Jamshedpur, Jan 23 (PTI) JD(U) legislator Saryu Roy on Thursday said India would not have divided had the country achieved independence in the presence of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Roy, a former Jharkhand minister, paid homage to Netaji, placed flowers before his bust at Aam Bagan in Sakchi here on the freedom fighter's 128th birth anniversary.

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Roy also inaugurated a pictorial booklet detailing Netaji's campaign against the British for a free India.

Had he succeeded in achieving independence, the country would not have been divided, he claimed.

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India would have developed more and marched forward, had we followed the mechanism of the Planning Commission he had formed in 1937, Roy said.

Referring to Netaji's popularity in the world, Roy said one can imagine how popular he was, at a time when there were hardly any means of communication.

Yet, every child in the country knew about Netaji, which indicated his popularity, the MLA said.

There will be no substitute for Netaji but he will always be our inspiration, Roy said.

Roy said the Aam Bagan maidan has been renamed as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose maidan from today.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)