23 January - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Birth Anniversary

Presidential Address delivered by Subhas Chandra Bose at the Maharashtra Youth Conference, First Session, Poona on 22 December 1931

My Maharashtrian Friends,

….Today the youth movement in Maharashtra has attained maturity and it is a factor to be reckoned with by all those who want to understand their country men aright and shape their policy and programme accordingly.

….The youth movement has come to stay and we can no longer ignore its existence. Youth all over the world is impatient with the present order of things. It has a dream, a vision, of its own - a vision of better order of things - and it is now struggling everywhere to translate that dream into reality….

There cannot be any doubt in any quarter that we are now hungering for freedom. This hunger is acute and intense and the freedom that we are hankering after is full, all-round freedom….We believe that freedom is good for all and the more of it we can have, the better for ourselves and for the human race. The first taste of freedom may tend to unbalance us - it may even cause a reeling sensation - but it is bound to sober us before long and then we shall find that freedom is a source of infinite strength and irresistible power.

…you sometimes notice a conflict between Congress organisations and youth organisations in some parts of the country….

The debacle that has arisen in connection with the Round Table Conference is in my humble opinion, due largely to the fact, that at the time of the ill-starred truce, the voice of youth was more or less ignored.

….Consequently, the Conference met, not to discuss the exact form of Swaraj which India was to get - but whether India was to get Swaraj at all or any fractional dose of it….

….The proclamation of truce brought about the release of the Satyagrahi prisoners, but the Meerut Conspiracy Case and other revolutionary conspiracy cases in different parts of the country went on in full swing and the revolutionary prisoners confined in different jails all over India were either forgotten or ignored. The most serious blunder was the non-release of the detenus who had been imprisoned without trail.

….The inability of the Congress to stop what I would call official terrorism is largely responsible for the weakening of the hold of the Congress on the youths in some parts of the country – and particularly in Bengal.

….You have also heard of the suppression of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha organisations in some parts of the country and the banning of Naujawan Bharat Sabha Conference in other places…

Friends, as I followed the deliberations of the Round Table Conference and of the various committees when they were in session, I used to feel that too much effort was being wasted in trying to placate individuals or parties who never meant to fight the British Government for the attainment of India’s freedom. On the other hand important militant groups in the country, including the left wing of the Congress seemed to be ignored by the Government on the one side and the official Congress on the other.

….I stand for a free India and for a socialistic state in this country. I stand for full, all-round freedom for our people - regardless of the fact that it may displease or injure certain vested interests in this country. I stand for a better race and a better type of manhood and womanhood in this country, which free India will help to create. Last but not the least, I stand for human personality, the creation and development of which, our institutions and environment should always aim at.

I only hope that in fulfilling our purpose and destiny, we shall not forget our past history and tradition - our National genius or our National exigencies. The endeavour to ignore these factors will not only fail but will prove to be harmful and even suicidal. In these days of internationalism, we should not forget either that internationalism, always presupposes nationalism.

I believe, that we have something new and original to contribute to world culture and civilization; and I believe that India can so live and act as to contribute to the happiness of mankind as a whole. Let us, therefore, rise to the full height of our manhood and achieve salvation for our country believing firmly, as I always do, that India freed means humanity saved. 

BANDE MATARAM

Source : G.R. Abhyankar Papers, MSS, NMML

Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru attained Martyrdom, 23 March 1931

Oral History Division’s Record (Extracts), NMML

This Day in Indian History: Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru attained Martyrdom,

23 March 1931

                  Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were involved in the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case. They were tried for hatching conspiracy to overthrow the British rule in India. Shaheed Bhagat Singh was a prominent leader of the revolutionary movement in the Punjab and one of the founders of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

Some excerpts from the transcripts of the recording of OHD:

Comrade Ramchandra (Close Associate of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and one of the Founders of Naujawan Bharat Sabha)

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Jh “;ke yky eupUnk% ekyoh;th dk :[k lgkuqHkwfriw.kZ Fkk\

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Shri Kultar Singh (Brother of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Minister of State, UP, 1976-77)  

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