RSS plans to celebrate Netaji's birthday is to "partially exploit" his legacy : Daughter
Kolkata (PTI): Amidst the fanfare over RSS' plans to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary in the city on January 23, his daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff has said that it is being done to "partially exploit" her father's legacy.
RSS's ideology and the nationalist leader's ideas of securlarism and inclusiveness are "poles apart and do not coincide", she said.
As far as ideology is concerned, the Congress has lot more in common with Netaji than any other party in the country, Bose-Pfaff said.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will address a public programme at Shahid Minar ground in the city to commemorate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary.
Bose-Pfaff said the BJP and RSS do not reflect the idea of respecting all religions as preached by Netaji, who was a devout Hindu but believed in respecting other faiths. He was in favour of a productive cooperation between members of different religions, she said.
"RSS and BJP do not necessarily reflect this attitude ... If you want to put a simple label, they are rightists, and Netaji was a leftist," she told PTI over phone from Germany where she lives.
"From what I hear about the RSS ideology, I would agree that it and Netaji's ideology are poles apart. The two value systems do not coincide. It will certainly be good if the RSS felt it wanted to embrace Netaji's ideals and ideas. Many different groups want to celebrate Netaji's birthday in different ways and a number of them necessarily agree with his ideas," Bose-Pfaff told PTI in a telephonic interview from Germany, where she lives.
She agreed that the fanfare over the celebration of her father's birth anniversary is to "partially exploit his legacy".
Asked whether Netaji was a critic of the RSS, she said "I don't know any quote (of Netaji) which I can give you. He may have made critical statements about RSS members. I know what his (Netaji's) views are and about RSS. The two value systems do not coincide. RSS and Netaji's ideology of secularism do not coincide with each other," she said.
Speaking on the recent pomp and fanfare over Netaji's birth anniversary celebrations, she lauded the BJP-led government at the Centre for taking a "lot of initiatives" to honour him.
"This has two aspects. After Independence, the official Congress stand on Netaji was reserved and not shared by all Congressmen. It wanted to keep the narrative that it was only the civil disobedience movement that led to the country's freedom. But after Netaji files were declassified we came to know that Indian National Army (INA) played a very key role in it," she said.
On the second aspect, Pfaff wondered whether BJP would have honoured Netaji if he had held divergent views from that of the present-day government. "The BJP has made a lot of effort to honour Netaji. With any politician you have first to allow them to look at his/her interest. If Netaji was alive today and held a different view from that of the government, then the BJP would not have honoured him. So (in this case) it is their interest that is served," she said.
The Trinamool Congress and BJP had locked horns to appropriate Netaji's legacy on his 125th birth anniversary ahead of the assembly polls in 2021.
In 2015, the West Bengal government released 64 files on the leader held by the home department. The Narendra Modi government at the Centre released 100 files on him the next year.
After Independence, the Centre had formed three inquiry commissions to unravel the mystery of Netaji's disappearance.
Two of them -- the Shah Nawaz Commission and Khosla Commission were formed by the Congress governments and concluded that Bose died in an air crash on August 18, 1945, soon after taking off from Taihoku airport in Taiwan.
The third one -- the Mukherjee Commission formed by the BJP-led NDA government said he did not.
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Haryana CM chastises AAP govt in Punjab for 'playing politics' over sharing Nangal Dam water
Chandigarh (PTI): Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday claimed his state was demanding water in the same quantity and ratio as earlier and slammed the AAP-led Punjab government for playing politics over the water-sharing issue.
His remarks came just hours before the start of an all-party meeting at 2 pm convened by Haryana government Haryana to discuss the row over Punjab refusing to release more water to the BJP-ruled neighbouring state.
On Friday, a similar meeting was held in Punjab on the Bhakra Beas Management Board's (BBMB) decision to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana which saw parties putting up a united stand on the issue.
The BBMB's decision to release water to Haryana on Wednesday came despite the Punjab government's strong objection, as it claimed that the neighbouring state has already utilised 103 per cent of its allocated share of water.
Coming out strongly against the Bhangwant Mann government's stance on the matter, Saini said, "If anyone comes to our home, the first thing we do is to offer a glass of water before we talk. It is surprising that politics can be played to such extent that there would be a question mark on drinking water."
There should be no politics over it, he told reporters here on the sidelines of an anti-drug event launched by Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya were also present at the event.
"It is unfortunate that the drinking water supply has been stopped. Nobody does this," an exasperated Haryana chief minister said while pointing out that water consumption increased during the sizzling months of April, May and June.
Replying to a reporter's question, Saini said, "We are demanding water in the same quantity and ratio in which Haryana was getting earlier. But we did not know there would be politics over drinking water."
The people of both Punjab and Haryana have come to understand the politics in play, he said convincingly.
Asked whether Haryana will call a special assembly session to discuss the water issue as Punjab has decided to do so on Monday, Saini said, "We will call it when the need arises. We will discuss it (water issue) with the leaders of all parties in today's meeting."
The Haryana chief minister also chastised the AAP government in Punjab for deploying police at the Nangal Dam, which is downstream of the Bhakra Dam. "This is wrong. It (water) is a natural resource neither I nor Mann can create."
The BBMB has also called a special meeting on Saturday evening, amid the ongoing row.
On Friday, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan chaired a meeting in New Delhi that advised Punjab to accede to the Bhakra Beas Management Board's decision to release 4,500 cusecs of extra water from the Bhakra dam to Haryana for the next eight days to meet the urgent water requirements on the state and some parts of Rajasthan.
The Haryana government has demanded 8,500 cusecs of water while Punjab is already giving 4,000 cusecs for drinking purposes.
On Thursday, Punjab Minister Harjot Singh Bains and AAP workers staged a 'dharna' at the Nangal dam in the Rupnagar district, claimed to have taken "control" over it, locked the room from where water supply is regulated and handed over its key to police.
Punjab Police have beefed up security at the dam.
The BBMB regulates water distribution from Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are the partnering states that meet their water requirement for different purposes, including irrigation, from Bhakra and Pong dams.
