Netaji: Living Dangerously

by Kingshuk Nag

Even though the British sensed that Bose was on a weak wicket, they felt that he could not be trusted to lie low with World War II raging, unlike the other Congress worthies who seemed willing to support the War effort.

Bose, who had earlier sojourned in Austria for a long period, had condemned Hitler’s views on race in a press conference and demanded withdrawal of these views.

A team of researchers from the Asiatic Society of Kolkata did visit the Soviet Union in the mid-1990s and came across evidence that would suggest that Bose was present in the Soviet Union after the end of World War II.

History is written from the point of view of the victor.

it left India with a permanent legacy of communal tensions and an enemy on the western border of the country.

A close follower of Gumnami Baba found him in a sombre mood one day and asked him whether he was angry. The Baba replied in Bangla: ‘Jaar bhai thekey bhai neyi, Ma thekey Ma neyi, Desh thekey desh neyi, jaar adhikar neyi. Taar ki rag hotey parey? Taar sudhu hotey parey abhiman.’ (‘Can a man who does not have brothers in spite of having them, who does not have a mother in spite of having her, who does not have a country or any rights, can such a person be angry? He can only have a deep sense of hurt.