‘Don’t distort history for political mileage’: Netaji’s grand nephew to Kangana Ranaut

Chandra Kumar Bose, the grandnephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, has slammed actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut for her recent claim that the freedom icon was the first prime minister of India.

“Pehle mujhe ye baat aaj clear karne dijiye. Jab hume azaadi mili toh the first Prime Minister of India, Subhash Chandra Bose, woh kahan gae? (Let me clear this first. When we gained independence, where did the first Prime Minister of India, Subhash Chandra Bose, go),” Ranaut, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, had said in an event.

In an exclusive conversation with Hindustan Times’ Kumkum Chadha, Chandra Kumar Bose urged Kangana Ranaut “not to distort history for her political gains or to appease her party leadership”.

“As far as her statement on the liberator of India, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is concerned, it is incomplete. Netaji was certainly the head of state, the prime minister of a united, undivided India. The important factor is united and undivided, which she missed out,” Bose said.

“He (Netaji) also happens to be the last prime minister of an undivided and united India. You need to study Netaji’s life and times, his books that are written by him. I would request not only Kangana, but all persons who are interested in Netaji, to study his own writings to understand his concept of India, ideology and vision for the country,” Bose, who was BJP’s vice president in West Bengal in 2016, and had quit the party last year, said.

Kangana’s statement ignorance or political strategy?
Chandra Kumar Bose said that anyone can join politics but should not distort history for own political mileage or that of party or political masters.

“In my opinion, the freedom movement started way back in 1857 with the Sepoy Uprising of Mangal Pandey. There were many who sacrificed their lives like Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Khudiram Bose. They did not hesitate to go to the gallows for the freedom of our nation.

“Then we had Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement, which also had its own impact. But the final onslaught on the British power was none other than the Indian National Army and the subsequent INA trials held at the Red Fort in early 1946. They completely destroyed the loyalty and the allegiance of the British forces to the British high command,” Chandra Bose added.

He asserted that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was certainly the first prime minister of the divided dominion India. “In order to say that Subhash Bose was the first prime minister and not completing the sentence by saying ‘of undivided India’, it gives somehow a message that you are trying to challenge the first prime minister of the divided dominion of India. These are two different matters,” he added.

India being renamed as ‘Bharat’ a step towards ‘Bharatiyata’?
Chandra Kumar Bose said that the Constitution mentions ‘India, that is Bharat’, adding there is no difference between the two.

“Whether you address the nation as ‘Bharat’ or ‘India’, it makes no difference. But it will make a difference if we implement the concept of ‘Bharatiya’, that unfortunately we have failed,” he added.

“Netaji would be dismayed seeing the present situation in our country, the division among communities. I completely hold the political leadership of our country responsible for the communal feeling,” Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s grandnephew said.