Why Subhas Chandra Bose draws so little interest

It is a common perception that with the so called death of Subhas his brand equity lingered for sometime among his most tenacious followers who expected that he would return from dead and when it did not happen, the euphoria around him and INA died down. Many INA veterans died in penury and no help came for them. Public simply forgot. There was no outrage when shoddy investigations by "Loaded Dice Commissions" proclaimed that he died in a plane crash. Brand Subhas became more and more irrelevant, and the Brand Gandhi was carefully crafted by the political circle of India and was exploited (and still being exploited by Modi and his elk) to the fullest extent. Gandhi became an international brand - a sort of mini Christ to be an ideal that was never practical but nevertheless worthy of worship as per West. Subhas Chandra Bose was an outcaste. He collaborated with the Nazis, sided with the Japanese and dared to challenge the British Empire and the White Suprematist Hegemony of Anglo American forces. His views were leftist and he was believer in Hindu mumbo jumbos of spirituality. So he is an eminently disposable, despicable character according to Western academics, intellectuals, media and political circles and their ardent devotees in Indian media and intellectual circle. I experienced that first hand, very few people would talk about Subhas, even lesser would want to know about him, read about him. Some have their rigid dogmas, others, his so called followers, cannot even withstand each other and are "facebook fighters" rather than doing anything worthwhile.

The elites of India soon realized that Subhas Bose would not pay any dividend. He as a political leader was not worth consideration as he did not have a political base. He did not develop an organization that would sustain his legacy. The Forward Bloc was merely a reaction, it did not have power to continue his legacy. Except for few of his die hard followers, its leaders could be easily bought by other ideologies. Same goes with INA. Except for few die hard Nationalists, most of the top leaders were purchased by the ruling Elite, one of them even going to the extent of signing Subhas's death warrant ordered by his master, the then Prime Minister. Same goes with the family. Except mejda Sarat Bose and sejda Suresh Bose, nobody was perhaps genuinely interested in keeping Subhas's legacy alive, they wanted a decent livelihood, money, name and fame. The lobby which was and is in power, the elites saw no benefit from Subhas, he could not be exploited, say for a scholarship for their sons and daughters to study abroad or to get some recognition from Europe or US, who were staunchly against him. So Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose became an icon only to be remembered on his birth day or his so called death day which was still official. 

Subhas chandra Bose, being not concerned about his future or selfish interest never developed a political base. He had no locus standi in the self seeking and the self serving Indian politics. He was dead in every respect. Nobody cared about him, nobody bothered. everybody was happy to acknowledge that brand Mahatma, brand Nehru and brand Patel brought freedom to India, others were incidental. Ahimsa was the cornerstone of India's independence. "Sabarmati ka Sant ne tu kar diya kamal, de diya azadi bin kharga bin dhal." People ACTUALLY believed this monstrous lie and they contuinue to believe it. They are happy because in that way they don't have to be think of all the sacrifices made by others, all those who were neglected, who died in the gallows, who gave their eeverything without expecting anything in return, neither name, nor fame, nor power, unlike some so called freedom fighters who just competed with each other to get more recognition, more power, better political mileage and prestige. Subhas Bose and his die hard followers did not belong to them. They simply remained hidden, embraced poverty and penury and went about their regular routine. when people saw that Subhas Bose would not return, some of them started believing the Government narrative while others were disappointed and thought that Subhas era was over. He had no appeal left among masses, except for some frothy sentiments. 

This was the greatest complaint of the sannyasi called Mahakal. He said, "You guys have not only killed me or made me the father of a daughter. You have killed my legacy. None of you, will turn up when the Nation actually needs. You are waiting for a superman to come and deliver you from the problems. No superman will come like that. First I shall extract full price and then, only when you have realized the pains, the sufferings, will you get the true essence."

It is irrelevant whether Mahakal is alive as some of his die hard followers would continue to believe him to be or dead as most of the rational people would believe. It is his prognosis that still holds good, that India and the world will enter a Catharsis phase. We have not mended our ways. The worst is yet to come for the world at large. Dharma tells us that every action has a reaction. When we suppress a truth, the truth hits us hard. And it will hit us, the one who have become accustomed to the comforts and have forgotten or hate to think about sacrifices, about giving up for the sake of Nation. One who does not want to give has to give in to forceful extraction, prices therefore will be extracted forcefully. Remember the clarion call for Total Mobilization by an individual. Mother Durga Kali, like her will also demand Total Mobilization. That was Mahakal's prediction and in a way the world seems to be headed in that direction. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. Possibly that involves the emergence of a stronger and better nation and people.