Pics: Pareekshith Shet
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, Feb 14: "True history of India has been erased. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose hoisted the first Tricolour in Japan-occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands. We have demanded the renaming of islands as Shaheed and Swaraj," said Chandra Kumar Bose, grandnephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Bose was speaking in an interaction organized by Namo Brigade at Ammanni Ramanna Shetty hall in Udupi on Saturday, February 13. He is in the city to participate in Namo Brigade's 'Patriotism Day' being organized in place of Valentine's Day.

"India attained first freedom on October 21, 1943. This true history has been erased and the names of the people who played with the history should now be exposed," he added.

"The first contribution to the freedom struggle came from Netaji. The fact that the independence was attained on October 21, 1943 and the contribution of 70,000 soldiers in the struggle and the martyrdom of 21,000 soldiers, have been completely forgotten as this part of the history has not been included in the books. We have demanded that the names of the politicians and people who did the injustice to real history should be revealed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to the same.

"Andaman and Nicobar Islands were occupied by Japan then. Japan agreed to hand over the islands soon after Netaji hoisted the Tricolour there. Netaji named them as Shaheed and Swaraj respectively. We have requested the incumbent NDA government to rename these islands as Shaheed and Swaraj again," Bose said.

On the controversy surrounding the death of Netaji, he said, "The Taiwan flight accident in which Netaji is said to have died on August 18, 1945 never happened at all. The chief of the Shah Nawaz panel which first probed the death of Netaji never visited Taiwan. The chief of the second committee probing his death went to Taiwan, but did not go to the spot and instead remained in the hotel. In 1999, the then NDA government set up Mukherjee Commission but it did not get enough support. It was then revealed that Netaji did not die in the air crash.

"The Congress has twisted the truth right from the day of Independence. We achieved Independence due to the sacrifices of hundreds of freedom fighters like Mangal Pandey, Bhagat Singh and others during Sipoy Mutiny, but their matyrdom was never glorified.

He also said that the process of unearthing what actually happened to Netaji started only during the present Narendra Modi government, and that Congress had suppressed the truth for over 60 years. He also added that 25 declassified files will be released each month by the National Archives of India in the public domain, and by 2019, all the remaining 900 files will be declassified.

Orator and activist Chakravarthy Sulibele speaking on the occasion said, "Namo Brigade has decided to hold Patriotism Day instead of Valentine's Day on February 14. There has been good response from the public especially the youth. In every school and college, a rose will be offered to the portrait of Bharat Mata (Mother India). As the day falls this time on Sunday, 3,000 to 5,000 youth will visit the compounds of the civic workers who are in charge of the Swachh Bharath Abhiyan and clean their compounds. These workers have been doing their work relentlessly for all 365 days of the year. Their children will be offered sweets and the elders will be honoured. This will be held in many places including Udupi."

Retired commander Ramachandra Rao was present on the dais.