History being made in Peshawar today

The News, May 2, 2005
History being made in Peshawar today
By Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: History will be witnessed at the home of former PPP Interior Minister General (retd) Naseerullah Babar in Peshawar today when Krishna Bose, the daughter-in-law of a visionary and fierce activist in the pre-independence era, Subhash Chandra Bose, will meet Siraj Khan, the son of the man who helped smuggle Bose to Afghanistan from the NWFP. Babar is related to Siraj Khan.

The elderly Mrs Bose is here in Pakistan as part of an Indian delegation and she expressed a wish to meet some one from the family of Abad Khan who had rescued Bose. Monday will see her meeting Siraj Khan who is from the village Pir Pai in the NWFP. Krishna’s father-in-law Sarat Bose was the real brother of Chandra Bose.

Mrs Bose has been Member of Parliament three times, the last time being in 2004.

"I was also Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee. Originally I had joined Congress but then it split. Siraj came to our house in Calcutta a long time ago but unfortunately I left his contact numbers behind when I came here so then had to approach the High Commission to help me", she told The News, when this correspondent tried to speak to her haltingly in Bengali.

Krishna says that it is not every day that she comes to Peshawar so she is really looking forward to see the man who helped her family in the past. Interestingly she spent Sunday meeting two Pakistanis who were also former members of the Indian National Army that Chandra Bose had started. Bose’s only daughter lives in Germany, says Krishna.

"I have brought with me the book that my father-in-law wrote about how his brother reached Afghanistan", says Krishna.

According to history, the sheer grit that Bose exhibited was an unparalleled example of the declaration of Independent Indian government with a cabinet & its own army was seen in form of the Indian National Army under his leadership. It literally had a military attack on British India & had confronted them till Imphal.

With the help from Germany & active support from Japan, they shook the very foundation of the British Empire. The saga of their valour is chronicled separately, under the head Indian National Army.

Due to his outspoken character for the British government, he went to jail for around 11 times between 1920 and 1941 for periods varying between six months and three years.

He was elected president of the Indian National Congress twice in 1937 and in 1939, the second time defeating Gandhiji’s nominee. He brought a resolution to give the British six months to hand India over to the Indians, failing which there would be a revolt. There was much opposition to his rigid stand, and he resigned from the post of president and formed a progressive group known as the Forward Block (1939).

During the World War 2 he was against rendering any kind of help to the British. He warned them so. The 2nd World War broke out in September of 1939, and just as predicted by Bose, India was declared as a warring state (on behalf of the British) by the Governor General, without consulting Indian leaders. The Congress party was in power in seven major states and all state governments resigned in protest.

It was in 1941, that Bose suddenly disappeared. The authorities did not come to know for many days that he was not in his Barrack (the house in which he was being guarded). He travelled by foot, car and train and resurfaced in Kabul, only to disappear once again.

Actually it was the brother of this correspondent’s great grandmother, Abad Khan, that had helped Bose to go to Afghanistan. According to family stories, Abad provided a "burqa" for Bose at Attock and took him to Afghanistan through the Mohmand Agency.

When this correspondent was contacted by an Indian journalist, Hindu’s Murlidhar Reddy to help find the family that had helped Bose so that Krishna could meet them, he had luckily found the right person for information! Hence this meeting in Peshawar today.

In November 1941, Bose’s broadcast from German radio sent shock waves amongst the British and electrified the Indian masses who realised that their leader was working on a master plan to free their motherland. It also gave fresh confidence to the revolutionaries in India who were challenging the British in many ways.

There are conflicting reports of where he died and how. For many of his admirers he is still alive.