Why Bengali Separatists Should Stop Using Netaji’s Name!

Few years ago, I was travelling in Kolkata with an auto-rickshaw. In the auto-rickshaw, there was an old man and a young boy conversing with each other in loud voice. Suddenly, the old man screamed, “We are Bengalis, the devotees of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, why we would tolerate the non-Bengalis!”

His words stroke me hard from inside. Netaji was a hardcore nationalist leader, not one who supported regionalism and provincialism. Why these people with separatist tendency are using his name? Are they doing these just because they have not studied Netaji properly? Or they are doing these intentionally? These efforts may be a part of a big dirty game!

Later, due to their conversation, I came to know that the old man was a supporter of TMC (which was ruling West Bengal then), who wanted to make Mamata Banerjee the Prime Minister of India. According to him, it was the only way to revive Bengali pride! You can now understand the real intention clearly.

There is an organization in West Bengal called ‘Bangla Pakkho’, which was founded by a very fat man, named Garga Chatterjee. Chatterjee was arrested recently for some illegal activities. Nationalists of Bengal are now demanding a ban on the organization. Chatterjee’s organization wants to mobilize Bengalis against the non-Bengalis for mere political gains. They want to drive away the non-Bengalis from Bengal by Economical boycott and social boycott; hooliganism and Goondaism.

They often use the name of Great Bengali personalities like Tagore, Vivekananda and mostly Netaji. So, it’s the need of the hour to write about why Netaji’s name should not be used for Bengali regional separatism.

I have read many books on Netaji. Every book elaborates him as a hardcore nationalist, who was anti-regionalist from the core of his heart. I will here use references from one of the finest biography books of Netaji, Bose by Chandrachur Ghose. Ghose has gave references to every incident from primary sources. I will mention each of them, for someone who wants to cross-check due to any type of doubts.

Now, Let’s discuss the first incident, I want to mention. When Bose was a prisoner in the Mandalay Jail, a person named Hemendra Nath Dasgupta, he (Bose) wrote a long essay reminiscing about his political Guru Chitta Ranjan Das, and also revealing his own views of Bengal culture and religious history. This essay is still available as ‘On Chitta Ranjan Das’ in Subhash Rachanabali, Volume-4, page: 20-30

Referring to this writing, Ghose writes on his book (Page-80):

The versatile genius and colourful life of the Bengalis have stemmed from the Aryan, Dravidian and Mongolian blood, which has made them intellectual and emotional at the same time, and produced a combination of the idealistic, the imitative and the creative. Bengal’s uniqueness was evident from the fact that it has evolved a distinct culture of its own despite the influence of the Aryan culture. Thus, it was the land where Buddhism found its last refuge after being driven out from other areas; it was a place where the Arya Samaj movement failed to obtain a foothold despite the movement’s popularity in northern India, but the Kali-worshipper Ramkrishna Paramhansa was venerated by thousands of educated Bengalis. Bengal’s cultural life, Subhash argued, could be defined by the interplay of three prominent streams- Nyaya and Smriti of Raghunandan. Through the system of Nyaya and Smriti, Bengal was connected to the Aryavarta (or northern India), while Vaishnavism connected it to southern India, and tantra showed its links with the races of Tibet, Burma and the Himalayan areas. Das, he believed, represented in concrete form the essence of Bengal’s culture and civilization, who never forgot Bengal in his love for India and vice-versa.

So, what Bose indicated here. We all know about the North-South India (Some will say Aryan-Darvidian) divide, which was created by the British according to their ‘Divide and Rule’ policy and power-hungry politicians are still using this factor for their mere political gains. Here, Bose tried to connect Bengal with both North and South India, that’s why he said that, along with Aryan (North Indian) influence, Bengal’s culture was also connected to Southern India and other parts of India. So, Bengal’s culture was special in India, not separate from India’s culture. According to him, Bengal’s culture was a bridge between the craters/gaps of North-South divide.

So, you can realize how much extent, Bose was against provincial and regional separatism. Today, he would be tremendously sad and angry at the same time, if he comes to know that there are traces of these separatisms in Bengal and those Bengali regional separatists are continuously using his name!

Let’s discuss another incident, where Bose was introduced by ban Irish journalist to a friend as ‘Bengal leader’. Bose protested as he was an ‘Indian patriot’ first and a ‘Bengali patriot’ last. Ghose writes in his book (page: 223-224):

Subhash was acutely conscious, even a tad touchy probably, of his image as a national leader, as an Irish journalist realized when introducing him to a friend as ‘the well-known Bengal leader’. ‘Why do you call me a Bengal leader? I am not provincial,’ pat came the reply. The journalist admitted, ‘He has always stuck me as an Indian patriot first and Bengali patriot’ last.

[Ghose cited this incident from ‘The Visit to Dublin’ from Netaji’s collected works Volume:8; page: 345]

This bold statement by Bose can be a nightmare for a Bengali separatist of current times, who occasionally uses Netaji’s name for spreading their dirty propagandas.

So, at last I am strictly warning every ‘Joy Bangla’ chanting Bengali separatist to stop using Netaji’s name for their separatist propagandas. Otherwise, we nationalists can stop them by other methods.

Jai Hind! Jai Maa Bhaarati! Jai Shree Ram!