BOSE FAMILY WELCOMES CELEBRATION OF NETAJI’S 125th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
Monday 28 December 2020
On behalf of the family of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, we join the people of India in welcoming the recent announcement by the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of the formation of a High-Level Committee to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Netaji on 23 January 2022. This Committee, to be chaired by the Minister for Home Affairs of the Government of India the Honourable Shri Amit Shah, will meet and decide on a one-year-long programme of activities.
We as the daughter and niece of Netaji, are pleased that the Bose family has been invited to be represented on this Committee, and to join eminent citizens, historians, experts, and those associated with the Indian National Army.
We also welcome other initiatives in the recent past by the Government of India including the release of hitherto classified files on Netaji during 2015-16 which was a long-standing demand led by the Bose family, and the inauguration of a museum dedicated to Netaji in the Red Fort at Delhi on 23 January 2019.
We note with appreciation that the High Level Committee will guide commemoration activities not only across India but also in other locations around the globe including in South East Asia, Germany and Japan. The coming years 2021-22 also mark the 80th anniversary of three events in Germany during 1941-42 in which Netaji was instrumental: at a meeting of the Indo-German Association on 11 September 1942 in Hamburg “Jana GanaMana” was played for the first time as the Indian National Anthem; the salutation “Jai Hind” was introduced by the Indian Legion in Germany during 1941; and Subhas Chandra Bose was hailed as Netaji for the first time.
The family of Netaji look forward to a celebration of the life of a man who was hailed by Mahatma Gandhi as the “Patriot of Patriots” who fought for an independent and united India. He had a great vision for India where privileges based on birth, caste, religion or gender would not continue to exist and where equal opportunities would be thrown open to all.
