From my father’s various postings across India we always returned to spend at least a part of his annual leave at my grandparents home in Delhi, which in those days, was walking distance from India Gate.
To go after dinner with the extended family to the India Gate lawns, enjoy an icecream & buy a gas balloon was a treat I remember well.
George V’s statue oversaw the entire area & could be seen from every direction.
George V’s statue oversaw the entire area & could be seen from every direction.
It was something that angered both my grandfather & grand uncle no end.
We kids were encouraged to always sit with our backs to it.
Mind you, my grandfather was a soldier who had served in Burma & Ceylon during WW2.
We kids were encouraged to always sit with our backs to it.
Mind you, my grandfather was a soldier who had served in Burma & Ceylon during WW2.
He had signed up when Gandhi made the call to young Indian men to join the Army & help the British fight the Germans & Japanese so that we could get our Freedom once the Wars on both fronts was won with our help.
It was a deal made in return for Swaraj.
It was a deal made in return for Swaraj.
My grand uncle, a gentle, amiable man if ever, had joined the Army around the same time but left to serve Subhash Chandra Bose’s INA in 1942, was a Japanese PoW in Singapore & in 1945 charged with treason by the British, imprisoned at the Red Fort.
War Museum Singapore.
War Museum Singapore.
Both men were of the belief that the statue should have been removed in 1947 it self.
This symbol of the British Empire poked their eyes & tore their heart everyday of the 21yrs as it surveyed all from its grand perch in the heart of Independent India.
This symbol of the British Empire poked their eyes & tore their heart everyday of the 21yrs as it surveyed all from its grand perch in the heart of Independent India.
So , of course they were delighted as were so many others when it was finally removed in 1968.
For years, thereafter there was a discussion on whether Gandhi or Nehru’s statue should replace George V.
Anyway, the leadership vacillated to install either statue & in the maze
For years, thereafter there was a discussion on whether Gandhi or Nehru’s statue should replace George V.
Anyway, the leadership vacillated to install either statue & in the maze
of bureaucracy the canopy remained empty as did the verdant lawns for 53 years.
Today with millions of other citizens of Independent India I’m absolutely proud & delighted that Subhas Chandra Bose has finally found rightful recognition and the respect
Today with millions of other citizens of Independent India I’m absolutely proud & delighted that Subhas Chandra Bose has finally found rightful recognition and the respect
he deserves as the Founder & Commander of the Indian National Army.
A man who inspired a generation of brave young men & women to pick up arms and fight the might of the British Empire.
A man who inspired a generation of brave young men & women to pick up arms and fight the might of the British Empire.
…And who knows one day soon, India might even have this impressive statue stand tall under the open skies & not have an Imperial Canopy bear down on it.
To do away with it completely or leave it empty for symbolic reasons would be most appropriate.
#SubhashChandraBose
To do away with it completely or leave it empty for symbolic reasons would be most appropriate.
#SubhashChandraBose
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