Credit where credit is due

Opinion

- RASHEED KIDWAI

The contribution of Indian revolutionaries during the freedom struggle and role of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the events leading to the country's freedom have not been well documented, argues Prem Prakash, who is the only living media personality to have seen the functioning of 14 prime ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi in his professional capacity.

In his new and revealing book titled, "History That India Ignored" [Vitasta], Prem Prakash, 94, chairman of the Asian News International [ANI] laments how many youngsters in India are unaware of a massive naval mutiny and about the martyrdom of naval officers who lost their lives fighting for India's independence. A small memorial still exists at Colaba, Mumbai.

Prem Prakash, a self-confessed admirer of 'Punditji' [Jawaharlal Nehru] and Mahatma Gandhi, terms it "tragic" that independent India has ignored the revolutionaries. "When the Indian National Army and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose succeeded in reaching Imphal, the British were alarmed and compelled to think afresh about continuing their rule in India. The naval mutiny in Bombay, followed by one in Karachi and also in the Royal Indian Air Force, was enough to show that the forces the British relied on to rule India were going against them. The British Prime Minister Clement Atlee himself made it clear that the decision to leave India was taken not because of Mahatma Gandhi or the Congress. 'Minimal' was the exact word he used to describe the influence of the two in the British Raj's decision to leave India," records Prem Prakash.