CPI(M) targets BJP over remarks on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

The BJP was trying to hijack Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as its idol in its desperation to misappropriate icons of India's freedom struggle, the CPI(M) charged Tuesday.

The Left party's statement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a veiled attack on the Nehru-Gandhi clan had alleged the contribution of great leaders -- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, B R Ambedkar and Subhash Chandra Bose -- to the freedom struggle was "deliberately" forgotten to glorify "one family".

"In its desperation to misappropriate icons of India's freedom struggle, the BJP is now seeking to hijack Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as their idol," the CPI(M) said in a statement by the party's polit bureau.

Donning the famous Azad Hind Fauj cap, prime minister Modi had on Sunday hoisted the national flag at the Red Fort and unveiled a plaque to mark the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of the Azad Hind government by Bose.

The Left party alleged that it is "well-established" that the RSS and its political arms had no role in India's epic struggle to earn freedom from the British rule.

"On the contrary, many of their activities complemented the British efforts. In their effort to erase that ignominious role, they have sought to misappropriate Sardar Patel and now Subhas Chandra Bose," the party said in the statement.

The CPI(M) said it was Sardar Patel who banned the RSS after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and it was Subhas Chandra Bose, as the president of the Indian National Congress, who banned the dual membership of the Congress and what he described as the communal organisations like the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League.

"Both Sardar Patel and Subhas Chandra Bose played an important role in mobilizing Indian people to reject communal politics," the party said.

"The RSS-BJP's effort to now misappropriate some icons of India's freedom struggle will be rejected by the Indian people with contempt," added the CPI(M) statement.