Ahmedabad: As part of celebrations commemorating the formation of Azad Hind Fauj Government, the Union Tourism Ministry has planned to promote sites across India connected to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for the first time.
Netaji had launched India’s freedom struggle with the formation of a provisional government in exile on October 21, 1943 in occupied Singapore. This helped the leader to negotiate with the Japanese on an equal footing and mobilise Indians in the East Asian region to join and support the Indian National Army.
An official of the Ministry told the media: “Identification of such sites has been done and will include multiple routes. We have prepared curated itineraries that cover destinations connected to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The itineraries will be given to tour operators to promote sites related to Netaji.”
In the Delhi-Meerut-Dalhousie-Delhi-Surat route, Meerut’s Shaheed Smarak and Dalhousie’s Kynance Building where Netaji spent around seven months, Haripura in Surat where he was elected the president of the Congress will be included.
Likewise, the Kolkata-Nagaland-Manipur route will include the Rauzazho village which is an important site as it was liberated by Netaji during his campaign against the British and became the operational base of the INA. Significantly, a number of INA-related artefacts can be found in this village.
Bose’s first school, the Stewart School and Ravenshaw Collegiate School, his high school, both in Cuttack will be a part of the Cuttack-Kolkata-Andamans route. Presidency College and Netaji Bhawan in Kolkata and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island in Port Blair will be included in the Kolkata and Andaman leg.
These tours are part of Government’s efforts under the Amrit Mahotsav celebrations to commemorate 75 years of Indian Independence and also commemoration of Netaji which will culminate in a grand event on his birth anniversary on January 23, 2022.
