A TRAGEDY INDEED!

A TRAGEDY INDEED!

This is a tragedy. Those who clamour so much about rewriting history and restoring Netaji to his pride of place, do not even bother to go thoroughly through the Collected Works of Netaji. Another tragedy has been that the legacy of Netaji has been in the keeping of compromised people, men sold to the ruling dispensation of the day who did the jobs their political masters expected them to do.

Hired historians can hardly do justice to the one who stood out as one who could never be hired, either by the British for their civil service or by any particular ideology like communism or capitalism. Living a renunciate's life Netaji battled on for our motherland's freedom which, once it was achieved, was laid waste by his political colleagues and opponents within the Congress and by opportunists from kith and kin.

Making money out of Netaji is a common occupation these days as is making money out of Hinduism by all and sundry. It is tragic that this should be the fate of freedom when so many martyrs to the motherland have been freed from their mortal coil in achieving it.

Shame on kith and kin who cannot live lives that will be exemplary for all but rather make every gain out of the name that Netaji is! And shame on the political parties who are making Netaji and temple visits their electoral game plan! Shame on us all who are lazy and do not expend our energy in knowing more about the exploits of revolutionaries like Netaji, Rash Behari Bose, Bahia Jatin, Masterda Surjya Sen and a host of others when there is so much material on them already available to us!

Written by Sugata Bose