Remembering Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose

Dear (s)  -  Today is 23^rd January – a day of National importance !

Give Me Blood! I Promise You Freedom!! – thundered this Great man who valiantly fought the British.    He made a call the Indians stating that  ‘British are engaged in a worldwide struggle and in the course of this struggle they have suffered defeat after defeat on so many fronts. The enemy having been thus considerably weakened, our fight for liberty has become very much easier than it was five years ago. Such a rare and Godgiven opportunity comes once in a century. That is why we have sworn to fully utilise this opportunity for liberating our motherland from the British yoke.’  -  thus started his speech at the rally of Indians in  Burma, July 4, 1944.

Today after 63 years of Independence the politicians have changed totally – they are extraordinary now.. there are no rules that apply to them.  The society has changed too.  A common man apprehended by police for a petty crime suffers and his family is looked down but the same Society  no longer treats as outcasts those who have harmed the society or its constituent people.  They are not ostracized, they do not live with any stigma but instead only consolidate their position in their parties and become stronger.  Are the political parties alone to be blamed for this conjecture ?  Can we take a vow in life that we will never have any links nor show any respect to the corrupt politicians ?  There is clamour within the party to assign bigger roles for those who come out prison on bail ! – is jail record a badge of honour ?   It is reported that the prime accused in Commonwealth Games scandal who was released on bail has been offered take back his job as the chief of the Indian Olympic Association.

This is a Nation where thousands of people suffered brutally at the hands of British.   There was the Jalianwalabagh.  There were hundreds of other incidents too – one such involved the man who was born at Chennimalai.  Kumaraswamy Mudaliar was hardly 28 when he led a march against the colonial Govt on 11^th Jan 1932.  He died of injuries of police assault – for he was carrying the Indian Nationalists flag which had been banned by the British – he is better known as Tirupur Kumaran and Kodi Katha Kumaran. 

Those who participated in such moments and who were arrested incarcerated underwent untold sufferings….  These days there are reports of everything from cell phone to choice delicacies available inside the prison and yet these unscrupulous elements get more recognition in a civil society.

The ones in the first para were the  famous words of one of the greatest sons of  Mahan Bharat  -  Subhas Chandra Bose – whose birth anniversary falls today.

Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms but resigned from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence would never be sufficient to secure India's independence, and advocated violent resistance.  Interestingly, he was conferred with Bharat Ratna but the award was subsequently withdrawn.The original statutes of January 1954 did not make allowance for posthumous awards though this provision was added in the January 1955 statute. Subsequently, there have been ten posthumous awards, including the award to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn. It was withdrawn in response to a Supreme Court of India directive following a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Court against the “posthumous” nature of the award. The Award Committee could not give conclusive evidence of Bose’s death and thus it invalidated the “posthumous” award.

Remembering the great leader Nethaji..

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.