Delhi village which swears by its Subhas Chandra Bose folklore
NEW DELHI: It is a balmy afternoon and Ran Singh is sitting in the courtyard of his house. The octogenarian’s eyes sparkle as one mentions Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. “I was in class 3rd when Netaji delivered an impassioned speech in our village, his fist clenched, his hand pushed forward like this,” he says, standing up and striking a pose similar to that of many Netaji statues. “You will not get azadi until you make supreme sacrifices,” he told the villagers.
Ask Singh about the year Bose came to the village and he goes silent for a while, trying to dredge up his memory, his eyes closed, and then says, “I think it was 1944.”
Singh is not the only one with a Netaji story in Tikri Kalan, a village on the western fringes of the city, which celebrates Subhas Chandra Bose like no other. Locals believe that Netaji delivered his last known speech in India in their village, though no one seems to know the year when he did so. While some say that Netaji visited the village in 1941 when he travelled to Berlin incognito via Peshawar; others claim that Netaji addressed INA (Indian National Army) soldiers in 1944 in their village—both the possibilities not supported by historical facts.
“This is local folklore which cannot be historically substantiated. The only INA soldiers who came back to India in 1945 were the Pows (prisoners of war) taken by the Allied Forces largely in Burma (now Mynamar). By then the real story of the INA, founded originally by Captain Mohan Singh and later revived by Bose, was over,” says Anirudh Deshpande, a historian who has authored many books on Indian military history.
He adds that Netaji making a stopover in the village in 1941, when he escaped from his home in Kolkata to Berlin via Peshawar, too is highly improbable. “Because Bose escaped house arrest incognito and travelled straight to Peshawar from where he crossed into Afghanistan prior to his escape with the help of Italians. He would not have risked getting off at Delhi to address a village.”
But the lack of historical evidence has not come in the way of Tikri village flaunting its ‘historical relationship’ with Netaji. The village organises a gala full-day event on his birth anniversary on January 23 that includes rousing speeches, cultural events and blood donation camps inspired by Netaji’s iconic slogan tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi doonga, his pictures adorn houses and shops, elderly women in the village sing folk songs in Haryanvi hailing Netaji and make and distribute sweets.
The village prefers to call itself ‘Azad Hind Gram’, also the name of a six-acre complex in the village that houses a museum to INA and a memorial to Subhas Chandra Bose, built by the Delhi government.
“We love Netaji like no other national leader and live by his ideals and that is what has earned us the sobriquet of Azad Hind Gram,” says Balwan Singh, a para Asian Games medalist, pointing to a small bronze statue of Netaji on his desk. Every year, he organises Netaji Subhas cross country race in the village.
The walls of this mostly urbanised village — though dozens of families here are still engaged in agriculture -- are plastered with posters of the recent 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Bose at Azad Hind Gram. The Netaji memorial, the villagers say, is built on the spot where Netaji had delivered his speech under a tree. Before the memorial was built in 2000, the locals had been organising a ‘havan’ on the spot every year on January 23 , Bose’s birth anniversary. This year too, the villagers organised a mega full-day programme to celebrate mark his birthday.
“Funded by the villagers, it is one of the biggest programmes organised anywhere in the country to celebrate Netaji’s birthday,” says Jaipal Drall, who heads a village committee which organises the annual event. “We revere all national leaders, but Netaji holds a special place in our hearts as our elders told us he had visited our village and gave a speech here.”
Like most villagers, Yashpal Drall, president of village RWA, was quite amused by the recent controversy where people tweeted a picture of a portrait of Bose unveiled in the Rashtrapati Bhawan claiming it showed actor Prosenjit Chatterjee from a film in which he played the national leader. “Netaji is the most recognisable national leader here; not even a child can fail to recognise him,” he says. He too has his own Netaji story, which defies history. “Many village women had donated their jewellery for the INA.”
He proudly adds that the village is home to many families whose members had served in the INA. One of them is the family of late Sube Singh. The wall of the house has ‘freedom fighter Sube Singh INS Veteran’, scrawled in big bold letters. Sunita Devi, the daughter of Sube Singh, brings out a sheaf of documents, including certificates of service issued by All India INA Enquiry And Relief Committee set up by the Congress, confirming his date of joining the INA in 1941.
“We would not have got freedom without Netaji,” she says, then breaks into a song in Haryanvi in praise of Bose. Sunita Devi, has, in fact, learnt by heart several songs hailing the leader. On his birth anniversary, she makes and distributes kheer . “This has been a tradition in our house for almost seven decades now; earlier my mother used to do it, and now I do so.”
Not far away from her house lives another INA veteran, late Sarup Singh’s family. Like most elderly villagers, her 103- yearold wife recounts the story of the Netaji’s visit to the village, adding that her husband served in INA in Singapore. “I had been married only for a couple of years when he left and villagers said that he would not return. But thankfully, he did come back after six years, ” says the centenarian sitting on a charpoy in the open courtyard of her house surrounded by her family, including great-grandchildren. Age may have shriveled her figure but has failed to dampen her enthusiasm for Bose stories. Like Sunita Devi, she too has a whole repertoire of Netaji songs.
What villagers regret most is the pathetic state of Azad Hind Gram, built, they say, on their demand by the government to honour Netaji and as a symbol of their relationship with him. It boasts a domed Dilli Chalo Museum to the Indian National Army. The musty hall’s discoloured walls are hung with pictures of related historical events such as INA trials, INA’S March to Delhi, women’s role in INA and a provisional government of Azad Hind. The sprawling complex, painted in peach, also has a Netaji memorial in another hall, where rusting iron gate has almost come off its hinges. Inside, the walls have relief sculptures in black telling the story of different episodes in Bose’s life. None of the exhibits, though, has any mention of Netaji’s visit to the village.
“The place hardly has any visitors and has been financially unviable. This location was chosen because locals believe that Netaji had delivered a speech in the village. We are trying to get a grant from the government for the renovation of the complex. Hopefully, we will be able to do so during the Bose’s 125 birth anniversary celebrations,” says Sanjay Goel, managing director and CEO, Delhi Tourism.
It is evening, and Yashpal is in the Azad Hind Gram complex, offering to give us a guided tour. “This is where Netaji had stood on a platform under a tree to deliver his speech,” he says, pointing to a corner. “We all bow before the Netaji statue in the complex every time we pass