Bharat Ratna for Netaji too late now: Daughter

KOLKATA: Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter, Anita B Pfaff, has opposed the demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on the iconic freedom fighter “now”, which she feels is “so late”. “We have opposed giving Netaji the Bharat Ratna so late. Many people of a lesser stature have received the award. It would have been appropriate to confer it to Netaji as one of the first recipients but not now,” she told TOI in an email interview.

Incidentally, former PM Narasimha Rao had proposed to confer Bharat Ratna on Netaji posthumously, declassified files on Netaji released in 2016 had revealed. Pfaff has welcomed the constitution of a high-level committee to commemorate Netaji’s 125th birth anniversary.

She also welcomed the renaming of the Howrah-Kalka Mail after Netaji. Pfaff commented on the difference of opinion on what January 23 should be called. “Two different names have been picked by two different institutions. It will be preferable if they can agree and coordinate”, she said.




She hoped that the attempts to commemorate Netaji’s 125th birth anniversary would change the way his role in India’s history was “reduced to being that man about whose death people have arguments”. Pfaff said that she was convinced that her father died on August 18, 1945, in Taipei. “I hope it will be possible to have an independent DNA test of his remains at Renkoji Temple in Tokyo... hopefully to convince people who believe outlandish theories... It would be wonderful if my father’s remains could be returned to his homeland during the 125th anniversary,” she said.