Netaji: The mystery needs to be solved

"Friend's! my comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all. I demand of you blood. It is blood alone that can avenge the blood that the enemy has spilt. It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom. Give me blood and I Promise you freedom”. These were the lines Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose said on July 4, 1944 in Burma.

Hereafter the Indian National Army fought ferociously for their motherland. Under the leadership of Bose they gave tough opposition to the superior British Indian Army in the eastern theatre. The fall of the Axis powers meant that INA's Delhi dream was never reliased. Bose was branded as a traitor my some as he tried to form an ally with the Nazis, the Fascists and Japan. It is a shame that those people who called Bose a traitor were born in the same country as the brave heart.

It was shame on the part of our nation not to recognise the heroics of the Indian National Army and deny respect to them. As for the people who questioned the integrity of Bose his heroics during World War II is the answer. This was the same man who escaped the clutches of the Britishers travelled around the world to fight for the independence of India. He may not even have ever set foot on his motherland again.

Mahatama Gandhi may be considered a symbol of peace and truthfulness but once in his lifetime he played a bad political game to make sure Subhash Chandra Bose did not emerge as the undisputed leader of Congress. Bose could have easily divided the Congress after defeating Gandhi's preferred candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya but instead resigned from the party and formed the Forward Bloc. Gandhi's political game during that period is a dark spot in his image.

Bose's disappearance has been Independent India's biggest unsolved mystery. Many commissions later we still haven't been able to crack the puzzle. Or have we? There are too many conspiracy theories doing the rounds which is not highly surprising considering the fact the information gathered by the various commissions have been kept classified. The Government has always said that disclosure of the information could affect India's relations with foreign countries.

Is it so? Or is it that the information could bring in the real face of many of our leaders and bureaucrats who ran a conspiracy to bury the truth of Netaji's disappearance. Doesn't a common Indian have the right to know what happened to one of its greatest leaders. The country has failed to honour the sacrifice of all people like Bhagat Singh, Veer Sawarkar, Subhash Chanda Bose and many others who were termed as rebels. This was done by people who were more politicians than freedom fighters.