It was on April 14, 1944, the brave soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose reached Moirang in the mountainous Manipur of subjugated India. After snatching victory in a bloody battle with the colonial British troops, Sardar-e-Jang Colonel Shawkat Malik, one of the army commanders of the Azad Hind Fauj, hoisted the tricolor flag of independent India on the soil of Mairang stained with the blood of martyrs. However, some time later, on December 30, 1944, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose himself, the leader of the Indian independence struggle, hoisted the tricolor flag at the historic Gymkhana Polo Ground in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Shahid-Swaraj Dwip).

This is a historical anecdote. The continuous struggle of the brave revolutionaries of undivided India for the liberation of subjugated India for many decades culminated immediately after the Second World War. It goes without saying that the freedom fighters of all parts of  India, regardless of religion and caste, threw away the disgraced Union Jack of the British and hoisted the tricolor flag of glory.

At this time, even though 3 separate nation states were formed by divideding India, to deny the glorious legacy of the independence that we had achieved through the combined efforts of our ancestors but extreme disrespect to the tricolor has already been done is this subcontinent. And, such a shameful act has recently been committed in Bangladesh itself! The country whose soldiers shed their blood for the emergence of Bangladesh, whose people themselves protected the refugees of East Bengal who were in danger from the annexation by providing food and shelter - in that country, the shocking incident of deliberate trampling of the tricolor national flag, the symbol of the glory of independent India, has taken place.

The Indian national flag has been laid on the ground at the main entrance of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, an important institution for higher education in engineering in the capital city of Dhaka and all the so-called 'educated' people entering the university are trampling on that flag of glory and entering the university campus!

On August 5, 2024, with the help of the unelected government led by Yunus, which came to power by overthrowing the democratically elected government through a conspiracy, an anti-progressive fundamentalist force has given rise to this shameful incident to incite anti-India sentiment across the country. It is no wonder that the officials of Yunus's so-called government do not have the slightest ability to understand how stupid and arrogant a crime it is to trample on and trample on the national flag of a historically friendly and close neighboring country.

We do not know where the end of the decline of a nation that achieved independence through the Liberation War will be? However, the fundamentalist and anti-progressive forces following Yunus should not allow this audacity of utter contempt for the tricolor Indian national flag, which was earned with the blood of millions of freedom fighters, to increase. Just as it is important for the general public of Bangladesh to be vocal about this issue, it is also important for the Indian government to take all necessary diplomatic steps to uphold the dignity of the national flag, the symbol of the freedom struggle. 

If the flamboyance of Yunus's fundamentalist followers is not cut off now, this audacity will continue to increase. Above all, if we do not stop trampling on the dignity of millions of freedom fighters of undivided India, we will also lose the right to claim their inheritance.

Writer: Dhruva Shimul is a History Researcher, Journalist & a cultural organizer from Bangladesh

(Note: The OPINION section of The Views Express presents the articles or columns by individuals, where the writer exclusively writes on the matters of History, International Relations, Politics, Economy, Literature etc. on the basis of his or her opinion, knowledge, research & observations on the subject matter)