After seeing the interview of Binod Bihari Chowdhury, participant in the Chittagong Armoury Raid, I hang my head in shame as a mere caricature of a patriot and all others with it who are today clamouring in the name of so-called nationalism. The austere simplicity, the spirit of sacrifice, courage of conviction and strength of character along with deep reserves of feeling for the motherland that are easily evident in this centenarian revolutionary even through the medium of celluloid makes me wonder what material these men were made of who dared the British eye to eye and ousted them from Chittagong for that fateful week dated 18-25 April, 1930.

BHARAT RATNA, SIXTH UPDATE : PAST 1500 AND SURGING ON --- THE DEEPER IMPLICATIONS

PAST 1500 AND SURGING ON --- THE DEEPER IMPLICATIONS

5 MAY 2018 — My dear countrymen and friends across the globe,

The movement is catching steam and careering its way through to its exalted end, though these are but fresh beginnings. Your support has been pivotal to its progression thus far and your active participation is solicited to lend it sustained vitality en route to its final fruition.

It is a race marathon and the imperatives are alike. The forces arrayed against these seminal heroes of sublime attainments are even today spread across the world and will not allow them easy access into public memory. Thus, there is ever the attempt to erase their epic contributions from the pages of history, for the heroes aspired for an alternative world order to that existent today and the dominant powers of the world will not allow sleeping India to awake to their clarion call for total human freedom.

We, the citizens of this country must become conscious of the terrible tragedy that have befallen us, an amnesia induced in us by the powers that be, of our hoary heritage of martial strength and racial solidarity, by feeding us false narratives of our national development over the ages culminating in a grossly inappropriate account of our struggle for freedom from British bondage. There is a deep conspiracy in all this and to undo that ulterior objective of the aligned powers, we must make this movement a triumphant success.

Was freedom won through non-violence? The history books will make you believe so. There has ever been this official emphasis on non-violence as having been the principal, nay, the preeminent cause of freedom to the exclusion of any worthwhile mention of the valorous armed revolutionary resistance to the Raj for over four decades which precipitated conditions for eventual colonial eviction. This is evidently not right and needs to be righted right away.

The Petition for conferring the Bharat Ratna on Rash Behari Bose, Masterda Surya Sen and Bagha Jatin, thus, assumes a far deeper significance than a cursory glance through its apparent objective may reveal. It is the perceptive eye that reads into history and it is the perceptive mind that discovers rare gems lying on the beds of forgotten seas of self-oblivion. We must dive deep into these forbidden waters and salvage what we can of our precious heritage, our priceless premier patriots who lie buried in their sandy abodes in the nether oblivion even as their spirits from the scaffold soared to ethereal realms a moment too soon for the noose to catch them.

And one such hero was in real terms broken to bits before hanging, teeth hammered out, limbs and joints smashed, nails plucked out, then, unconscious, dragged to the scaffold, suspended from the noose, confined in metal cage and cast into the Bay of Bengal by way of final consummation of funeral rites by the British. He was Masterda Surya Sen.

Will you still delay in assenting to our programme of bringing these perfidies to light by setting the cities to storm in the wake of quickening public opinion that will compel the Government to bring home the heroes from oblivion right into our midst for them to lead and for us to follow? Bande Mataram ! Jai Hind !

Yours in the motherland,
Sugata Bose.

NETAJI STATUE VANDALISED --- CITIZENS, RESPOND

The vandalising act perpetrated on Netaji's statue at Narkeldanga in Kolkata brings to the fore the shameful decline of culture in the country. Across India statues of great men are being vandalised to score political points which is symptomatic of an abysmal decline of culture in the polity. If the Liberator of our Motherland from colonial conquest has to meet this fate, how far are we from decimation as a community, cowardly and devoid of character that we have become over the years? To what greater depths of degeneracy must we sink before we come alive as a people in defence of the brightest son of our motherland who gave his all for us to get such a return?

What this act of vandalism exhibits is that we are fast becoming a semblance of what we pretend to be but are no more in actuality so. All our vaunted culture, our spirituality, our heritage and history, our ethics and civic norms lie in the dust today with a billion strong people mutely watching the malicious designs of a handful of mischievous politicians ruling the roost with thugs and rogues, but have not the courage of conviction to massively protest to take the authorities to task. Who will do so, after all, for all are busy with their frivolities of life while the nation slowly sinks into a morass whence there will be no return? Such acts of vandalism are but the symptoms of a far more pernicious state of things, as is the order of the day, brought about by governmental misrule over decades and an ever worsening political class in terms of merit, morals and material honesty.

Netaji shines in the memory of senior citizens of this country as the iconic hero of the freedom struggle but for whom these vandals in the form of politicians and their protected hoodlums would not have seen the light of day in a free world of theirs. However, these venerable ones, advanced in years and in the twilight of their earthly existence, many of whom, like my mother, were fortunate to have had a glimpse of this sage descended temporarily to the terrestrial plane to save Mother India, have the eyes to witness the sacrilege of their God and the heart to feel the pain thereof but have no more the strength to voice their indignation in open marches through the avenues of this metropolis that has witnessed in the past the revolution against the Raj by a brighter youth of yersteryears. This, alas, is the fate of the faithful today, ruminating the glory of the bright ICS who spurned British subservience right from day one of his political life and spelt out the programme for the eviction of the imperialists from the sacred soil of our motherland. These near-silent ones must endure the profanity that goes by the name of politics today in this country while the youth and the middle aged busy themselves with the shop-keeping that is now called 'life'.

Netaji seems to have no friend in this wide world of cowards and calculating crooked converts to his cause. The hero dwells in his self-pride even amidst the ruins of his dreams of a brighter morrow for his motherland, for he had a vision beyond the turbidity of the times to behold the rise of a renascent India one day, supreme in her spiritual glory, integrated in territorial terms once more, a people of great martial discipline with sage-like sagacity as was the feature of national life for millenia before a thousand year gloom descended on the motherland.

How much can you hurt the hero by breaking his sculpted image when he could withstand the shocks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender, thereafter, in WWII to be able to yet smile amidst the ruins of his dreams on 17 August, 1945, facing a smiling Leon Prouchandy in his Saigon headquarters? Know you the magnitude of this man, O people of this country? Hang your heads in shame that there are, as yet, no candle light vigils in place in Kolkata nor any spontaneous protest worth the call anywhere in the country against this dastardly deed. The city sleeps as usual to insults heaped on Netaji despite protestations to the contrary by its inhabitants at every beck and call. The spirit of Netaji also watches in mute amusement at the hypocrisy of his people in their professed but hardly ever practised love for him and his comrades-in-arms in the INA.

What more to say than this that a hero was once born among the predecessors of today's cowards? He was let down then and he continues to be let down now, for after all, we are 'men'.

Jai Hind!

BHARAT RATNA, FIFTH UPDATE : BHARAT RATNA FOR RASH BEHARI BOSE, MASTERDA SURYA SEN AND BAGHA JATIN --- A DEFENCE

BHARAT RATNA FOR RASH BEHARI BOSE, MASTERDA SURJYA SEN AND BAGHA JATIN --- A DEFENCE

3 MAY 2018 — My dear sisters and brothers across our beloved motherland and friends across the globe,

This is a phenomenal step, a historic occasion to forge ahead and get the Government of India to consider awarding the Bharat Ratna to the redoubtable revolutionary-trio of the Indian freedom struggle, Bagha Jatin, Rash Behari Bose and Masterda Surya Sen. Come ye all and support the cause which is but a step in the direction towards India attaining to eventual manhood after the votaries of selective non-violence have successfully debilitated our masses for over seven decades of independence. We have filed a Petition with the Government of India to award the nation's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, to this heroic trinity for which we solicit your massive signature support. 

Objections are being raised from certain patriotic quarters that the honouring of the heroes thus will be a grave insult to their hallowed memory, for they were the architects of our freedom and reside in our memory as lofty figures of human liberty which no decoration worth the call may do justice to. While this in principle is very true from the idealistic standpoint, pragmatic considerations would deem otherwise, though. Mass movement to compel the Government of India to take cognisance of a popular demand for the restoration of pride of these revolutionaries in the manner suggested may only quicken public interest in these heroes, making for the study, analysis, understanding and assimilation of their ideas and ideals which will certainly conduce to the good of our benighted nation.

The awarding of the Bharat Ratna to the three leaders of our freedom movement does not necessarily demean their status in the annals of the freedom struggle but rather brings them into public focus after decades of obscurity in worm-eaten newspaper clippings and classified files and in myths fabricated on the pages of history books ever intent on spinning the reverse wheel of untruth and falsification of our virile national heritage. For far too long we have been fed the debilitating diet of selective non-violence and spineless leaning on our erstwhile colonial masters and it is time to rectify stance and take a fresh guard in this new innings of national life.

Comparisons are odious and if men resort to them with reference to our heroes with earlier recipients of the Bharat Ratna, some of whom were receivers of official grace rather dubiously, they will be making a common mistake in statistical terms and in realistic terms, too, in a nation where culture has plummeted over the years along with abysmal decline in the character of its polity and politics. Thus, the celebration of our heroes through the highest national decoration will not only afford rightful recognition to the whole community of armed revolutionaries but also purify public perspective on the award. As such, there need be no hesitancy on the part of the polity to participate in this grand project for the restoration of pride of the patriots perennial whose unblemished sacrifice and martyrdom paved the way for the freedom we enjoy.

The defence of the cause having been made, I now exhort all to freely lend their signature support to the campaign by signing the Petition and doing their wee bit to bringing it to fruition.

Thanking you and in patient expectation of your unalloyed support,
I remain at your service ever in love for the motherland,
Sugata Bose

Bande Mataram!

BHARAT RATNA FOR RASH BEHARI BOSE, MASTERDA SURYA SEN AND BAGHA JATIN : A DEFENCE ... 2

My dear sisters and brothers across our beloved motherland and friends across the globe,

This is a phenomenal step, a historic occasion to forge ahead and get the Government of India to consider awarding the Bharat Ratna to the redoubtable revolutionary-trio of the Indian freedom struggle, Bagha Jatin, Rash Behari Bose and Masterda Surya Sen. Come ye all and support the cause which is but a step in the direction towards India attaining to eventual manhood after the votaries of selective non-violence have successfully debilitated our masses for over seven decades of independence. We have filed a Petition with the Government of India to award the nation's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, to this heroic trinity for which we solicit your massive signature support. 

Objections are being raised from certain patriotic quarters that the honouring of the heroes thus will be a grave insult to their hallowed memory, for they were the architects of our freedom and reside in our memory as lofty figures of human liberty which no decoration worth the call may do justice to. While this in principle is very true from the idealistic standpoint, pragmatic considerations would deem otherwise, though. Mass movement to compel the Government of India to take cognisance of a popular demand for the restoration of pride of these revolutionaries in the manner suggested may only quicken public interest in these heroes, making for the study, analysis, understanding and assimilation of their ideas and ideals which will certainly conduce to the good of our benighted nation.

The awarding of the Bharat Ratna to the three leaders of our freedom movement does not necessarily demean their status in the annals of the freedom struggle but rather brings them into public focus after decades of obscurity in worm-eaten newspaper clippings and classified files and in myths fabricated on the pages of history books ever intent on spinning the reverse wheel of untruth and falsification of our virile national heritage. For far too long we have been fed the debilitating diet of selective non-violence and spineless leaning on our erstwhile colonial masters and it is time to rectify stance and take a fresh guard in this new innings of national life.

Comparisons are odious and if men resort to them with reference to our heroes with earlier recipients of the Bharat Ratna, some of whom were receivers of official grace rather dubiously, they will be making a common mistake in statistical terms and in realistic terms, too, in a nation where culture has plummeted over the years along with abysmal decline in the character of its polity and politics. Thus, the celebration of our heroes through the highest national decoration will not only afford rightful recognition to the whole community of armed revolutionaries but also purify public perspective on the award. As such, there need be no hesitancy on the part of the polity to participate in this grand project for the restoration of pride of the patriots perennial whose unblemished sacrifice and martyrdom paved the way for the freedom we enjoy.

The defence of the cause having been made, I now exhort all to freely lend their signature support to the campaign by signing the Petition and doing their wee bit to bringing it to fruition.

Thanking you and in patient expectation of your unalloyed support,
I remain at your service ever in love for the motherland,
Sugata Bose

Bande Mataram!

FAKE ONES, TAKE CARE

Those who denigrate the armed revolutionaries for freedom as bomb-throwers must hang their heads in shame and apologise to the nation. Enough is enough. The nation will not forgive these fake-account holders whose cowardice allows them not the occasion to come out into the open and take us on, we who live to feel the pulsations of the martyrs to freedom and have pledged our all to uphold their memory and carry on with their legacy. It is easy to denigrate, difficult to emulate.

My blood boils to see these traitors make fun of our heroes whose spilled blood has brought them freedom. These young men and women who loved our motherland dear, oh, what sacrifices they made! Brutal torture on capture by the British police whose account will make you shudder, these heroes and heroines, laughed off disdainfully even while enduring it. I cannot even mention such brutalisation of the human flesh and the human spirit that the 'civilised British' inflicted on these revolutionaries but can in my imagination remotely suffer them to write in anger against these modern traitors to the motherland who daily denigrate them. And shame on those people who follow these 'venerable' fake souls whose destination should be England and ought not to pollute the soil trodden by these sages of liberation dubbed so maliciously as 'bomb-throwers'.

Bande Mataram!    

BHARAT RATNA FOR RASH BEHARI BOSE, MASTERDA SURYA SEN AND BAGHA JATIN : A DEFENCE ... 1

The initial idea of the Signature Campaign for Bharat Ratna is to stir up a movement to resurrect the memory of the heroes of the armed struggle for freedom and to give the people a balanced perspective of the freedom movement. For far too long the narrative of non-violence has held centre stage in India and has been the dominant tale of the freedom movement. This is grossly incorrect and is a travesty of historical justice, for the real reason for the eviction of the British from India lay largely in the Empire's fear of a violent revolution in India post the RIN Mutiny in 1946.

But this mutiny did not take place like a bolt from the blue all of a sudden but had deep historical roots dating decades back into the early phases of the freedom movement. It is this hidden flow of subtle historical current that is the subject of our investigation and for this we need to relive the past through a visitation into the lives of the martyrs to freedom and the revolutionaries of supreme sacrifice.

Bagha Jatin, Rash Behari Bose and Masterda Surya Sen are three such heroes who pioneered armed insurrections against the British Raj that eventually led to freedom amidst greatly altered historical circumstances following the Second World War.

We need, thus, to honour the trinity to revive interest in this largely neglected segment of our freedom struggle and, thence, to follow their footsteps to do justice to all armed revolutionaries. I, therefore, solicit your active support in this Signature Campaign for Bharat Ratna for Rash Behari Bose, Masterda Surya Sen and Bagha Jatin.

Thanking you,
Yours in the motherland,
Sugata Bose

Bande Mataram!