There are not many Indian heroes whose lives have been as dramatic and adventurous as that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
That, however, is an assessment of his life based on what is widely known about him. These often revolve around his resignation from the Indian Civil Service, joining the freedom movement, to be exiled twice for over seven years, throwing a challenge to the Gandhian leadership in the Congress, taking up an extremist position against the British Raj, evading the famed intelligence network to travel to Europe and then to Southeast Asia, forming two Governments and raising two armies and then disappearing into the unknown. All this is in a span of just two decades.
Pacey, thought-provoking and absolutely unputdownable, Chandrachur Ghose, in Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist (Penguin) opens a window to many hitherto untold and unknown stories of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Now, new information throws light on Bose’s intense political activities surrounding the revolutionary groups in Bengal, Punjab, the United Provinces, and what is now Maharashtra and his efforts to bridge the increasing communal divide and his influence among the splintered political landscape; his outlook and relations with women; his plunge into the depths of spirituality; his penchant for covert operations and his efforts to engineer a rebellion among the Indian armed forces.
Chandrachur Ghose is an author, researcher, and commentator on history, economics, and environment, having graduated from Visva Bharati and the University of Sussex. Ghose is one of the founders of the Mission Netaji pressure group that has been the moving force behind the declassification of secret documents related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
(Courtesy: IANS)
