Ananta Maharaj row exposes Bengal’s uneasy ties with Netaji icon

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Nagendra Ray, known as Ananta Maharaj, has apologised for remarks questioning Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's contribution to India's freedom struggle and calling him a 'war criminal'. The apology followed the West Bengal government withdrawing the Banga Bibhushan award conferred on him.

Ananta Maharaj had also questioned the Indian National Army's role, claiming it consisted of British-Indian soldiers captured by Germany. The BJP MP insisted his claims were based on National Archives material, invoking Jawaharlal Nehru over the 'war criminal' description. Declassified files from 2016 contain a later account of an alleged Nehru dictation, but historians say no archival evidence establishes Bose as a war criminal. Nehru himself in 1945 rejected the suggestion that Bose be treated as a war criminal.

The row has highlighted political parties' uneasy relationship with Bose, Bengal's most enduring nationalist icon. Historians note that while Bose did not found the first INA, which was formed under Captain Mohan Singh in 1942, he became its central figure after taking over in 1943.