebrated in Orissa

23 January, 2010
http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=16414

Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Bhubaneswar (Odisha): The 113th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was celebrated on Saturday throughout the State. State tourism minister Devi Prasad Mishra, MP Bhatruhari Mahatab and other dignitaries paid floral tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 113th birth anniversary here on Saturday. A special function was held at Janakinath Bhawan, the birth place of Netaji at Odiya Bazar in the millennium city. On the occasion Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visited the Netaji Museum at Cuttack. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said government would make all endeavour to convert Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Birthplace Museum at Odia Bazar here into a National Monument. During his visit Patnaik inaugurated a portal and went around the newly renovated gallery at the museum. He also inaugurated a sand sculpture. The Chief Minister also laid the foundation Stone of Freedom Fighters' Memorial at the Netaji Museum. In Bhubaneswar, state health minister Prasanna Acharya offered floral tributes to the statue of Subhas Bose at Rasulgarh. Functions were held across the state and nation to mark the occasion. People in large numbers paid rich tributes to the son of the soil.

Netaji currency made public

The Hindu, 22 January, 2010
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article91486.ece

Mahim Pratap Singh

A currency issued by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Bank of Independence has been made public here on the eve of his 113th birth anniversary, leading to excitement among his supporters. In the 1980s, Ram Kishore Dubey, a retired contractor with the State Irrigation Department, discovered the note in his grandfather’s Ramayana book, but did not realise its historical significance till recently. “My grandfather, Praagilal, worked for Netaji in the Azaad Hind Fauj and passed away in 1958,” says the 63-year-old Dubey. “He used to stay away from the family for months on end working covertly for the INA [Indian National Army] in the Bundelkhand region on a recruitment drive for its Jhansi ki Rani Regiment, led by Lakshmi Swaminathan. He gave up his land for the cause of the army and so Netaji rewarded him with this note promising him the amount in independent India.” The currency, of denomination one lakh, has a photograph of Bose on the left side and a pre-independence map of the Indian territory with the inscription “ swatantra bharat” in Hindi on the other. In the middle are inscribed the words “ Jai Hind” in English, with the words “I promise to pay the bearer the sum of one Lac” below it. On the top of the note is a series of flags of the Azaad Hind Fauj over a bold inscription saying “Bank of Independence” with “good wishes” inscribed at the bottom. “Nobody is aware of the this fact that submitting to the demands of the British, Nehruji [Jawaharlal Nehru] gave them Subhash Bose in return for India’s independence,” says Mr. Dubey. Several historians contend that in April 1944, Netaji established the Azad Hind Bank or the Bank of Independence in Rangoon (now Yangon) to manage funds donated by the Indian community from across the world.

Correction

The first paragraph of a report “Netaji currency made public” (January 23, 2010) said that a currency [note] issued by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Bank of Independence was made public in Bhopal on the eve of his 103rd birth anniversary. It should have been 113rd birth anniversary.

Netaji's Rs 1 lakh promissory note unearthed

Central Chronicle, 22 January, 2010
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=25108

Even as the government is still struggling to uncover the mystery shrouding Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's death, an RTI over the leader's German daughter is causing bad blood between the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Ajay Madhusudan Marathe, a Mumbai resident, had filed a right to information plea with the PMO on November 2, 2009. He sought to know on what basis Government of India recognizes Anita Pfaff, a German, the biological daughter and sole descendant of the Azad Hind Fauj. Marathe also sought to know whether any DNA test was conducted to ascertain the real identity of Pfaff, a professor by vocation. "Indians are curious to know whether Bose did in fact father a child whilst in Germany, attempting to gather support for the Indian National Army," Marathe said. The PMO transferred the application under sections 6(3) of the RTI Act to the Home Ministry on November 10, 2009. However, Marathe's quest remained unquenched, as the Home Ministry returned the application the PMO and informed Marathe that the information concerned was in the custody of the PMO and "not available in our records". "Accordingly, your application is transferred to PMO for appropriate action in the matter under the provision of RTI Act 2005," the Home Ministry said in its reply to Marathe. However, it did not go down too well with the PMO. Finding the ball back in its court, the PMO wrote to the Home Ministry on January 15, 2010 that the return of the application at the end of the 30 day period back with a reference suggesting difference in availability of records between ministry of Home Affairs and PMO "is not in order". "Photocopies of records of this office (PMO) regarding Netaji SC Bose were made available to the Justice Mukherjee commission for enquiry into the alleged disappearance of Netaji SC Bose set up by the ministry of Home Affairs. The Mukherjee Commission has been wound up and the photocopy of the entire set of this office's record is available with the ministry of Home Affairs," the memorandum from PMO said. Anguished over being dribbled by two top government offices, Marathe said, "Both the PMO and the Home Ministry's reply clearly reflects that the Indian government is not all that keen to settle the issue officially." "Forensic science has developed so much that even in the absence of the esteemed leader, DNA testing of Ms Pfaff and close relatives of Bose, who still live in and around Cuttack in Orissa, could settle the matter once and for all, Marathe said.

Kolkata:The Central government informed the Calcutta High Court on Friday that the Parliament had not yet approved the report of the Mukherjee Commission — constituted to inquire into the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Placing two letters from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the counsel of the Union government said that no motion was placed in two Houses on the Commission report and so no decision could be taken. After hearing the case, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohit S Shah and Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharjee asked the Union of India to file an affidavit on the present status of the report which was tabled in Parliament in 2006. The Commission, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Manjor Kumar Mukherjee was constituted in 1999 to inquire into Netaji’s death in a plane crash at Taihoqu in 1945. The Commission submitted its report on May 17, 2006. The Union Home Ministry, while submitting the report, placed an Action Taken Report (ATR) too where it said the Centre had not accepted the Commission’s findings. The Commission report had said that Bose did not die in the 1945 plane crash at Taihoqu and the ashes kept in Renkozi temple in Japan were not his. Rudra Jyoti Bhattacharjee, a resident of Kolkata had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court in 2006 challenging the ATR.

Binod Bihari Chowdhury, the last revolutionary

What are they celebrating?

Financial Chronicle, 10 January 2010
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/what-are-they-celebrating-649

Tushar Gandhi

Recently, the Congress celebrated its 125th annivarsary. Was this the Congress founded by A O Hume? The Indian National Congress, founded 125 years ago, was led by greats such as Madam Cama, Annie Besant, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Later, the party was led by M K Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Acharya Kripalani. The Congress gave us leaders such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Bankim Chandra Pal, Sarojini Naidu, Raj Kumari, Amrit Kaur, C Rajagopalachari, Chittarajnan Das, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, all titans who devoted their lives to the cause of India’s freedom. Their’s was the party that was founded 125 years ago, not the one that was celebrating the anniversary.

Post-independence, Bapu had suggested that the Congress be disbanded. He had realised that people with conflicting ideologies had come together for the sake of independence and would now find it difficult to work together. He also knew that many people in the pre-independence Congress were basically social workers who had no interest in electoral politics, while some others were getting ready to savour the fruits of power. Being a shrewd strategist, Bapu realised that Congress was the only party capable of holding together the diverse humanity that constituted the fledgling nation. The village workers, freed of political hindrances, would be able to work for village development and social reform and the goodwill that they earned would rub off on the political party, which would reap electoral rewards. This strategy worked for the Congress for the first four decades, till the Congress that was founded 125 ago, disintegrated.

In the late 1960s, after the untimely death of the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Congress was split by the growing ambitions of Pandit Nehru's daughter. Indira split the Congress down the middle into the Congress Syndicate, which was later called Congress Old. The faction headed by Indira and propped up by Kamraj formed the government. It was called Congress (R) or Ruling. At this stage, the party founded by Hume 125 years ago, was disbanded and, as its name suggests, became Congress Old. After this, Congress experienced a split in every decade. In Maharashtra, the young Sharad Pawar split the party and named his faction as Congress (S). Pawar had a homecoming during Rajiv Gandhi’s reign. In the 1970s, India witnessed an insult to its democracy, inflicted by Indira Gandhi in the form of the Emergency. When she was forced to restore democracy, Babu Jagjivan Ram walked out and formed the Congress for Democracy. Then the Ruling Congress was rechristened Congress (I). I was for Indira, not India, as Hume had christened his party, the Indian National Congress 125 years ago.

Those who remained with Indira Gandhi in 1978 consider themselves the elite 'loyalists' of the present Congress. So, honestly, the Congress that is celebrating its 125th annivarsary this year was formed 32 years ago in 1978, not 125 years ago. Of course, more splits were to follow. After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination during the Narasimha Rao years, when the Congress (I) was headed by Sitaram Kesari, the loyalist troika of N D Tiwari, Jitendra Prasada and Arjun Singh formed the Congress (T), but it was a shortlived split. The most recent split came when Pawar, P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar walked out along with their loyalists and formed the Nationalist Congress Party that, ever since the split, is trying to rejoin the parent party formed in 1978.

I have some memorablia of the party formed by Hume. There is a poster of Congress presidents since the time it was formed till just after independence. The poster shows photographs of some of the most illustrious leaders ever to have served the cause of India, none of them related to each other, except the Nehru father-son duo and the Bose brothers — Sarat and Subhash. There is also a photograph of the Congress working committee meeting and the famous photograph of the troika Pandit Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.

When the 32 year-old party was celebrating its 125th anniversary, the pictures of the party’s present lot of leaders on stage saddened me. In Maharashtra, there was Shiv Sainiks Narayan Rane and Sanjay Nirupam masquerading as Congressmen. In Gujarat, RSS pracharak Shankar Sinh Vaghela was passing himself off as a Congressman. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, accused of mass murder of Sikhs in 1984, and the latest black sheep N D Tiwari, were celebrating the 125th annivarsary of the Congress founded by Hume. The contrast is stark between the names of glorious leaders mentioned earlier, who were part of Hume's Congress, and the rogue's gallery of the Congress that was formed 32 years ago. So, why was a 32 year-old party celebrating its 125th anniversary?

The writer is founder president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation

Sangbad Pratidin, 5 January 2010

Bartaman Patrika, 2 January 2010

Ananda Bazar Patrika, 2 January 2010

Leaders of four Left parties CPM, CPI, All India Forward Bloc and RSP have urged the central government to declare January 23, the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as “Desh Prem Diwas”. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, they said that in 1996 a similar proposal had been put before the Netaji Centenary Celebration Committee headed by the then Prime Minister but no action was taken. They hoped the Centre would this time accept their demand. The letter was signed by CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and their counterparts in Forward Bloc and RSP Debabrata Biswas and T J Chandrachoodan respectively.