A nation awaits
Source : Google photo of Netaji Bose and his statue in New Delhi
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Synopsis: As India celebrates the newly established statue of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose in the most prominent place in New Delhi, it also gives a clear message to the world that a new India is rising and rising fast. With its Central Vista project in which a part of the completed section was opened by the Prime Minister, it clearly shows what a beautiful capital city Delhi has become that is befitting to a rising star.
As the glowing sun set behind the President’s palace in New Delhi on September 8, 2022, a reporter asked her cameraman to focus on the setting sun and said that the sun will set on the Central Vista today for the last time because tomorrow it will shine on a completely different vista that the country will see for the first time.
On this 8th day of September 2022, the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi will unveil the 28 ft tall statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose carved in black granite for the first time under the canopy where the white marble statue of King George V used to stay. The massive stone weighing over 200 tons was brought from a quarry in Telangana from where it was moved to Delhi on a specially made truck with 100 wheels that had to travel slowly to cover the distance of over 1650 kms. It was then carved by a group of sculptors and polished to perfection. It is the first such massive hand carved statue in India that inspires awe and admiration.
The British ruled India for over 250 years and left behind their signs of rule everywhere when they left India in 1947 that included numerous statues of their king and queen, lords and viceroys, roads and public buildings named after their royalty to remind their enslaved subjects who was their master.
In 1911 they decided to move their capital from Kolkata to Delhi, so they brought in an architect called Edwin L. Lutyens who was tasked to lay out a grandiose plan for their new capital called New Delhi which was to be right next to the Old City of Delhi of the Moghul Empire. So Lutyens made plans for the President’s palace, North block, South block to house various government ministries, the parliament building to be circular in shape and a grand boulevard in the front called King’s Way with wide canals on both sides. They built a massive monument called The India gate at the end of the King’s Way and numerous temporary shelters for the armed services as their office and nothing more.
It took many years to complete the buildings, but they did not complete the entire plan of Lutyens due to perhaps shortage of funds or the apathy of the British at some point.
They placed the white marble statue of their king George V under the stone canopy from where the cold eyes of the king gazed at his Empire and the new secretariat, the President’s palace that was then called the Viceroy’s palace, the round shaped parliament building, and all other buildings built of red sandstone and grandiose in character in line with their arrogance and ambition. (Read my blog here called A broken nose)
They left India in 1947 but not willingly. In fact, they were forced out by a great freedom fighter named Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who organized the Indian national Army (INA) that he headed and fought the British forces tooth and nail to gain freedom for all Indians. Most of the INA soldiers were the well-trained ex-soldiers of the British Army who knew how to fight their erstwhile masters. Then came the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans so the Japan surrendered, and the World War II ended thus the Japanese support of the INA and Netaji waned and finally ended resulting in the disbanding of the INA.
The British then arrested the key leaders of the INA and put them on trial in the Red Fort in Delhi and charged them with treason that was punishable with death. This was the fuse that lit the nationwide anger of the people who took to the streets for violent protests. They could not tolerate their freedom fighters to be treated like common criminals and demanded their immediate release. This protest took the lives of more than 450 British officers before it spread to the British Navy where the Indian officers raised the Indian flag on all their ships and tore down the British flags.
This put tremendous fear into the British authorities who realized that the protest could take a very nasty turn for them, so they made complete evacuation plans for all the British from India from two ports of Bombay and Karachi. They knew that their rule in India was over because of Netaji Bose and his army of dedicated patriots who had already liberated parts of Northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Bose had formed his government in exile and marched on to Delhi. When the war in Japan ended, Bose vanished but claims were made that he had died in a plane crash in Taiwan.
The British left India in a hurry but made sure to leave behind a sycophant Congress Party and their leaders who promised to continue to look after the British interest after 1947. They also made sure that India is divided into three parts creating Pakistan so that India could never rise as a nation due to its enemies on both sides. This was the revenge they took for their humiliation and exit from India in a shameful manner because of a patriot like Bose who proved that the British Sun did set never to rise again. It also started the collapse of the British colonial rule elsewhere in the World.
The sycophants of the British had no intention of honoring the national hero Bose in any shape or form after the Independence and banned the now disbanded soldiers of the INA to include them in the New Indian Army and Netaji Bose was declared a war criminal to be caught and handed over to the British for trial. But Bose had simply vanished and could never be found.
This bit of history is important to know how Netaji became such a national hero who brought Independence to India but the Congress Party denied him a place in the history and any importance so their paid historians said that all credit for Independence goes to Gandhi and Nehru .This was the propaganda the Congress Party continued to spread around the world and named numerous roads and buildings in their name on order to glorify them but the Indians knew better and grieved for this neglect of their hero.
Then came a change in India in 2014 when a nationalist leader called Narendra Modi emerged and won massive support of the voters who wanted a change that Mr. Modi had promised. He promised to end the family and dynastic rule forever and end the corruption. He promised that the true heroes of the Independence movement will be recognized and honored.
He recognized the INA and its contribution in the freedom struggle, so the remaining soldiers were given pension and their sons and daughters were given jobs. They were included in the Republic Day parade on January 26th in Delhi for the first time and the floats of the INA were included. Netaji was remembered and eulogized as the great hero of India who brought freedom to all. Narendra Modi publicly announced what the public knew all along.
It did not sit well with the sycophants of the British, but they were out of power and have steadily lost elections in most states of the country because people have realized how corrupt they are and how much money they have stolen since 1947. Most of them are charged with corruption and are on bail awaiting trial.
Modi also inaugurated the INA museum in the Red Fort that shows how INA fought the British and how it liberated parts of India. It shows how Netaji escaped from his house arrest in Kolkata to reach Berlin where he met with Adolf Hitler and asked for his help in defeating their mutual enemy England.
But his dream of setting up a grand statue of Netaji Bose in the heart of New Delhi came true yesterday when he unveiled a 28 ft. tall granite statue of Netaji and offered flowers after taking off his shoes as a profound show of respect to the national hero. It was a poetic justice to see Netaji statue at the same spot where King George V statue was seen until 1968. It had remained empty since then until yesterday because the previous attempts to glorify Nehru or Gandhi there had resulted in massive protest from all who love Netaji.
Perhaps King George V is squirming in his grave somewhere to know that his enemy now occupies the place from where he used to look down on his Empire so heartlessly. If Gandhi and Nehru had been buried, they too would have squirmed in their graves to see such a majestic statue of the hero they had scorned in the name of their own personal ambitions.
I am sure the invited guests of the diplomatic corps listening to the Prime Minister’s speech also included the British who probably felt uneasy to witness such a ceremony to honor a man whom they wanted to prosecute as war criminal and who forced them out of India in great humiliation. How the times have changed!
Here is a video that will show you with English narration the unveiling of the Netaji statue and the inauguration of the Central Vista project by the Prime Minister yesterday. The parliament house is nearly complete but the rest of the buildings that will house all the ministries and numerous other buildings to house the officers of the armed forces are under construction. The project is supposed to be completed by the end of 2023.
Only Washington D.C. and Paris have the Central Vista, but I have seen both of them. None are as impressive and as beautiful as the Central Vista of New Delhi. With its acres of garden, trees and lakes, it sparkles with lights in the evening as wonderland.
Source: U Tube video of PM Modi unveiling the statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Delhi on 8th of September 2022
Then Modi did something else. He had promised that all vestige of the British rule in India must end so that the people can feel that they are indeed free and can decide their own future without outside interference. So, he changed the name of Raaj Path (King’s Way) to Kartavya Path meaning Duty so that all who tread on it will know that they have a duty toward the country be they high or lowly officials. No one henceforth will rule over the people but will have a duty to serve them.
He then inaugurated the splendid Central Vista project that starts at the President’s palace and ends in the India gate covering a distance of 3 kms or more. This entire length of road has been widened and with red stone sidewalks. It is now well lit with hundreds of modern streetlamp posts, improved underground drainage system, acres of green lawns and hundreds of trees planted on both side of the majestic canals.
There are 66 public toilets, hundreds of red sandstone benches for the people to sit on and boating facilities in the 3 km long rectangular lakes on both sides. There are parking spaces and dedicated stalls for vendors of ice creams and other foods for those who may now enjoy the Central Vista as never before. When Modi vowed to remove all symbols of the British occupation of India in his Red Fort speech a few days ago, he meant it.
When Modi inducted into the Indian Navy the most modern aircraft carrier INS- Vikrant built entirely in the Kochi shipyard, it ushered in the new era of self-reliance in the production of all its defense needs so that India will become self-sufficient. While India still imports Rafale fighter jets from France and S-400 missile system from Russia, the dependence on foreign weapons will decrease as the country speeds up the Make in India process. (Read my blog here called INS Vikrant)
He proudly displayed the Naval flag fluttering on the mighty INS –Vikrant bearing the Indian flag and the 0ctagonal symbol of the navy of Shivaji who had fought the Moghuls in the 15th century with his mighty navy of over 500 ships. The symbol of King’s Cross has been removed from the Navy flag.
I used to pass by the empty canopy near the India Gate and always wished it to be the place for a grand statue of Netaji Bose someday but I never said anything to anyone. May be Mr. Modi heard this wish in the hearts of millions of Indians like me and decided that this honor to Bose was long overdue. It has gladdened the hearts of all who loved Netaji Bose including myself.
Source : Google photo of the unveiling of the statue of Netaji Bose
Modi did not create new history yesterday. Rather he rewrote the history that had denied the honor deserved by the hero called Bose. From his pedestal he now looks at the new India rising to its full glory in the rising sun behind the Presidential palace and knows that the country he loved and sacrificed his life for now grows steadily to take its rightful place as a mighty and modern nation.
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