NETAJI - THE LEADER WITH A MISSION

June 20, 2008 by vinayras

Continued from page 2

The British never for a moment believed that Indians had the strength to pick up arms and fight them but Netaji made this possible. And history is a witness to the truth that India got her independence only by revolutionary stand taken by Netaji and in the words of Lord Attlee, the role of Gandhi was "minimal". When Gandhi commended his non-cooperation programme to the Indian nation at the annual session of the Congress at Nagpur on 1920 he said, "If India had the sword today, she would have drawn the sword." So it was not as if Gandhi was opposed to the armed combat but was forced to believe that his country men lacked the capacity to militarily fight the enemy, and a much better equipped one at that. Hence Satyagraha was the only viable weapon he had at hand and one that proved to be highly successful in demonstrating to the British that Indians were capable of organizing themselves into a united front.

All said and done the respect that Netaji had for Gandhi was unquestionable. It was Netaji who gave him the title of Father of the Nation. He said, "…The service which Mahatma Gandhi had rendered to India and to the cause of India\\'s freedom is so unique and unparalleled that his name will be written in letters of gold in our national history for all time." Well, the tragic and some times disturbing fact is that Netaji and his contribution to India\\'s freedom has been relegated to the background. Today a child in school is being given a very distorted picture of history. I sincerely hope this situation is rectified soon for otherwise the damage done will be dreadful. But sadly, we aren\\'t even looking in this direction. Our minds are preoccupied with other issues.

How little it takes to make our lives unbearable…the broken top button of the shirt, a traffic jam, a tyre puncture, Indian team performing badly …. Everything slightly inconvenient makes us look up to the God and complain, crib, curse. We waste time in trivialities like the protest against the Miss World pageant which was appalling to say the least. We seem to ignore larger issues that are facing us in the eye. Issues like bride burning, child marriages, sati, female infanticide which have debauched our society. Issues like corruption are staggering. But what is even more shocking is out total indifference to the situation. For long we have been swallowing our anger with our pride that we have begun to get used to its taste. Injustice is to us, second nature. We thrive on it and let others thrive on it.

Post independent India has been through some really rough weather. Today our hard-earned freedom for which countless men and women laid down their lives is being threatened by various foes. Why have we not been able to learn form the experiences of our past leaders, sages, thinkers and scholars? Our forefathers showed us that courage and sacrifice can triumph against overwhelming odds. Netaji said, "… I would like to remind you that a revolutionary is one who believes in the justice of a cause, and who believes that the cause is bound to prevail in the long run. He who gets depressed over failures is no revolutionary. The motto for a revolutionary is: Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst…Hope is a quality we share with the spider. He makes us feel positive. Hope makes us forget failures. Hope brings hope. But for a leader, hope takes much more. It takes more than just waiting to make hope arrive on the horizon. He has to pledge his life. Netaji was hopeful. Still believing that his tomorrow can be bright. If the spider wouldn\\'t give up, why should we? The spirit of our past leaders knew no fatigue or death and by their abiding faith in India and their mission, they had shaped the destiny of future India. The optimist that he was, he said, "…And if we fail in that too (attaining independence) then there will indeed be World War III to give us another opportunity to strike for our freedom." Let us drive inspiration form the pages of his life. Fortunately for posterity, he was also a prolific writer and his own letters have survived.

For a whole section of Indians then, Netaji was a lighthouse of hope. Fifty years of Independence and we have done all that we could to extinguish that flicker of hope. We have allowed his sufferings and those countless soldiers to be diluted. Where are all those men who should have been worthy successors of our priceless heritage? Where all those modern crusaders who were are suppose to finish the task left behind by our forefathers? They paid the price for the kind of mission they had embarked upon. After all nothing can be got free, a price has to be paid for everything. With our any expectation of a miracle, this country must do all it can to see that the current scenario is corrected. Society is full of issues to fight and the least we can expect from our leaders is concrete evidence that these issues are being talked. Let our youth take charge for this is their country and they are its future.

We are not mere syncopates. We believed in Netaji. We identified with his mission. We shared his dreams. We were his partners in his fight for liberation who contributed our bit, suffered and sacrificed for our country. To the youth I seek their attention. For on their shoulders rest the future of India.

Netaji taught us to stand up and be counted for values that count - discipline, sacrifice, patriotism and good old hard work. Fifty years after independence and these fundamental values still count. His efforts are testimonials of his determination to succeed, come what may.

… He spread his wings and gave his country the opportunity to test untried waters. The results did not matter. The fact that the chance did. He made the world envious of him, envious of India and her achievements. Truly, only Netaji could have done that! Let our youth take over form where Netaji had left. We are hopefully moving into the 21st century. The young must wake up to that. And with the confidence of a winner say, Hum honge kamayab.

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