Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sculpture on the eve of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthday anniversary, at the beach in Puri, Odisha on January 22.
| Photo Credit: PTI
As the nation pays their respects to freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 128th birth anniversary, his grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose renewed his demands seeking the return of Netaji’s ashes to India from Japan’s Renkoji temple.
On his birth anniversary, Mr. Chandra Bose paid respects to his granduncle and posted on social media handle X and stated: “It is time we follow his inclusive ideology to unite all communities as ‘Bharatiyas‘ — to save the nation from disintegration. Jai Hind!”
Mr. Chandra Bose wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 9 and renewed their demands to bring back Netaji’s ashes to India. He also said that it is unfortunate that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s remains are lying in a foreign country. He expressed his discontent over the fact that even after several letters there has been no response about the issue from the PM.
“It is of utmost importance that Netaji’s remains must be brought back to India by 23 January 2025 and a Memorial built in his honour in Delhi on Kartavya Path,” the letter further stated.
Mr. Chandra Bose, a former vice-president of West Bengal BJP and now convener of The Open Platform for Netaji, told The Hindu, “Netaji’s only daughter, Anita Bose Pfaff has also written several letters to the PM. Even today (January 23, 2025), she has appealed. We have not received any response so far. It is a huge insult that the liberator of India, who fought the final battle for India’s freedom, his remains are in a foreign nation when we are erecting his sculptures here and putting garlands on them.” He also stated that this is his last and final letter to the PM on this issue. “The government must respond if they feel that the remains present at Renkoji temple are not Netaji’s and give an official statement about it,” he added.
Previously in July 2024, Mr. Chandra Bose had written a similar letter to the PM but did not elicit any response.
Paying respects
West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose visited Netaji’s residence, called the Netaji Bhavan, in the southern parts of Kolkata to pay his respects to the freedom fighter. He took a tour of the house and learnt more details about his life from his kin.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also paid her respects to Bose and said at a public meeting that it is unfortunate that we know about Netaji’s birthday anniversary but never got to know about his death anniversary. Ms. Banerjee added: “He was a victim of a conspiracy that we never came to know how he passed away. I feel sad. He has fought so much for the nation, but we never found out where he went. This sorrow will remain with us for a lifetime.”
Published – January 23, 2025 09:33 pm IST