Netaji: Living Dangerously

by Kingshuk Nag

Nations that forget their history lack the power to create it’.

The extensive surveillance on Bose had a political objective, according to a top official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), who now lives a life of quiet retirement. ‘Subhas Bose was alive and if he had appeared in India in the mid-1950s, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s position would be at risk. Subhas Bose had the charisma to win the elections and upstage Nehru. Thus, IB was deployed to find out where he was and what he was doing,’ the officer told this writer, breaking his silence of many years.

History is written from the point of view of the victor. The British won World War II and the Congress party came to power after India won freedom. The history of the freedom struggle that is propagated in India seeks to give credit only to the Congress party for winning freedom. But this is an imperfect story of how India became independent. There were many forces at play. A special effort seems to have been made in the early years after Independence to downplay the contribution made by Netaji and others in the struggle to attain freedom.