Subhas Chandra Bose 1st PM of undivided India, took oath in 1943: Rajnath Singh
Noida, Nov 12 (PTI) Subhas Chandra Bose was the first prime minister of undivided India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh claimed Friday while asserting that his contributions were either ignored or undermined after the country got Independence.
“There is a need to re-evaluate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s role and vision. Some people call it rewriting history. I call it course correction,” he said.
Addressing a programme at a private university in Greater Noida, Singh said, “The Azad Hind Sarkar was the first ‘swadeshi’ government of India. I have zero hesitation in calling it the first ‘swadeshi sarkar’. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had formed this government and taken oath as prime minister on October 21, 1943.” The senior BJP leader said that ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister, efforts are being made to accord Bose “the respect he rightly deserves and is due to him”. “There was a time in independent India when Bose’s contributions were either deliberately ignored or undermined. It was not evaluated correctly. It was done to the extent that several documents related to him were never made public,” Singh said. “In 2014, when Narendra Modi became prime minister, he started giving respect to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which he always and rightly deserved.” Singh said when he was the Union home minister, he got to meet the family members of Bose after which over 300 documents related to him were declassified and dedicated to the people of India. “Sometimes people wonder what more is there about Netaji that we do not know. Most Indians know him as a prominent freedom fighter, as the supreme commander of the Azad Hind Fauj, and a revolutionary who underwent several difficulties for India’s freedom. But very few people know him as the first prime minister of undivided India,” he said.
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