My dear Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose; If I fail you, it is because I am incompetent to talk about myself, our country and people !!
The sociology of nationalism debate would suffice that India as a nation – post the gruesome partition of 1947 – does bear resemblance to “western nations”.
Bertrand De-Jouvenel, the French Philosopher who was born in 1903 and has seen the times of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, was impressed by our country’s size (post 1947 itself) and had said in 1960s later that “Bihar itself has a population equal to France”.
So, Netaji, our beloved Netaji….India is itself a continent – with considerable variety of people, their culture, occupation and climate and natural resources. So perhaps naturally we also inherited the challenges of provincial discrimination, religious (or communal) passions and hatreds.
Sadly, we did not do enough as citizens to conquer these vices. I often wonder, whether your presence amidst us during such hour would have resolved at least a few problems.
On this birthday, you again hit newspaper and television headlines with a ‘difference’.
Some years back, a set of ‘secret and codified’ papers regarding your life and times were brought out by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This new leader, India chose so enthusiastically in 2014, comes from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Without going into details, I ought to share with you another information that Modi also – mildly put - has disapproval of certain things Pt Jawaharlal Nehru did and said.
We will debate these political issues on a later day, Netaji.
But as an ardent admirer of yours – initially by the fashion as I too was born a Bengali and you are a folk hero of Bengalis. And later by conviction – I beg your attention to the contemporary setting.
Things are actually in a mess today and would have certainly pained you – if not shocked you! The challenges are many and yet we as countrymen and women continue to contribute in increasing a few – at least every month.
The situation we are in, Netaji, should be enough to wake us up to the realization that the basic game has changed fundamentally. Lingering territorial disputes are no longer the driving force. We still have found no answer to starvation and problems on water have only grown manifold.
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Instead, it is high time we appreciate that the world and our country should be viewed through economic prism and developmental lens. One community can be rivals to another in one front and at the same time we need to be on a winning partnership in another.
The task ahead is for scrupulous placement of several broken chapters and episodes on an increasingly complex chessboard.
But you would appreciate, Netaji, this is an interconnected chessboard.
I am referring to the game of chess as this sports teaches each one of us that after the game is over – pawns and the King have to get inside the same box.
Now the practical issues: In 1940s when you left us in agony and even few years later – in 1947 – when India was divided but free from colonial masters – as a nation India emerged a miserable figure.
Our country was stricken with dire poverty.
But overall there have been intriguing changes in food scenario and plans. The heavy shortfalls in agricultural stocks and targets are now thing of the past. In industry we have reaped benefits from dependence on heavy industries. But the truncated new-economic culture ensured in many pockets the gap between haves and have nots has increased manifold.
Our farmers often end their lives themselves. We disrespect women and fight over religion.
On your part, on some occasions, and leaders like you spoke of self-dependency in industrialization. This has been another area of our failing Netaji.
You would appreciate that India was actually a colonial economy par excellence – when we exported raw materials and Britain dumped the manufactured goods.
From our Asian brothers like Japanese, we need to learn corrective steps on these fronts.
India attained its freedom from British raj in 1947 but it soon submerged into some kind of stagnancy, some kind of bondage to a particular political party and more so the particular dynasty. That was our unbecoming !
At this juncture as the nation awaits your birthday once again, Netaji, my observations can easily lead to ponder where the country and more so the people – you loved so much - had taken a wrong turn.
* We have education but we have a large army of unemployed people. We have issues about Haves and Have Nots.
* Our youths are also work-shirkers. We not only want 'jobs' of our choice; but we also have homesickness and hence we desire that the jobs should be at our own home towns and locations around that.
ends
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