The biggest critic of Narendra Modi cannot deny the fact that no other prime minister has done as much as he has to honour Netaji.
Right from the day he took over as the head of the government in 2014, he has been making efforts in bringing Netaji to the forefront of collective admiration. The latest is the installation of a 23-feet high black granite statue under a cupola on the eastern side of the India Gate at New Delhi, which is going to come up soon.
A statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will be installed beneath the canopy at India Gate. Photo: Author provided
Modi’s admiration for Netaji is not recent or sudden.
He took interest when he was the chief minister of Gujarat and in a letter of appreciation to Balasaheb Deshmukh, founder of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Indo-Japan Organisation, on December 5, 2013, expressed his profound happiness at the initiative they were taking to honour the priest Reverend Mochizuki, who for generations had been taking care of the remains of Netaji at the Renkoji Temple.
Modi’s letter to Balasaheb Deshmukh. Photo: Author provided
Later, in March 2014, he assured prospective voters that he would bring Netaji’s remains to India if voted to power, which previous governments failed to do (see clippings below).
Earlier, Modi had kept his promise and brought home the ashes of freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Verma from Geneva in August 2003. They had been lying in Switzerland – unattended for 73 years after the revolutionary’s death.
News clippings of Modi assuring he’ll bring back Netaji’s remains to India if voted to power.
Declassification of Netaji’s files
In May 2013, during his visit to Kolkata, he accepted from Netaji’s grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, who is also founder of ‘The Open Platform for Netaji’, a request for declassification of Netaji’s files to resolve the mystery surrounding his death and disappearance, in the event of him becoming the prime minister.
Image 5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Netaji’s grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, in Kolkata. Photo: Author provided
After becoming the prime minister, he invited the Bose family members to his residence on October 14, 2015.
There, he announced that the declassification of all the ‘Netaji files’ would begin on January 23, 2016, Netaji’s next birthday.
All the 304 files were thus declassified. These files were released online for easy access to all. The government, thus, announced in parliament on March 2, 2016 that all files related to Netaji stand declassified.
Prime Minister Modi with the Bose family, on October 14, 2015. Photo: Author provided
Modi reminded the nation through a tweet next year on Netaji’s birthday, “Files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose are available on http://www.netajipapers.gov.in. Honoured that our Government got the opportunity to declassify files relating to Netaji Bose & fulfil a popular demand pending for decades.”
Also read: Still Hidden After All These Years, India’s Official History of the INA and Japan’s Netaji Files
Four days later, in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio programme, he again reminded the audience that his government has fulfilled the task of making public all Netaji files. In 2020, he reiterated the same in Kolkata during his speech on January 11 at the Old Currency Building. To drive home the point to all those still doubting his commitment, in 2021, on the occasion of inaugurating Netaji’s year-long 125th birthday celebration on January 23 at Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, he gave the same information; and yet again in 2022, on January 23 at India Gate while unveiling a hologram image of Netaji near India Gate.
These 304 files form part of the total number of 2,324 Netaji files now accessible in the National Archives of India.
In 1997, 990 Ministry of Defence files and in 2012, 1,030 Ministry of Home Affairs files were declassified. But most significantly, in 2016, Modi declassified the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), Ministry of External Affairs and Cabinet Secretariat files which had till then remained hidden from the public.
The grand celebrations
Modi’s contribution extended far beyond declassification. On the occasion of 75 years of the formation of Azad Hind government, on October 21, 2018, Modi hoisted the tricolour at Red Fort, a feat never done before. For the first time in India’s history, the national flag was hoisted on a day other than on our Independence Day, August 15. At the same time, he inaugurated a refurbished Netaji and INA Museum at Red Fort.
The same year on December 30, to mark the 75th anniversary of hoisting of the tricolour on Indian soil, at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, he paid floral tributes at the statue of Netaji at Marina Park and raised the Indian flag at Port Blair. And, on this occasion, he renamed the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep, Neil Island as Shaeed Dweep and Ross Island as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep. He released a commemorative ‘Rs 75’ coin, a stamp and a First Day Cover.
The special postage stamp, First Day Cover and a commemorative coin were also issued to mark the beginning of the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji on January 23, 2021.
Modi decided to celebrate Netaji’s 125th birth anniversary in a big way. He constituted an 85-member high-level committee comprising of present and past prime ministers, Union and state ministers, governors and chief ministers, members of parliament, Indian National Army freedom fighters, Netaji’s daughter, his family members, authors, historians, sports and film personalities.
Also read: Despite Appropriating Netaji, the BJP Continues to Disregard His Secular, Pluralist Worldview
In 2021, the government declared that from now on Netaji’s birthday shall be observed as ‘Parakram Divas’.
In 2022, Modi stated that from this year, Republic Day celebrations will start from January 23 to include Netaji’s birth anniversary. The prime minister introduced a national award, ‘Subhas Chandra Bose Aapada Prabhandan Puraskar’ and conferred the same for the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 in an investiture ceremony held by the Disaster Management Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
We are now about to see the installation of the granite statue of Netaji near India Gate. There were some criticism on the miniature mock-up that was made public in January last year. It is good know now that the cultural ministry has paid heed to public opinion.
It has been reported (see Bengali report below) that some rectifications have been made to the previous design of the Netaji statue. The sword, as was seen at the left hand of the leader in the hologram replica, has been removed. The cross belt in the military uniform of the Supreme Commander of the INA also has been eliminated. The details of Netaji’s face, spectacles and cap are now in focus.
Image 7. A news clipping on the Netaji statue corrections.
The next logical step
There is no doubt that no other prime minister has honoured Netaji the way Modi has. Netaji enthusiasts and citizens trust that Modi will fulfil his promise on bringing the mortal remains of Netaji from Japan and end the devilish mystery.
His government has already declared in a reply to an RTI (Right to Information) query on May 30, 2017 that “after considering the reports of Shah Nawaz Committee, Justice G.D. Khosla Commission and Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, the government has come to the conclusion that Netaji had died in the plane crash on 18.8.1945.”
It also clarified that “Gumnami Baba/Bhagwanji was not Netaji Subhas.”
A screenshot of the RTI query saying that “Gumnami Baba/Bhagwanji was not Netaji Subhas.”
Netaji’s daughter, professor Anita Bose Pfaff, in her recent press statement on Independence Day said, it is time for the remains of her father to be brought back to India and that DNA testing – if scientifically feasible – can help allay the fears of sceptics who still question the circumstances of his death in 1945.
Three successive generations of chief priests of Renkoji temple – in a show of great affection and loyalty towards Netaji – have devotedly looked after the urn containing his remains for all these years. Such devotion has already been recognised by Modi. It is now our turn to give the tallest freedom fighter his long-overdue place of honour in his motherland.
Netaji’s ambition was to return to an independent India. Circumstances did not let it happen. The best way to honour his wishes in this 125th birth anniversary year is to allow him to complete his journey and thus fulfil his dream of “Delhi Chalo”.
Sumeru Roy Chaudhury is an architecture graduate from IIT, Kharagpur. He was the chief architect of the CPWD. He has studied the Netaji files and related documents in detail.
