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Netaji's Rs 1 lakh promissory note unearthed |
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Bhopal Posted On Friday, January 22, 2010 | By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, Jan 22:
An octogenarian residing in Madhya Pradesh's Bina town in Sagar district wishes to appeal to government authorities for a respectable place in a museum for a promissory note of Rs 1 lakh denomination that was handed over to his grandfather by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
''I found the note in the seventies in the Ramayan used by my paternal grandfather Pragilal during his lifetime. He had already passed away at the age of 58 but my grandmother told me the story behind it,'' Ramkishore Dubey (83) said on the eve of Netaji's 103rd birth anniversary.
Nicknamed Barghariya, Pragilal moved about undercover in Jhansi, Datia, Rewa and Chhatarpur to gather recruits for the Azad Hind Fauj's Rani of Jhansi (women's) Regiment led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan, which raised in July 1943.
Barghariya, a zamindar, gave away his property for the Indian National Army's cause and hence earned the promissory note from the Bank of Independence with the words Jai Hind in the centre and Netaji's uniformed photograph on the left.
'I promise to pay the bearer the sum of one lac' the note reads and has six flags with charkhas at the top and the words 'good wishes' printed at the bottom. On the right is a map of India with 'Swatantra Bharat' printed in the Devanagari script.
``My family lived in Lalitpur district's Bahadur village. After finding the note, I spoke to villagers who said that Netaji himself was untraced and my grandfather was also dead so the paper had no meaning. I have never approached the government earlier but my relative Omprakash Dwivedi told me to publicise the matter,'' Dubey narrated.
When asked whether he would like to be monetarily compensated by the government in return for surrendering the note, the octogenarian said that his ambition was to set up a residential school, in Netaji's name, even if he had to sell ancestral property for doing so.
''The country needs many more Boses whom I intend to produce through the medium of that institution,'' he claimed while looking every bit a reformer in his blue-bordered dhoti, kurta, dark Nehru jacket and wielding a sturdy walking stick.
Dubey's grandchildren feel that it will be a matter of pride if their ancestor's name is brought into focus.
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Friday, September 03, 2010