As a Nation, we have forgotten the heroism displayed by our valiant soldiers of freedom. We have meekly believed in the story of Ahimsa, the non-violent movement enabling people to tell the British to quit India, and they did so meekly. This is the narrative we have been fed with - that Congress, the great champions of freedom under the troika of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and their great followers - Kripalani, Rajagopalachari, Rajendraprasad, Pant, Abul Kalam Azad, was instrumental in getting freedom and that the British left India out of a goodwill gesture. Only they played a little mischief by partitioning India just to satisfy the ego of their pampered poster boy, Jinna, in the process creating mayhem that killed millions, raped hundreds of thousands, and uprooted millions - mostly hapless Hindus.
Nice story, a good bedtime story for a Nation that was sleeping for 50 years, whose youngsters were and still are busy making money or searching for jobs, whose scholars gaped with wide-eyed wonder at anything imported from the "scientific West", and propagated anything that would eulogize their favourite ideals imported from Russia and China. In short, we are spoon-fed with lies, lies, and more lies.
Yet, we must learn and uphold our history, the truth. We must remember the saga of bravery as opposed to treachery and cowardice in the name of Ahimsa, we must get to know the collaborators who were handed over the transfer of power like the dad who hands over the key of the car to the son. A new set of elites ruled India and they created opportunism, corruption, nepotism, and all associated sorts of evils to perpetuate their rule. They relegated the real freedom fighters, the ones who gave their everything for the Nation, to the dustbin, to live and die in utter poverty. Their pet media did not even report the predicaments of these people. Anil Das, a close associate of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a veteran revolutionary, and fighter of INA, died in a free bed, unattended, in dire poverty. So did Neera Arya, a brave woman fighter of Netaji's secret service who once saved Netaji's life by killing her own husband, who was a British intelligence officer and who had conspired to kill Netaji. Saraswati Rajamani, christened Mani by her parents, was living a life of plenty until the day she saw and heard Netaji. Afterward, she dedicated her life to the cause of the Azad Hind Government. Neera and Saraswati traveled to India as secret service agents and brought valuable information about the British army movement. Mani had to live in the disguise of a boy for two years to serve her mission. After Netaji's departure and recapture of Singapore and Malaya by the British forces, Neera was captured and underwent extreme torture in a British camp. Her breasts were pulled out using a breast ripper. Eventually, when she was released after independence, she lived in utter poverty but never took a rupee from the Government, which treated Netaji loyals like her with extreme indignity. She became a small-time flower seller in Hyderabad. Saraswati, too lived in penury with a small pension and a dingy accommodation until she received a grant much later in 2006 from the Tamilnadu government. The two great spies who dedicated their lives to India did not even find a mention in any of the books. But hopefully, a time will come when the Nation will be forced to remember her heroes when the youth will finally wake up from their long slumber and know the reals from the fakes.
Vande Mataram