Even today if you ask a Bengali, “Who is your favourite hero?”, the impetuous answer will invariably be Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose .
Netaji’s hometown celebrates his birthday each year with an emotional bond as every Bengalese’s heart has an emotional cord for Netaji.
In Mahendrapur outskirt of Kolkata, Nitai Chandra Biswas, an old man now, celebrates Netaji’s birthday at his home with some of his close friends every year. All of them share a common belief that their hero is still alive and would come back one day to his beloved Bengali brethren. Like every year, Nitai observed Netaji’s 125thbirthday this year. A special lunch and dinner was offered to all the invitees.
Nitai, has been one of the most ardent followers of Netaji since his childhood. During his school days, his Principal Shiva Prosad Nag used to tell him tales of Netaji’s exploits and that is when he started idolising Netaji.
Shiva Prosad had written a book titled “Liu Po-Cheng or Netaji?” in 1956 which was banned in India at the time. Shiva Prosad used to celebrate Netaji’s birthday each year with a puja, yogya and firecrackers. After Shiva Prosad Nag’s death, Nitai continued the tradition at his residence.
This year the celebration started in the morning.
An old photograph of Netaji was placed at the center of the 10’ x 12’ room which was well decorated with flowers and garlands. ‘Chandi puja’, ‘Chandi path’, a ‘Maha-yagya’ and a special prayer was conducted for a long life and wellbeing of Netaji and praying for his swift return to India.
“This year, due to lock down and pandemic we could not burst crackers. We only cracked around 5 crackers and only five women played the conch at 12:14 pm, the time of Netaji’s birth.” Nitai said.
Many people were present at Nitai’s residence who had come especially for the ceremony from far flung places all over Bengal. A hearty meal with sweets was served for lunch. In the evening 125 candles were lit by Nitai and his friends. They also sang the ‘INA songs.’
Kesto Kumar Gupta Shaw, a traditional snack shop owner of Kolkata distributed free snacks to all his customers the entire day on 23rd January as it was a part of his ‘family tradition.’ He claims that his great grandfather, Laxmi Narayan Shaw, knew Netaji well, who used to come to their shop for snacks. ‘Piyaji’, or the onion-fritters was his favourite.
Bose’s ability to unite the nation across its diversity made him a true hero to not only Bengalis but to all Indians. Many scripts, research papers, stories, plays have been written about Netaji. Some believe that he died in a plane crash while some deny the very incident. Some say he went back to Himalayas, some say he went to China, and some believe that he came back to India and lived the remainder of his life as ‘Gumnami Baba’.
Dr. Moumita Saha a reputed writer and a historian, mentions in her archival and historical book ‘Swadesi Dumdum’ –
Gandhi visited Dumdum central jail twice to meet the prisoners of war, in April 1939 and in January 1946. Gandhi on his second visit publicly stated, “I believe Netaji is alive. If someone shows me his ashes, even then I will not believe that Subhas is not alive.”
Researchers and historians demand that all the evidence, documents, and files on Netaji’s death mystery should be out in the public domain so that the entire nation along can finally know the truth about it. They say that politics can’t suppress the truth.
“There are so many things happening in the honour of Netaji, National holiday on his birthday to naming places in his honour but the truth of his death is yet to come out in front of us even as we celebrate 125 years of his birth” says a researcher on Netaji’s life.