A lot of discussion has been happening recently about Netaji Bose, with accusations about spying on Netaji's kin by Nehru government and how Netaji wanted 20 years of dictatorship in India! May be Nehru spied on Netaji's kins after independence, may be Nehru was afraid of Netaji Bose, but I am pretty sure that Nehru, Gandhi & Patel, all had huge respect for Netaji Bose and revered his love for the motherland and Bose reciprocated same feelings for them.
But even after Netaji's complete devotion to the cause of Indian independence, nothing can erase the fact that Netaji made a mistake in taking help from first Nazi Germany and then Imperialistic Japan. British were much better than the axis powers, but were as human as anyone else. Don't agree, then visit Jalianwala Bagh which was a state sponsored massacre of peaceful people on the eve of Baisakhi in Amritsar or visit Nanarao park in Kanpur where after the revolt of 1857 many freedom fighters were hanged from a single tree. Also, if you think Indians were better than British then you need to visit Massacre Ghat, again in Kanpur, where more than 300 British men, women and kids were brutally massacred, hence the name Massacre Ghat (or as we say in Kanpur, Maskar Ghat) after the revolting Indian forces captured the fleeing British & their families. There are examples of brutal massacres and genocides by each and every country fighting in World War 2, but Nazi Germany and Imperialistic Japan were the worst as they were planning to erase complete races and groups of people from face of earth. On top of that Netaji Bose having formed Forward Bloc, a party with communist and socialist philosophy, was taking help from countries which hated communism & socialism to the extent where they killed people with those beliefs. Netaji Bose wasn't the founder of INA but his decision to take over the reigns of INA once he landed in Japan, made him the enemy number may be 5 or 6 for British in that ongoing World War, taking the limelight away from even Gandhiji.
Anyways, Netaji Bose gave his best for bringing freedom for India and laid down his life in that process. Despite all his mistakes, beliefs and humanity he was an Indian par excellence. His love for India and Indians, of all religions, was beyond doubt. He was the inventor of famous slogan "Jai Hind", combining Hindi & Urdu in the process. Many believe that if he was present during India's freedom, India wouldn't have been divided as he was loved and respected by both Hindus & Muslims. The fact is that we will never know how India would have looked if Netaji Bose was alive during India's freedom but I am pretty sure he wouldn't have liked the partition of India and the bloodshed that followed it. But after accepting partition as a necessary evil, he would have helped Nehru and Patel in building a strong & united India and he would have have been the true face of Indian secularism & pluralism if alive; and the same people who show so much concern for him nowadays would have hated him. Jai Hind!
