Netaji and the politics of legacy and memory

Mohandas Gandhi’s birth in Porbandar ensured that all state government employees get a holiday on October 2. When Jawaharlal arrived in a Kashmiri Brahmin family of Allahabad on November 14, the seed of brown Children’s Day was born. Decades of government propaganda helped publicize unverifiable heartwarming anecdotes about child welfare priorities of the Indian Union’s first Prime Minister. What is verifiable though is that the regime of the great do-gooder of children also ruled for long years over the highest number of hungry children in the world. But then, Henry Kissinger also won a Nobel peace prize. If you have not heard of the ‘National Integration Day’ of November 19, you should be ashamed of yourself. That is the birthday of the lone child of the great man of Children’s Day fame. You should mark your calendars for that auspicious day this year.

Now, close you eyes and imagine your worst enemy. Do you feel any pent up anger? If yes, you may be lacking in the Sadbhavna Quotient (SQ — you first heard it here). I suggest you head to the Sadbhavna Day celebrations that happen on August 20 every year. On this holiest of days, the first Prime Minister who inherited his mother’s constitutional position was born. The sarkar bahadur at Delhi sends memoranda on such unforgettable days to all central government departments. A trip to the nearest central government office on one of these days might get you some chai-biskit to smoothly complement that ‘sadbhavna’ or ‘national integration’ feeling. Browns tend to get emotional on holy days with free chai.

On 23rd January, the only MP who turned up at Sansad Bhavan Parliament  to garland the picture of Netaji (not from Saifai) on his birthday was LK Advani. Some MPs from West Bengal were busy in similar events in their state. The Indira Congressites were tired from the January 17 cheering of the great-grandson of children’s welfare champion Number one. The burden of extra cylinders must be tiring. Netaji also figured in the expanded pantheon that loomed large behind the podium from where the great grandson demanded cylinders. The shape of the select pantheon of past presidents of the Indian National Congress (which Indira Congress claims to be the successor of) oddly resembled a nine-headed Raavan with the non-family Gandhi at the centre.

Electoral desperation forces many things given that Bose’s white cap was snatched from his head by Nehru-Gandhi Congressites after the 1939 Tripuri session. Netaji’s subsequent military cap is too uncomfortable for those who would want to erase various other currents and means integral to the anti-colonial struggle in the subcontinent. Greater awareness of such trends may make many ask about the differences between freedom and brown-mask-government, liberation and transfer of power. That can be uncomfortable.

This erasure has enabled Messrs Hindu Mahasabha-JanSangh and Grandsons to add past Congress presidents to their sordid pantheon of Hitler-lovers and British informers. In a subcontinent where erasure of public memory and creation of false legacies is a fine art, even the anti-communal socialist Bhagat Singh can be wrapped in a saffron turban for 272+ mileage. The lure of power is reflected in the eagerness of liliputs to stand on the shoulder of giants.

Such false bhakti can be easily tested. The PMO admits that there are 20 secret files relating to Netaji’s disappearance. The complicity of all the players in this conspiracy of silence and evasion needs to be exposed. Can the BJP guarantee that it will publicly disclose uncensored versions of these files if its alliance attains power in 2014?

The author is a brain scientist at MIT @gargac