‘Two sides of same coin’: Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Bose quits TMC, takes swipe at BJP | India News
NEW DELHI: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose on Monday resigned from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), saying he was “disillusioned” with mainstream political parties and saw “no difference” between the BJP and the Mamata Banerjee-led party.Bose, who joined the TMC barely four months ago ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections, said he would now mentor a proposed youth-led political platform based on the ideals of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.“I have been in the Forward Bloc, BJP and TMC. I am disillusioned with the mainstream political parties. They are all the same, just two sides of the same coin,” Bose told PTI.He said the proposed platform would seek to offer an alternative to what he described as the politics of polarisation and confrontation.“My politics is based on Netaji’s ideology. We want to build a new political platform based on his principles of inclusive nationalism, secularism, social justice and development. I will mentor the youth who are coming together to form a party based on Netaji’s ideals,” he added.There was no immediate reaction from the TMC to Bose’s resignation.His exit marks another political shift for the former BJP state vice-president, who has repeatedly maintained that his politics is rooted in Netaji’s ideology rather than party affiliation.Bose was earlier associated with the Forward Bloc, the party founded by Netaji. He joined the BJP in 2016 as the party expanded its political presence in West Bengal. He was subsequently appointed the party’s state vice-president and contested the 2016 Assembly election and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket.His ties with the BJP later deteriorated. He was dropped as state vice-president during an organisational reshuffle in 2020 and increasingly voiced differences with the party leadership.Bose quit the BJP in 2023, claiming that the party had not lived up to its promise of advancing the inclusive nationalist ideals championed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Sarat Chandra Bose.When he joined the TMC in April this year, Bose had criticised his former party over what he described as divisive politics and said the BJP’s approach was contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.“When I joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, I was made to understand that I could work to promote the ideology of Sarat Chandra Bose and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which is inclusive and secular. India, as per the Constitution, is a sovereign, democratic, socialist, secular republic,” he had said while joining the TMC.He had also described his decision to join the BJP as a “mistake” and said he hoped the TMC would provide a platform to uphold constitutional values and inclusive politics.
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Monday’s resignation signals a similar disenchantment with the TMC, with Bose now seeking to build a political platform centred on Netaji’s principles.Bose’s political moves have attracted attention because of his family connection to Netaji and his sustained efforts to bring the freedom fighter’s political philosophy into contemporary politics. Though he has not emerged as a mass electoral figure, he has consistently advocated what he describes as Netaji’s vision of an inclusive India.Outside electoral politics, Bose has also campaigned for the preservation of Netaji’s legacy. As spokesperson of the Open Platform for Netaji, he has led efforts seeking the declassification of files relating to the freedom fighter and greater public access to archival records concerning his life and disappearance.
