Netaji- Subhash Chandra Bose

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>When Nehru camp ‘spied on’ Netaji and humiliated him  </b>
By Harshkumar C. Desai---- The Colony, TX: To the opinion – Subhash Bose - an unsung hero of India’s Independence — by Sunil Chatterjee, published in India Tribune dated August 18, I would like to add some more information on the subject. Subhash Chandra Bose (Netaji) was elected president of Indian National Congress by a popular vote against the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and others. As far as I remember, Subhash Chandra Bose was elected at the Haripura session of the Congress held in Gujarat. One of the constitutional requirements was that the elected president must address the next session of the Congress and only after such an address, the elected president is considered to have taken over officially the presidentship of The party. During this session, Netaji had a very high fever and it was very difficult for him to walk to the session podium for the address. My high school friend (circa 1946), one Vidyasagar Patel from Bardoli told me that he and his friends were continually rubbing ice over the forehead of Netaji. Young boys were sent to his camp as spies from the Nehru camp to find out the current health of Netaji; they never wanted Netaji to recover. However, Netaji managed to reach the podium and addressed the session, while lying down, as he could not even sit straight. Later on, at the suggestion of the Nehru camp, the rank and file of the Congress never cooperated with Netaji, the official president of the Congress. Consequently, Netaji resigned from the Congress and formed his own party, the Forward Bloc. It is also a fact, now known to all, that Netaji went to China from Formosa and was captured by the Soviets as a Prisoner of War. I also have read somewhere that soon after India became Independent, the Soviet Union sent a courtesy letter to the Indian government (I think Lord Mountbatten was still in New Delhi) informing them that they would like to release Netaji. Jawaharlal Nehru never replied this letter, which was suppressed by the Congress government and probably destroyed by him or by the subsequent Congress governments. He died in the Soviet Union Jail. Before the Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress never wanted Netaji to recover from his illness during the Haripura Congress session. After the Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru wanted Netaji to die in the Soviet Union jail. I would like to add a few words on another subject “poverty in India.” I was reading an address by our present Prime Minister that we should eradicate the poverty. Sometime in 1966 (I do not remember the exact year) Indira Gandhi visited the United States (this was probably her first visit). I was in New York studying at the Columbia University. Indira Gandhi came to New York and met the Indian community. This meeting was in a big hall in the basement of a church in Manhattan. My wife and I attended this meeting. Indira Gandhi said and I quote, “We should eradicate poverty.” I distinctly remember this and I felt proud at that time; but today I feel how naïve I was. Year after year all Prime Ministers have said the “We should eradicate poverty.” The Congress and all other political parties in India want the keep the majority of the people poor, raise the slogan of “eradicating poverty” for election purposes, and use the tool – divide and rule – once the election is over.

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