Tribute to Lt Bharati Asha Sahay
THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is among one of the most iconic leaders of Indian subcontinent. Even today, his name gives goosebump when you hear those stories of adventure and patriotism. However, fragmented Indian political class has formed diverse opinion about his ideas and thoughts resulting in attempted appropriation by the rightwing narrative setters.
One of Netaji’s followers and member of the Rani Jhansi Regiment was Lt Bharati Asha Sahay Choudhry or simply Asha San whose War Diary gave glimpse of Netaji’s last moments vividly. Asha ji was living in Patna and passed away a couple of days back at an age of 97. I would have loved to meet her but never realised about it that she was living in Patna and still alive but I remember her through ‘ The War Diary of Asha-San’ published by Harper Collins in 2022 which was basically a translation work done by Tanvi Srivastava.
Asha San’s war diary actually exposes many things about those who have kept a mysticism on Netaji’s last days as well as the treatment to the people close to him by Jawahar Lal Nehru. The most fascinating part is vivid description of Japan immediately after its surrender in 1945 and the news about Netaji’s passing away, which till this date has not been ‘accepted’ by the masses even though his family has accepted that it was August 18, 1945 which is considered to be his date of ‘disappearance’. This war diary is actually between 1943 till 1947 and many of the things mentioned were not really known in the popular circles.
According to her diary, she heard about Netaji’s death in the morning of August 23, 1945 but did not believe. According to her, Netaji’s last speech on August14 said, ‘ Comrades, all sorts of wild rumours are now afloat in Shonan and other places, one of them being that hostilities have ceased. Most of these rumours are either false or highly exaggerated.’
On August 15, 1945, Netaji said, ‘ For the freedom of our country, we have faced and will continue to face many obstacles. Our fight does not end because Japan has raised a white flag or because the atom bombs have fallen. There are many paths to Delhi and we must never forget our duty. We must fulfil our duty as patriots with perseverance.’
And then her diary vividly describe how people came to accept the sad news of his demise. Sadly, till this date, government of India has not accept the demise of Netaji even when most of his family members have accepted the date of August 18th, 1945 story of Plane crash.
Lt Bharati Asha Sahay Choudhry was born in Kobe, Japan in 1928. Her father Anand Sahay was from Bhagalpur and was associated with Dr Rajendra Prasad and Mahatma Gandhi. Later he came in touch with Ras Behari Bose in Japan and helped formation of Indian Independence League. When Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Japan, Anand Sahay became close to him and was part of the Provisional government of Azad Hind formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Her mother Sati Sahay was the niece of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. She got commissioned in Rani Jhansi Regiment of Azad Hind Fauj in 1945.
Lt Bharati Asha Sahay lived an inspiring life and most importantly documented through war diary an extremely important chapter of our national history against colonialism, which has often been ignored. We need to look history from different angles and not merely from our fixated gaze.
I personally feel India will gain tremendously following the idealism of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. A man of brilliant ideas and deep rooted sense of duty towards nation. There is no other political icon of our time who had enormous diversity in every structure of thigs they built. Netaji’s Azad Hind government actually reflected the power of diversity. His vision of socialism too remain important for all of us.
It also need to be seen how Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose felt that women can do anything and ensure their participation in armed struggle. We are including the women in our armed forces after 75 years of our independence but Netaji believed that they can do anything and hence created Rani Jhansi Regiment for women. A grand vision of a legend. Lt Bharati Asha Sahay reflected that vision. Her diary inspired and provide us deep insight of what was happening at the crucial moment in Japan in the aftermath of its surrender in August 1945.
A big salute to Lt Bharati Asha Sahay for her contribution in documenting the unheard part of our history and being part of glorious Azad Hind Fauj and Netaji’s dream vision.
