India’s bid to shun global aloofness with Subhash Chandra Bose on Kartavya Path
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, September 8: Subhash Chandra Bose will now watch over the Raisina Hills, the power centre of democratic India, as the country shifts stance from the Nehruvian aloofness to an active actor in the global politics.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled the statue of Bose on Kartavya Path that at one end connects with the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and on the other with the hexagon circle that smells the sweats of the hardworking people, rushing to their destinations.
Bose was a rebel within Congress with a cause, for he didn’t believe that the Gandhian peaceful way of freedom struggle would help India to gain Independence. He was courageous to escape the watch of the British to become an active actor in the global order that was sent in turmoil in the Second World War.
The youth in the country hold two portraits in their room for inspiration, and they belong to Bose and Swami Vivekanand.
Bose had the confidence in the strength of the arms of the people in India to take on the mighty British empire, while Swami Vivekanand was the foremost flagbearer of India’s cultural nationalism.
With Bose taking the centre stage on Kartavya path, India very subtly is moving away from the pacifism of Gandhi and aloofness of Nehru in the world order.
The unveiling of the statue of Bose came hours after the outcome of the 16th round of the military commanders of India and China to disengage from the Gogra-Hotsprings in the eastern Ladakh where the People’s Liberation Army has been camping in a hostile posture since 2020. That the Chinese agreed to disengage should be seen as a mark of the strategic withdrawal of the expansionist Beijing in the face of determined Indian forces who have shown the might to match the firepower of the dragons.
“Subhas Chandra Bose was such a great man who was beyond the challenge of position and resources. His acceptance was such that the whole world considered him a leader. He had courage and self-respect. He had ideas, he had visions. He had leadership abilities and had policies,” said Modi in his speech after the inauguration of ‘Kartavya Path’.
The name of Raj Path has been changed to Kartavya Path as a mark of ending the reminder of the slavery that King’s Way stood for, since the Viceroy’s Residence is now the Rashtrapati Bhavan where an elected person holds the highest Constitutional office of the country.
While Modi expounded on Bose, who has been very fleetingly taught in the history books within the country, while the diplomatic community, which was in full attendance, would still need to acquaint with the personality and significance of the man who founded ‘Azad Hind Fauj’, the message to the global community from the Prime Minister was unequivocal that India will be an active partner in the global order and will push back those who will harm the national interest of the country.
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