Author: DH News Service
Publication: Deccan Herald
Date: December 5, 2003
URL: http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec05/n2.asp
"Azad Hind Army was not a revolutionary
army nor did Subhas Chandra Bose have any revolutionary fervour in him...on
the contrary, he was a supporter of the Facist forces and always looked
after the interests of the capitalists. Netaji was anti-labour and anti-Bolshevik..."
A modern History book that seeks
to portray Subhas Chandra Bose in a "revolutionary" fashion and claims
to get enlisted as a textbook by the Calcutta University shortly, has triggered
a furore in West Bengal, prompting aggrieved leaders of the Forward Bloc
to petition Governor Biren J Shah for justice.
The first volume of the book "History
of Modern India" written in Bengali, has already been included in the undergraduate
syllabus of the University, while the second tries to reassess the role
of Netaji in the freedom movement.
Raising the issue during the Zero
Hour in the West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday,Trinamool Congress legislator
Paras Dutta alleged that the book made a "valiant attempt" to malign the
great freedom fighter and read out portions from the volume in support
of his contention.
Workers at the 1928 Congress Session
were lathicharged at Netaji's instructions as he was against any labour
movement, Mr Dutta said quoting from the book. Netaji had, as party president,
passed an anti-people resolution at the 1938 Haripura Congress, he added.
The Bloc leader and state Agriculture Minister Kamal Guha today sharply
criticised the contents in the book and indicted the Marxists without naming
them for resorting to double standards.
"Unfortunately, they (read Marxists)
garland Netaji on his birthday," he quipped in disgust.
