Unsung hero Subash Chandra Bose

Wed, Jan 23 02:05 PM

New Delhi: On January 23, 2008, India will celebrate the 111th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose but the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seems to have had forgotten him.

The Congress has always been uncomfortable with Subhash Chandra Bose's call for a march to Delhi. So, till last year, the entire Manmohan Singh Cabinet had forgotten to salute him.

Despite being so secretive about information on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, it's indeed surprising that the government which has spent more than Rs 200 crore in a year on advertisements of eminent Indian personalities does not consider Netaji worthy enough to be on the list.

From January 2006 to January 2007, the UPA government has spent Rs 109 crores on bringing out advertisements in newspapers while Rs 100 crore was spent in television advertisements.

However, not a single rupee was spent to spread the message of Netaji, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has replied in an RTI query.

Interestingly, the ministry is under Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who is from Netaji's home state West Bengal.

"Perhaps the person who has contributed the most to get independence is completely forgotten by our government," Devashish Bhattacharya, an RTI activist, says.

To add insult to injury the government refuses to give Netaji the title of the country's first commander-in-chief.

Netaji's Indian National Army was the first to raise the Indian national flag on Indian soil almost three years before the nation achieved independence

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