New Delhi [India], June 17 : National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Saturday underscored several qualities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose like "audacity" and "tenacity" that made him an outstanding leader whose legacy is unparalleled.
Doval made the above remarks while delivering the first Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Memorial lecture in the national capital.
"The first quality that makes Netaji stand out was his audacity. He had the audacity to single-handedly take on the British against all odds. He motivated a defeated army by rallying them behind a larger cause, gave mottos like Jai Hind, "Ittehad, Itmad, Qurbani" (Unity, Trust, Sacrifice) and ensuring that people rise above distinctions of caste, religion and gender to pursue the single-minded goal of the complete elimination of the colonial rule," the NSA said.
Doval said that the second quality that distinguishes Netaji was his tenacity - his ability to persevere despite the odds and not dilute his goal even a bit.
"Subhas Chandra Bose wanted complete freedom for Indians, not merely dominion status. He wanted Indians to feel free like birds and never compromised for anything less than the complete independence of the country," he added.
Articulating Netaji's efforts, he shared an incident of what Former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, under whom India got Independence, during a subsequent visit to India after leaving office, said in his reply to a question by Chief Justice of Bengal High Court and acting Governor Justice JB Chakraborty.
"When asked by his friend Justice Chakraborty about the real reason for the British quitting India in a hurry - Attlee cited several reasons, the principal among them being the erosion of loyalty to the British crown among the Indian army and Navy personnel as a result of the military activities of Netaji," Doval said.
He added, "Attlee said it was Netaji Bose and his ideas that we were afraid of. The Royal Indian Navy mutiny, Jabalpur protests acted as Straws in the wind that evoked past memories of 1857 for the British. They dreaded that the 25 lakh Indian soldiers who won the Second World War for the Allies imbued by the spirit of Netaji's ideas would be a nightmare for the British."
Recalling the efforts of PM Modi so that legacy of Bose is not forgotten and continues to guide India, Doval said that history has been unkind to Netaji.
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