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Journalism of Courage
Political parties in West Bengal have always tried to tap into the legacy of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by inducting his family members. With Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Bose resigning from the BJP on Wednesday, the party has lost its Netaji connect in the state — notwithstanding the Central government’s initiatives to pay tribute to the freedom fighter — and its efforts to win the support of the Bengali intelligentsia have received a setback.
Chandra Bose while announcing his departure from the BJP said he could not work with the party “under present circumstances” and that “polarisation, vote-bank politics and divisive politics” had ruined the BJP’s chances in West Bengal. State BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said Chandra Bose had been inactive in the party for the last few years and his absence would not have any impact. “We are talking about Chandrayaan and not Chandra Bose. For quite a long time, he was not at all in touch with the party. He has been absent from political activities. He was not at all active … Therefore, it is not surprising that he is quitting the party,” said Bhattacharya.
However, BJP insiders said the development could dent the party’s electoral prospects in the state in the Lok Sabha polls as Bose’s resignation could send a wrong signal to the electorate. “The party has given the state unit a target of winning 35 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal. For this, we need to get support from all quarters of life. Receiving the support of Bengali intellectuals is crucial to reach out to a large number of people. If people like Chandra Bose leave our party, it sends a wrong message to people. Moreover, parties in Bengal have greatly benefitted by aligning with Bose’s family,” said a senior leader who did not wish to be named.
The link between political parties and Netaji’s family runs back decades. The Forward Bloc that Netaji established in 1939 after breaking away from the Congress took forward his legacy in West Bengal and among its stalwarts was his elder brother and freedom fighter Sarat Chandra Bose.
Sarat Chandra Bose’s son Amiya Nath Bose was a Forward Bloc MP from Arambagh (1967-’71). One of his other sons, Subrata Bose, was also a Forward Bloc MP from Barasat (2004-‘09) and before that an MLA from Shyampukur (2001-‘04).
A third son, Sisir Kumar Bose, was a Congress MLA (1982-’87) from Chowringhee constituency in central Kolkata. In 1996, his wife Krishna Bose became an MP for the Congress from Jadavpur constituency. However, after Mamata Banerjee formed Trinamool Congress (TMC) by breaking away from the Congress, Krishna switched parties. She was a TMC MP from the same constituency from 1998 to 2004.
Her son and Harvard professor Sugata Bose was the TMC MP from Jadavpur from 2014 to 2019). By inducting Sugata Bose, also a grandnephew of Netaji, into the party, the TMC continued to enjoy Bose’s legacy after coming to power in West Bengal in 2011.
Ahead of the Assembly elections in 2016, the BJP made an attempt to establish its own Bose family connection by inducting Chandra Bose, the son of Amiya Nath Bose, into the party. Unlike his family members, Chandra Bose was unsuccessful in his electoral forays, losing the Assembly polls in 2016 and the Lok Sabha elections three years later. Bose was appointed the West Bengal BJP vice-president in 2016 but dropped during an organisational reshuffle in 2020 as he has been critical of the party on several issues. He had opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019.
The TMC took a dig at the BJP after Chandra Bose resigned, saying that the ideology of Netaji and the Jan Sangh were poles apart. The party’s state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said, “The DNA of Netaji’s ideology and that of the Jan Sangh, the Hindu Mahasabha, or the BJP don’t match. None of these outfits fought for India’s independence while Netaji was a fierce freedom fighter who never compromised with the country’s freedom. Netaji was also a secular person while the Jan Sangh and the RSS believe in Hindu Rashtra. Therefore, it had to happen. The BJP borrowed and hijacked Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from the Congress and Netaji as they did not have any credible freedom fighters.”
The TMC leader further said, “Someone close to Netaji or his family couldn’t have stayed in the BJP. A believer in Netaji’s ideology has no place in a party that believes in divisive politics. The BJP has no regard for Netaji’s ideology and no sympathy for the freedom fighter. They only want to use the name of Netaji because the BJP lacks a credible name connected with India’s freedom struggle.”
