Whether the man who just died was really Netaji or not, no Indian will ever be sad that he lived.
Baba Lalji Maharaj, who was living in Saiji village in Ashok Nagar district for the past 30 years, claimed before he died on October 27 that he was the iconic freedom fighter Netaji, ex-sarpanch G S Raghuvanshi said.
“We were returning from a hospital after getting him treated when he revealed his identity and asked us to keep it a secret till his final rites were performed,” Raghuvanshi said.
Our salute to this great Indian, who is on par with Gandhiji, may be even more, if he could live anonymously for so long despite being one of the greatest Indian freedom fighters. There were differences between these two truly great personalities, but none too big for them to not respect each other more than anyone else.
We all wish we all could atleast have known Netaji more. The new generation, the proud, much often arrogant generation of Indians, could have been ashamed at the humility and the greatness of the man. Netaji had once asked the fellow Indians still struggling under the British yoke, ” You give blood, I’ll give you freedom”. To that I would like to say, Sir, you gave us more than your blood.
We salute you with the bottom of our hearts.
(Image courtesy webindia123.com)
