Netaji, INA gave the last kick to British

Senior journalist, Kingshuk Nag and columnist Sriram Karri participated in a debate on ‘Bose vs Indian National Congress: Who got us Freedom?’ Organised at Lamakaan as a part of ‘Open Space Dialogue’ by Gopala Krishna from Hyderabad Trails.

Kingshuk Nag’s book ‘Netaji Living Dangerously’ and his recent petition on change.org to the HRD Ministry on including the fact that ‘Netaji and INA gave last kick to British’ in textbooks triggered the engaging discussion with columnist Sriram Karri, who took the opposite view.

Kingshuk Nag shared that after declassifying the files on Subash Chandra Bose many facets came to light including the fact that Bose did not die in an air crash, but Jawaharlal Nehru who was wary of Netaji’s influence on Indians wanted everyone to believe otherwise.

He stated that if it was not for Bose, we may have got independence, but definitely not in August 1947. “In 1947, it was just the transfer of power; the British civil servants had left and the Indian officials replaced them and continued the status quo that existed during British’s regime.

The Congress party was not ready to change the feudal system even after the British’s exit. On the other hand, Subash Chandra Bose wanted an end to this feudal set up,” he explained.

Writer and novelist Sriram Karri while agreeing that INA and Netaji did not get their due credit for independence, refused to dilute Gandhi’s contribution. “He was the saint that travelled across India in 3rd class to understand the country and decided that it is not war but non-violence that is going to be the weapon to fight for independence.

He stood by truth and it was he who inspired Subash Chandra Bose to join Congress party. Contributions from great leaders like Nehru, Patel etc cannot be ignored,” he averred.

“How can we give the credit of a countries’ 90 years struggle to get freedom for one person? Everyone played a key role in the Indian independence movement,” he asked.