Netaji’s nephew, grandnephew differ on RSS’s reverence

Two of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s family members have observed in different voices the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s holding of a major programme commemorating Bose’s birthday in Kolkata. Chandra Bose, grandnephew has held that the two ‘contrasting’ ideologies cannot coexist, referring to Sangh’s saying that it’s moving along Netaji’s vision of building a glorious nation. Ardhendu Bose, a nephew of Netaji, says Sangh is a ‘great organisation’ that has been ‘misunderstood’.

Chandra Bose, who had contested against Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in the 2016 West Bengal assembly elections as a BJP candidate, was seen sharing the stage with Banerjee on Monday in a programme for celebrating Netaji’s birth anniversary. He, however, defends his presence.

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“Every year, we visit the statue on Netaji’s birthday. The Bose family has attended official programmes earlier as well. Last year too, I had gone. This year, the only difference was that I went up to the stage where the chief minister sat, instead of being on the other stage (meant for guests). It was an official, government function, not of the Trinamool Congress,” he told Deccan Herald.

In the RSS-organised function, where Netaji was offered tributes, Ardhendu Bose was also present. “He went and attended in his personal capacity. We were not invited. We may have considered the invitation. We appreciate (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat’s call for following Netaji’s path. But two contrasting ideologies (of Sangh’s ideologues, and of Bose) cannot coexist. Netaji was a fierce secularist, a Bharatiya, not a Hindu nationalist,” Chandra Bose said.

Ardhendu Bose – who attended Sangh’s programme on Monday – states: “They (Sangh) have always had respect for Netaji. They have not been displaying it. I was invited by the Sangh to come and join this programme which I did… happy to do. I think it’s a great organisation… so it’s misunderstood.”

Ardhendu recalled that Netaji and KB Hedgewar (the RSS founder) had worked together in the Congress. On the comparison of Netaji’s ideology with that of Sangh’s, he feels that there were different paths but the goal was the same. “A lot (of members) of my family says it was not (similar). But I beg to differ… No ideologies could be the same. Everyone goes on his own track, but the ultimate goal is the same,” he told Deccan Herald.