In Netaji’s last camp

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had always been a national hero largely kept on the sidelines due to overtones of nationalist politics. Smog of mystery still surrounds his death. While the ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ keep baffling many, very few actually know that his last camp on Indian soil was in the northeast. Our News Editor Ratnadip Choudhury travels to Chesezu in Nagaland to bring you the missing link of Netaji’s last days in India.   

The distant memories of a brazen-faced commander camouflaged in olive green battle fatigue with shining armour marshalling his army are still vivid in his mind. It has been more than 60 years but the memory etched deep in 105 years old Seiiru’s mind never seems to fade out. ‘He was unlike the British. He was similar to us. He was handsome and well-built and always used to wear his INA uniform. Every evening he would come to the village and speak to us. He told that INA would soon march to Delhi and once the British are out he would build good roads, school and hospital’ Seiiru recalls.

The charismatic commander could not reach Delhi and it has been more than six decades that the country has attained independence, but tucked deep at the remotest corner of Nagaland, Seiiru’s village Chesezu, is yet to see roads, schools or a hospital. A dream that the inhabitants of Chesezu still hold very close to their hearts.

This sleepy Naga hamlet once the theater of a fierce battle during the Second World War between the British and the combined forces of the Japanese and Indian National Army (INA) led by the charismatic Subhas Chanda Bose, now hold testimony to the fact of its being the last camp of Netaji on Indian soil. ‘This last camp of Netaji is as forgotten as Netaji himself is. Chesezu is a backward village. For decades it has been languishing in almost anonymity but people here not only cherish his memories, but Netaji continues to be the epitome of the everlasting hero for us. We want to keep this historical legacy going. We contribute whatever is possible within our meager means. Neither the state nor the central government is enthusiastic about showcasing this village’s contribution to the freedom struggle’, says Dipoi, a youth from this nondescript village three hours drive away from Nagaland’s capital Kohima.

During the Second World War both present day Nagaland and Manipur saw intense fighting and the battle was called Battle of Kohima. Many experts call this famous battle as the ‘Stalingrad of the East’ as it was decisive to the fate of the entire war that stretched far across South Asia. It was in 1944 between April to June that Netaji’s INA rubbed shoulders with the Japanese on the high attitude of Nagaland. Netaji decided to make Chesezu village his base camp simply because it was located strategically at a much higher attitude than Kohima and monitoring the war was easier.

Those days, the Japanese and INA forces raided the village at will for food and had burnt down the entire village on several occasions yet the Nagas helped them because they believed in what Netaji said. They believed that the British were a common enemy.

The INA’s heroics in Manipur’s Moirang are known to all, but Netaji’s connection with Chesezu had faded into oblivion till a group of Naga youths led by  engineer Vekho Swuiiro discovered certain ‘remains’ of the war and ‘presence’ of Netaji in the village during those trouble times. The youths formed the Netaji Society and are doing their bit to promote this almost unknown village and the incredible history that it holds. ‘If the village treasuring the historical relics is developed and maintained as a place of national heritage, people will gradually be interested to know more about Netaji and the contribution of this place. This in a way may extend the chord of better understanding between mainland India and this landlocked strife torn region. Netaji always wanted unity among Indians’ opined Vekho Swuiiro who authored - Discovery of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose ‘Delhi Chalo’: The last camp in Nagaland.

The book further inspired two young Naga sisters to come up with a documentary film on this lesser known place. ‘When learnt about how people of Chesezu had helped Netaji I was surprised. I wanted the rest of the country to know that how Nagaland had contributed to India’s freedom struggle’ said Aienla Lemtur. She and her sister Yashimenla Lemtur were the brainchild behind the documentary film on Chesezu.

In the documentary they interviewed the village elders who have seen and met Netaji and also visually established his camps, trenches. The team later travelled to Cuttack where Netaji was born. They also interviewed Netaji’s niece, Krishna Bose, Forward Block state secretary Asok Ghosh and members of Netaji Research Bureau. They met INA women’s brigade leader Lakshmi Sehgal and Netaji’s nephew Subroto Bose. They also spoke to Netaji’s daughter Anita B Pfaff at Augsburg in Germany. ‘Who ever we met, everyone was stunned to know about Chesezu and how people of this village still remember the heroic leader’ Aienla added.

There is hardly any proper road that leads to the village. Barely 55 kms away from the state capital the journey was backbreaking to say the least. Forget leaders and bureaucrats, this sleepy hamlet have not seen many journalists in its lifetime. More than 60 years have passed since independence; Nagaland has seen the oldest existing insurgency in the name of sovereignty in independent India yet for people in Chesezu life goes on at is own pace. For them there is only one leader – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. ‘I met him and shook hands with him. We also had a meal together. People here worked for him without any money, we have him food all because we respected him and his thoughts and his struggle’ says 106 years old Puracho Resu. Puracho’s eyes still shimmer with tears as he recollects those few months that they spent with the great leader.

Elders still recollect the point where Netaji would address the villagers every evening during his stay at Chesezu village. They would take you to the well from where Netaji’s drinking water was collected. Water still runs through that well. The hill top, his war observatory, has been aptly christened –Netaji Peak. In the middle of the village stands a century-old British bungalow – the place where Netaji was having his dinner when the Royal Air Force bombed. The villagers still remember the INA Commander-in-Chief fleeing away with few comrades, never to be seen any more on Indian soil.

Chesezu still guards a key anal to the history of India’s struggle for independence. The Netaji Society is running a makeshift museum in the village that houses important remnants of the war and they wish some day this village and its fight for Netaji’s cause would come out of oblivion.

As days pass, Chesezu’s pursuit of keeping Netaji’s association with it gains momentum. One cannot help but wonder why the very people who gave a freedom fighter their everything should resort to arms to demand sovereignty from this country. A process of alienation that has stuck its roots very deep indeed.