Forward Bloc: Legacy of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that doesn’t form part of History Textbooks

World War 2 was about to start and the world was witnessing a huge turmoil. Leaders, especially French and Britishers, with their greed to gain maximum ground in the world economy were ready to take on any country. And then the inevitable happened, as Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany invaded Poland. This was unacceptable to France, United Kingdom, for they were ruling the major part of the world. So, the broader cause of the war was German aggression and French & British appeasement.

Back in India, British repressive policies were continuing with excessive looting. Gandhi's liberal mendicant approach was not bringing any results. Masses were behind him and the nation was certainly more united against the British oppression but how credible can an armless crowd be against the ruthless Britishers.

Indian freedom movement needed more strength, and some people were unhappy with Congress's approach. This is when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian stalwart, rose to the occasion with his All India Forward Bloc. Emerging as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, it was soon re-established as an independent political party.

Bose had many differences with Mahatma Gandhi in terms of ideology as Gandhi was ready to support Britishers in the World War 2. Disgusted by the idea, Bose decided to take advantage of the situation and cause damage to Britishers. Bose said that those who are joining Forward Bloc, must never turn back to the British and sign the pledge form with their blood. Interestingly, 17 young girls were amongst the first ones to sign the form.

It was a difficult time and the nation needed an impetus in the form of aggression to remove the unruly British Empire from India. Britishers were always about maximizing profits, even if it meant killing millions of innocent civilians, sometimes with arms, sometimes with excessive taxes, which also led to plague in Bihar and Bengal, says Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist.

It was in Nagpur session, held in the year 1940 that Netaji Bose gave a concrete plan for winning Purna Swaraj or complete Independence. The legacy continued with formation of Indian National Army, which was contrary to what history books tell us, as it was one major reason behind British defeat. Had it not been for the aggressive approach by the likes of Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, Bose, India may have been under British raj for more few years.

Our history books have been manipulated for they don’t give enough credit to these real war heroes. It's good to recollect nationalist ideas but it is incomplete without Forward Bloc's immense contribution, says Mr. Dalmia.

Why British Empire atrocities should be compensated with a formal apology

Learning from past mistakes of British exploitative nature, why modern citizens should be apologetic about their ancestral doings. Today's intelligentsia believes that India benefited under British Raj, when in reality it drained all its wealth and resources.

Battle of Plassey 1757 saw the British Empire consolidating their position as rulers in India. They first came to India to trade goods but soon realizing the benevolent nature of the masses, they showed their true colors. India, which once was the major exporter of finished products became an importer of British goods. "Sone Ki Chidiya" was looted and by the time the colonial rulers were kicked out of India in 1947, its overall share in the world economy which once stood at about 23%, dropped to less than 4%.

What caused all of this? It's a myth that British imperialism benefited one of its richest colonies, India. Be it Railways, harbor development or maintenance of police, they all were structured to maximize the profits and take all the primary goods away from India, says Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist.

As per a recent YouGov poll, 43 per cent of British citizens thought the existence of the British Empire was a good thing, while only 19 per cent agreed. This is the common belief among the modern day Britishers, imagine how it must have been 100 years ago.

For many years, at least till the 1890s, many princely states, zamindars or even people associated with Indian Independence movement remained bewildered with the fact that India would prosper under the British raj. However, soon realizing how wrong they were with their prediction, they started losing their hopes. Amidst this crisis, came the man who gave the much needed impetus to Indian national movement, Dadabhai Naoroji.

His concept of wealth drain from India during British rule got huge attention. He mentioned the same concept in his book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. Naoroji was the first person to say that internal factors were not the sole reason for poverty in India as it was the colonial rule that was draining the wealth and prosperity of the country. He further stated that India lost about 200-300 million pounds of revenue to Britain.

This was the very foundation of British Empire, all they ever wanted was to drain our resources, so that they can prosper. Modern British people should apologize and refrain from stating that their ancestors did any good for India. We don’t want any compensation, all we want is respect and a formal acknowledgment that it was the Britishers who looted us, destroyed our artistic culture, feels Mr. Sanjay Dalmia.

If it weren’t for them, India would have remained “Sone Ki Chidiya” and perhaps would have been the world leader. That said, thanks to our current leadership, we are moving in the right direction and perhaps in the next few years, we may become the world leader which believes in doing the right things — a precursor to our ancient wisdom.