India is celebrating 75 years of Independence but there is hardly any mention of Rash Behari Bose anywhere, the author of a new book on the freedom fighter said at the launch in the city.
Prasun Roy, who has authored A Samurai Dream of Azad Hind — Rash Behari Bose, hoped the book would take Rash Behari to a wider audience because it is in English.
“While doing my research, I realised there was hardly any book dedicated to Rash Behari Bose in English,” he said. “He is not known to people outside Bengal, but he played an important role in our Independence movement,” said Roy, an engineer by training.
The book starts with Rash Behari’s childhood days, dwells on his revolutionary activities, how he wanted to use World War II in the fight for India’s independence and his days in Japan.
Rash Behari, who believed in armed struggle in liberating India from British rule, was the founder of the Indian National Army. He later handed the reins of the INA to Subhas Chandra Bose.
The title of the book was initially thought as The Other Bose but it was later changed to give Rash Behari a distinct identity and not keep him under the shadow of the more famous Bose – Subhas Chandra.
The book dwells on how the two collaborated and how Rash Behari handed the fledgling INA to Subhas Bose.
“I tried to tell a story about Bose that would interest both children and adults,” Roy said.
The book also quotes from letters Rash Behari had written to Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Shuktara Lal, who works with a publishing house and was present on the panel discussing the book, said that any new work on Rash Behari was welcome.
