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How to keep a tab on the Nehrus and Boses

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How to keep a tab on the Nehrus and Boses Empty How to keep a tab on the Nehrus and Boses

Post by confuzzled dude Sat Apr 18, 2015 11:20 pm

History has an uncanny way of intruding into contemporary life and shaping our public conversation. A new controversy emerged recently over the relationship between Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose.
Nehru, on one occasion, asked for the details of a visit to Tokyo by Bose’s nephew.

Of course everyone was shocked. It is certainly the stuff of national scandal and may have caused real damage to Nehru’s reputation had the story broken at the time. Nehru, a democratic head of government, a self-proclaimed liberal who frequently extolled liberal values — and incidentally wrote columns under the pseudonym Chanakya, suggesting that Nehru himself had dictatorial tendencies — was overseeing a regime that was keeping a tab on Bose’s family.
There was therefore an uproar on social media. PM Narendra Modi was coincidentally in Germany and met Bose’s great nephew, assuring him that he would look into the case of declassifying files about Netaji.

Newer twists to the story emerged. A person claiming to be Bose’s driver told the press that there was indeed a strong surveillance regime at the time. There were attempts to restore a measure of perspective but outrage continued regardless.

Sugata Bose, Harvard historian and a great nephew and biographer of Netaji, argued that the files “have no indication that Nehru himself ordered the intrusive surveillance in Calcutta”.
The thing that strikes me about this is the extraordinary purchase that history and historical controversies have among the public. Why do such controversies galvanise such popular interest that politicians manage to use them frequently for their narrow ends?

And the question to ask is: If history is constantly with us how can we get a fuller measure of it?
http://www.hindustantimes.com/chanakya/how-to-keep-a-tab-on-the-nehrus-and-boses/article1-1338743.aspx

confuzzled dude

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