‘I tried to make a point that what accelerated the pace and process of Independence in 1947 were the Revolts of the Royal Indian Navy and Air Force in February, 1946 – both inspired by Netaji. Due to these revolts the British panicked because they could no longer trust the Indians in uniform for their own safety and security in India,’ Governor R N Ravi said.
Chennai: Governor R N Ravi accused the media of cherry-picking points from his speech made at the 127th birth anniversary celebrations of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on January 23 and creating an erroneous impression that he had been disrespectful to Mahatma Gandhi.
‘I did not mean any disrespect to Mahatma Gandhi whose teachings have been the guiding light of my life,’ Ravi said in a statement on Saturday, adding that in his speech he had only sought to elaborate the point that Netaji’s significant contributions to our nation’s Independence had not been adequately appreciated.
‘I tried to make a point that what accelerated the pace and process of Independence in 1947 were the Revolts of the Royal Indian Navy and Air Force in February, 1946 – both inspired by Netaji. Due to these revolts the British panicked because they could no longer trust the Indians in uniform for their own safety and security in India,’ he said.
The revolts happened in February 1946 and the very next month, in March, 1946, the British publicly declared that they would leave India and constituted the Constituent Assembly to demonstrate their sincerity, assuage the feelings of the agitated Indians and to pre-empt potential revolts which could have had existential consequences for the British officers and their families in India, he said.
‘The Naval and Air Force revolts were greatly inspired by the revolutionary actions of Netaji including the war of the Indian National Army against the British. The Quit India Movement of August, 1942, after initial success, had lost steam. Internecine conflicts in the National Freedom Movement due to the Muslim League’s vehement insistence on partition of India and its reactions on the ground kept much of the efforts and energy of the Congress leaders on how to manage the internal conflicts, much to the delight of the British, Ravi said.
The British would have ruled India for some more years but for Netaji’s armed revolution and its domino effect on the Indian Military and Security Forces and these were facts based on primary documents, he said.
‘I hold Mahatma Gandhi in the highest regard and his teachings have been the ideals of my life,’ he said.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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