“Netaji’s ideals still relevant”

Historians have yet to accord Netaji the position he deserves, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Friday on the occasion of the 112th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

“Netaji’s ideals are still relevant today. He has left an indelible mark on the political thought and consciousness of the country and researchers were finding new meanings and inspiration from his writings…His vision was of a socialist and secular independent India,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said, after paying floral tributes to Netaji at his statue. “The world today is being rocked by terrorism; capitalism is pushing it from one crisis to another” the Chief Minister said.

No religion

“Terrorism has no religion,” he said, pointing out that it is unfortunate that some politicians are blaming the Muslims for the Mumbai terror attacks; but the minority community was not responsible for the Malegaon blasts.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said exploitation by big capital and the resulting economic crisis had spread across the world.

Capitalism will remain capitalism, he said, sceptical whether the change in the U.S. presidency will change matters.

The State government will provide assistance to the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies in the city so that more research is done on his life and writings and people get a better understanding of his thoughts and ideals, the Chief Minister said.

Italian Ambassador Alessandro Quaroni, whose father, the late Pietro Quaroni, had given Netaji a false passport in the name of Orlando Mazzotta in Kabul during the great escape of 1941, delivered the Netaji Oration 2009 of the Netaji Research Bureau “The Kabul Connection: Subhas Chandra Bose, Pietro Quaroni and Indo-Afghan-Italian Relations” at the 100-year-old Netaji Bhavan on the occasion.

Based on his father’s private papers and records from the Italian archives Ambassador Quaroni spoke of Netaji’s adventure in Afghanistan.

Under the impression that Netaji might travel from Afghanistan through the Middle East to Europe, the British had ordered his assassination in Turkey. Netaji, however, went to Germany via the Soviet Union under the name of Orlando Mazzotta.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi released the new paperback edition of Volume 3 of Netaji’s collected works titled “In Burmese Prisons.” He paid tribute to Netaji who is an “undying inspiration for our country.”