Source : Google photo of Netaji Bose and his statue in New Delhi
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Synopsis : As India celebrates the newly established statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the most prominent place in New Delhi ,it also gives a clear message to the world that a new India is rising and rising fast. With it’s Central Vista project in which a part of the completed section was opened by the Prime Minister , it clearly shows what a beautiful capital city Delhi has become that is befitting to a rising star.
As the glowing Sun set behind the President’s palace in New
Delhi on September 8, 2022, a reporter asked her cameraman to focus on the
setting Sun and said that the Sun will set on the Central Vista today for the
last time because tomorrow it will shine on a completely different vista that
the country will see for the first time.
On this 8th day of September 2022 ,the Prime
Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi will unveil the 28 ft tall statue of Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose carved in black granite for the first time under the
canopy where the white marble statue of King George V used to stay. The massive
stone weighing over 200 tons was brought from a quarry in Telangana from where it was moved to Delhi
on a specially made truck with 100 wheels that had to travel slowly to cover
the distance of over 1650 kms. It was then carved by a group of sculptors and
polished to perfection. It is the first such massive hand carved statue in
India that inspires awe and admiration.
The British ruled India for over 200 years and left behind
their signs of rule everywhere when they left India in 1947 that included
numerous statues of their king and queen, lords and viceroys, roads and public
buildings named after their royalty to remind their enslaved subjects who was
their master.
In 1911 they decided to move their capital from Kolkata to
Delhi so they brought in an architect called Edwin L. Lutyens who was tasked to
lay out a grandiose plan for their new capital called New Delhi which was to be
right next to the Old City of Delhi of the Moghul Empire. So Lutyens made plans
for the President’s palace, North block, South block to house various
government ministries, the parliament building to be circular in shape and a
grand boulevard in the front called King’s Way with wide canals on both side.
They built a massive monument called The India gate at the end of the King’s
Way and numerous temporary shelters for the armed services as their office and
nothing more.
It took many years to complete the buildings but they did
not complete the entire plan of Lutyens due to perhaps shortage of funds or the
apathy of the British at some point.
They placed the white marble statue of their king George V under the stone canopy from where the cold eyes of the king gazed at his Empire and the new secretariat, the President’s palace that was then called the Viceroy’s palace, the round shaped parliament building and all other buildings built of red sand stone and grandiose in character in line with their arrogance and ambition. ( Read my blog here called A broken nose )
They left India in 1947 but not willingly. In fact they
were forced out by a great freedom fighter named Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
who organized the Indian national Army ( INA ) that he headed and fought the
British forces tooth and nail to gain freedom for all Indians. Most of the INA
soldiers were the well trained ex-soldiers of the British Army who knew how to
fight their erstwhile masters. Then came the destruction of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki by the Americans so Japan surrendered and the World War II ended
thus the Japanese support of the INA and Netaji waned and finally ended
resulting in the disbanding of the INA.
The British then arrested the key leaders of the INA and
put them on trial in the Red Fort in Delhi and charged them with treason that
was punishable with death. This was the fuse that lit the nationwide anger of
the people who took to the streets for violent protests. They could not
tolerate their freedom fighters to be treated like common criminals and
demanded their immediate release. This protest took the lives of over 450 British officers and then spread to the British Navy
where the Indian officers raised the Indian flag on all their ships and tore
down the British flags.
This put tremendous fear into the British authorities who
realized that the protest could take a very nasty turn for them so they made
complete evacuation plans for all the British from India from two ports of
Bombay and Karachi .They knew that their rule in India was over because of
Netaji Bose and his army of dedicated patriots who had already liberated parts
of North East and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Bose
had formed his government in exile and marched on to Delhi. When the war in
Japan ended, Bose vanished but claims were made that he had died in a plane
crash in Taiwan.
The British left India in a hurry but made sure to leave
behind a sycophant Congress Party and their leaders who promised to continue to
look after the British interest after 1947. They also made sure that India is
divided into three parts creating Pakistan so that India could never rise as a
nation due to its enemies on both sides. This was the revenge they took for
their humiliation and exit from India in a shameful manner because of a patriot
like Bose who proved that the British Sun did set never to rise again. It also
started the collapse of the British colonial rule elsewhere in the World.
The sycophants of the British had no intention of honoring
the national hero Bose in any shape or form after the Independence and banned
the now disbanded soldiers of the INA to include them in the New Indian Army. Netaji Bose was declared a war criminal to be caught and handed over to the
British for trial. But Bose had simply vanished and could never be found.
This bit of history is important to know how Netaji became
such a national hero who brought Independence to India but the Congress Party
denied him a place in the history and any importance so their paid historians
said that all credit for Independence goes to Gandhi and Nehru .This was the
propaganda the Congress Party continued to spread around the world and named
numerous roads and buildings in their name in order to glorify them but the
Indians knew better and grieved for this neglect of their hero.
Then came a change in India in 2014 when a nationalist
leader called Narendra Modi emerged and won massive support of the voters who
wanted a change that Mr. Modi had promised. He promised to end the family and
dynastic rule forever and end the corruption. He promised that the true heroes
of the Independence movement will be recognized and honored.
He recognized the INA and its contribution in the freedom
struggle so the remaining soldiers were given pension and their sons and
daughters were given jobs. They were included in the Republic day parade on
January 26th in Delhi for the first time and the floats of the INA were
included. Netaji was remembered and eulogized as the great hero of India who
brought freedom to all. Narendra Modi publicly announced what the public knew
all along.
It did not sit well with the sycophants of the British but
they were out of power and have steadily lost elections in most states of the
country because people have realized how corrupt they are and how much money
they have stolen since 1947. Most of them are charged with corruption and are
on bail awaiting trial.
Modi also inaugurated the INA museum in the Red Fort that
shows how INA fought the British and how it liberated parts of India. It shows
how Netaji escaped from his house arrest in Kolkata to reach Berlin where he
met with Adolf Hitler and asked for his help in defeating their mutual enemy
England.
But his dream of setting up a grand statue of Netaji Bose in
the heart of New Delhi came true yesterday when he unveiled a 28 ft. tall
granite statue of Netaji and offered flowers after taking off his shoes as a
profound show of respect to the national hero. It was a poetic justice to see
Netaji statue at the same spot where King George V statue was seen until 1968.
It had remained empty since then until yesterday because the previous attempts
to glorify Nehru or Gandhi there had resulted in massive protest from all who
love Netaji.
Perhaps King George V is squirming in his grave somewhere
to know that his enemy now occupies the place from where he used to look down
on his Empire so heartlessly. If Gandhi and Nehru had been buried, they too
would have squirmed in their graves to see such a majestic statue of the hero
they had scorned in the name of their own personal ambitions.
I am sure the invited guests of the diplomatic corps listening
to the Prime Minister’s speech also included the British who probably felt
uneasy to witness such a ceremony to honor a man whom they wanted to prosecute
as war criminal and who forced them out of India in great humiliation. How the
times have changed!
Only Washington D.C. and Paris have the Central Vista but I have seen both of them. None are as impressive and as beautiful as the Central Vista of New Delhi. With its acres of garden, trees and lakes, it sparkles with lights in the evening as wonderland.
Here is a video that will show you with English narration the unveiling of the Netaji statue and the inauguration of the Central Vista project by the Prime Minister yesterday. The parliament house is nearly complete but the rest of the buildings that will house all the ministries and numerous other buildings to house the officers of the armed forces are under construction. The project is supposed to be completed by the end of 2023.
https://youtu.be/0lFsKPt6PrM
Source : U Tube video of the Prime Minister Modi unveiling the statue of Bose
Then Modi did something else. He had promised that all
vestige of the British rule in India must end so that the people can feel that
they are indeed free and can decide their own future without outside
interference. So he changed the name of Raaj Path ( King’s Way ) to Kartavya
Path meaning Duty so that all who tread on it will know that they have a duty
toward the country be they high or lowly officials. No one henceforth will rule
over the people but will have a duty to serve them.
He then inaugurated the splendid Central Vista project that
starts at the President’s palace and ends in the India gate covering a distance
of 3 kms or more. This entire length of road has been widened and with red
stone sidewalks. It is now well lit with hundreds of modern street lamp posts,
improved underground drainage system, acres of green lawns and hundreds of
trees planted on both side of the majestic canals.
There are 66 public toilets, hundreds of red sand stone
benches for the people to sit on and boating facilities in the 3 km long
rectangular lakes on both sides. There are parking spaces and dedicated stalls
for vendors of ice creams and other foods for those who may now enjoy the
Central Vista as never before. When Modi vowed to remove all symbols of the
British occupation of India in his Red Fort speech a few days ago, he meant it.
When Modi inducted into the Indian Navy the most modern aircraft carrier INS- Vikrant built entirely in the Kochi shipyard, it ushered in the new era of self-reliance in the production of all its defense needs so that India will become self-sufficient. While India still imports Rafale fighter jets from France and S-400 missile system from Russia, the dependence on foreign weapons will decrease as the country speeds up the Make in India process. ( Read my blog here called INS Vikrant )
He proudly displayed the Naval flag fluttering on the
mighty INS –Vikrant bearing the Indian flag and the 0ctagonal symbol of the
navy of Shivaji who had fought the Moghuls in the 15th century with his mighty
navy of over 500 ships. The symbol of King’s Cross has been removed from the
Navy flag.
I used to pass by the empty canopy near the India Gate and always wished it to be the place for a grand statue of Netaji Bose someday but I never said anything to anyone. May be Mr. Modi heard this wish in the hearts of millions of Indians like me and decided that this honor to Bose was long overdue. It has gladdened the hearts of all who loved Netaji Bose including myself.
Source : Google photo of the unveiling of the statue of Netaji Bose
Modi did not create new history yesterday. Rather he rewrote the history that had denied the honor deserved by the hero called Bose. From his pedestal he now looks at the new India rising to its full glory in the rising sun behind the Presidential palace and knows that the country he loved and sacrificed his life for now grows steadily to take its rightful place as a mighty and modern nation.
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