Kolkata: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grand-nephew Chandra Kumar Bose on Wednesday said he is planning to revive the ‘Azad Hind Sangha’, an outfit founded by his father Amiya Nath Bose.
Amiya Nath Bose, the son of Sarat Chandra Bose and nephew of Subhas Chandra Bose, had launched the outfit in 1971. He was a Lok Sabha MP.
Chandra Bose, who recently said that Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a secular leader, unlike those in the Congress, expressed his disappointment with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not showing any interest in the outfit that he wished to relaunch.
“When I joined the BJP, I categorically told (senior party leader) Sidharth Nath Singh that I will join the party only if I am allowed to work on the ideology of Netaji," he said. "I told the BJP leaders that I want to work for the party through the Azad Hind Morcha Youth Wing. There are so many ‘morchas’ in the BJP and I thought it would be perfect for me to carry forward Netaji’s vision through the Azad Hind Morcha Youth Wing."
While BJP leaders initially agreed to the plan, there was no response after he made a PowerPoint presentation on the proposal, said Chandra Bose.
"They then suggested I remove the word ‘Azad’ and rename the outfit as ‘Jai Hind Morcha Youth Wing’. They felt that words like ‘Azad’ and ‘Azadi’ are controversial (inter-changeable). I agreed too," he said. "But later, they showed no interest in my proposal. It disheartened me and now I am planning to revive the Azad Hind Sangha on my own.”
Chandra Bose said he is part of the BJP for senior leaders like Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. "I will remain a part of it till they want me to be in the party," he said. "I have sought an appointment with Modiji to discuss the issues related to the state BJP and my decision to revive the party (Azad Hind Morcha Youth Wing). I will also request him to declare January 23 as ‘National Patriotic Day’."
January 23 is the birthday of Netaji.
“In the near future, I am planning to revive Azad Hind Sangha because I feel there is a serious political vacuum in Bengal. My father used to like (former prime minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee and that was also one of the reasons behind me joining the BJP,” said Chandra Bose.
When asked about his comment on Jinnah, Chandra Bose reiterated that he was a secular leader and against the Partition.
"He was compelled to take the step (of forming Pakistan) by the Congress. You cannot change history," he said. "In 1940, Jinnah raised the issue of Pakistan because he felt he cannot share power in India. Before that he was against the idea of a Pakistan. Till 1955, Pakistan was a secular state. It became an Islamic state only after Jinnah passed away.”
“We should not deny that our country was partitioned because of the communal politics of the then Congress leaders,” he added.
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