Let us pledge this holy anniversary of Netaji's advent on earth that we shall not sully this page by fanatical vituperation if 'crossed in conference'. Our veneration for Netaji shall never degenerate into despicable diatribe should contrary opinion be posited that goes against the grain of the dominant discussion.
Genuine devotees of Netaji must have the civility to listen to lateral thinking on Netaji without forthwith coming to the conclusion that Netaji is being slighted thereby. This sort of acceptance of the opposite viewpoint as the substance of one's intellectual attention is what characterised the brilliant Bose and must be the hallmark of a truly literate follower of the leader. In it lies liberalism, the fundamental feature of the mind that leads to liberation of all kinds, no less the liberation of a nation in the act of reconstruction from bondage to all stereotypical modes and manners that curb the free flow of the spirit.
The freedom fighters were all great in their own way despite some being greater than the rest as must ever obtain in a group of comrades cooperating or conflicting in the achievement of a common cause. Netaji in this regard emerged as the supreme figure of the freedom movement despite the dominant personality yet being Gandhiji in chronicled historical terms on account of the duration of his career and his mass following and singular leadership, even if often in failing and folly, for three decades. Thus, despite his historical differences with the Mahatma whose back-dated agenda Bose had even in good-humoured sarcasm typified thus, 'The Sage of Sabarmati will take us to the age of the bullock-cart,' he maintained the utmost reverence for this soul of seminal sacrifice for the motherland and dubbed him, thus, as the 'Father of the Nation'. How history has thence been heretical in its chronicling of the facts of the Indian freedom struggle is common knowledge and can neither be denied, and once accepted, can neither be forgiven, for the Nehruvian dispensation kept us, common citizens of the country, in a perpetual dark so much so that Netaji was lost from our horizons for nearly seven decades since independence.
But the hour has come when the heresies of history will be avenged and the real revolutionaries resurrected from the depths of oblivion like the Phoenix from the proverbial ashes. The moment is on but the manner in which this resurrection will take place will largely depend on the executors of this historic event. If through mere ranting and railing a cacophony of sorts takes precedence over sanity and decency in discussion, then the vociferous votaries of vengeance for Netaji will pay for their indiscretion and the hero sink once again to the depths of the dungeons where he has remained incarcerated for ages. For public memory makes of history what civic sanity determines, and it is in this regard that I urge all to engage in civil dialogue exclusive of disparaging remarks or reprehensible character aspersions to which the anti-Gandhi-Nehru brigade is so prone to.
May Netaji, who was supremely civilised, lend us some of his attributes in acceptance of contrary opinion and lead us unto the truth along lines of propriety, patience and perseverance !
Vande Mataram ! Jai Hind !
Written by Sugata Bose
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