President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday paid tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 118th birth anniversary, stating that true homage to the eminent freedom fighter would be to for the current generation to work with dedication towards making India.
“It is appropriate to dwell on the contemporary relevance of Netaji and his message on the occasion of Netaji’s birthday. Our true homage to Netaji would be to work with dedication to make our country for whose sake Netaji sacrificed his everything, strong, prosperous and progressive so that it may one day become a great power in the world,” President Mukherjee message, which was conveyed at Netaji Research Bureau in the city, read.
“He called upon the youth of the country to once again adopt the slogan of Ittefaq Itmad Kurbani or Unity, Faith, Sacrifice as the clarion call of our nation,” the message added.
The President further stated that the Netaji talked of not only India’s freedom but its reconstruction as well.
“The place of Subhas Chandra Bose is unique in the history of India’s freedom struggle. Netaji was unanimously elected Rashtrapati of the 51st session of the Indian National Congress held in Haripura on the banks of the river Tapti in February 1938. His Presidential address at the session was a masterpiece of vision and action. He talked not only of freedom but also of reconstruction and the need for planning by setting up a Planning Committee. He called for the gradual socialization of the entire agricultural and industrial system,” the President’s statement read.
“He reminded delegates that ‘our chief national problems are eradication of poverty, illiteracy and disease’. Netaji as Congress President wrote a letter to all Congress Premiers advising them on how they should administer their provinces. The ideas contained in this letter were the precursors of the principles enshrined in the chapter on Directive Principles of our Constitution,” he added.
Stating that the Netaji believed that free India would become an alternative model for a post-colonial world, President Mukherjee stated that his entire life had been dedicated to service and sacrifice.
“Netaji believed that free India would become, by example, an alternative model for a post-colonial world through economic equity and a social revolution inspired by harmony between communities that had been misled into hostility. Propelled by freedom of faith, gender equality and economic justice for all, India will become a modern nation,” the President’s statement read.
“It is amazing how much Subhas Chandra Bose was able to achieve and accomplish in a short span of time. Netaji’s entire life is a story of service and sacrifice. He was a doer as well as a thinker. He was a fighter and a natural leader of men. He appealed to the people of our country ‘Give me blood, I will give you freedom’,” the statement added.
Earlier in the day, President Mukherjee paid floral tributes before a portrait of Netaji at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Born on January 23, 1897, Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian nationalist who attempted to rid India of British rule during the Second World War with the help of Nazi Germany and Japan, leaving behind a left a troubled legacy.
In the early part of his political life, Bose was the leader of the younger and radical, wing of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s, and rose to become Congress President in 1938 and 1939.
He was, however, ousted from Congress leadership positions in 1939 following differences with Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress high command, and was subsequently placed under house arrest by the British before escaping from India in 1940.
Bose thereafter formed the Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army with the help of funds from Germany and also established a Free India Centre and Free India Radio in Berlin.
He was married to Emilie Schenkl and had a daughter.
With Japanese support, Bose revamped the INA, then composed of Indian soldiers of the British Indian army who had been captured in the Battle of Singapore. To this were added Indian civilians in Malaya and Singapore.
He is said to have died of third degree burns received when his plane crashed in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. (ANI)