PM to honour Bose legacy, observe INA anniv

Minister Narendra Modi will join freedom fighters and veterans to unfurl the tricolour from the Red Fort on October 21 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind (independent India) declaration in what analysts describe as a smart political move to appropriate the legacy of one of the leading lights of India’s freedom movement, and of another Congressman.

On October 21, 1943, Netaji, as Bose is popularly known, announced the formation of the country’s first independent government . Although it was shortlived, some historians consider it an important milestone in India’s journeys to independence.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has already staked claim to the legacy of Sardar Patel, a lifelong Congressman and independent India’s first home minister. A 182-metre-high statue of Patel, the Statue of Unity, is to be unveiled by the Prime Minister downstream of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat on October 31. The BJP has also sought to align itself with Dalit icon BR Ambedkar’s ideology. In April, Modi inaugurated the Ambedkar National Memorial in Delhi; last month, he invoked Ambedkar at the launch of his government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme. The BJP has also consistently targeted the Congress for belittling the legacy of both leaders.

Bose, whose career in the Congress ended bitterly (he was ousted from the party’s leadership in 1939), went on to form his Azad Hind military force. He is coming in for some special attention from the BJP. The BJP-led

NEWDELHI:Prime