Kolkata: After Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, `Dilli Chalo` seems to be the rallying cry for yet another member of his family, Sugata Bose, who is aiming to enter Parliament from Jadavpur seat which has in the past seen pitched poll battles between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Left rivals.
57-year-old Bose, a Harvard University professor, is the Trinamool Congress candidate for Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat. He is the grand nephew of Netaji, the founder of the Indian National Army (INA).
In his maiden poll contest, Sugata Bose is pitted against painter Samir Aich of Congress and seasoned CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty.
Jadavpur votes in the last phase of the 16th general elections on May 12. The constituency has 15.7 lakh voters.
Sugata Bose`s mother, three-time MP Krishna Bose, had fought on a TMC ticket from this seat in 2004, but had lost to CPI(M)`s Chakraborty. This time, as he campaigns for votes here, Sugata Bose is counting on his mother`s links with the constituency to fight the `outsider` tag.
CPI(M)`s Chakraborty claims that the Harvard professor does not even stay long enough in India to understand the ground realities.
But besides his political opponents, another concern for Bose is campaigning by a large number of his own family members for the Left candidate.
These family members are unhappy with Sugata Bose as he refused to support the demand for declassification of the files which can reveal the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Netaji in 1945.
"He (Sugata Bose) has told us that declassification is a non-issue. He has betrayed us and (Netaji) Bose`s legacy and so we are asking people not to vote for him," says Chandra Bose, another grand-nephew of the freedom fighter.
Some members of Netaji`s family have also complained against Sugata Bose to Election Commission for "misusing" the name of the freedom fighter for political gains.
In a letter to the poll watchdog, they said that Sugata Bose has been conducting his campaign accompanied by a child wearing spectacles and uniform like Subhas Chandra Bose.
Netaji had famously given his cry of `Dilli Chalo (On to Delhi)` to motivate the soldiers of INA as they fought against the Britishers.
