Wednesday 25 July 2012

Why did Pranab Mukherjee skip Bose’s name in his presidential address?

The Bengalis who were jubilant over Pranab Mukherjee becoming the president of India must have become dejected after watching his swearing in ceremony.

Some must have even felt that Mukherjee has betrayed the Bengalis.

Mukherjee in his first address as the president said, Our national mission must continue to be what it was when the generation of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Ambedkar and Maulana Azad offered us a tryst with destiny: to eliminate the curse of poverty, and create such opportunities for the young that they can take our India forward by quantum leaps.’

Mukherjee named all prominent leaders of India’s struggle for independence expect Subhas Chandra Bose.

Was Mukherjee’s skipping the name of Bose a blunder?

In India, the president’s address has a stamp of the ruling party.

Is the ruling party of India trying to erase the name of Bose from the history of India’s freedom movement?

Exactly five years back Pratibha Patil in a similar way in her first address as the president of India had excluded the name of Bose.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) then had strongly objected to Bose’s name not finding a mention in Patil’s presidential address.

It will be interesting to see if the BJP again raises the issue.

But more interesting will be the reaction of Forward Bloc, a party that was founded by Bose and now supported Mukherjee in the presidential elections.