Amid row over portrait, grand nephew tweets Subhas Chandra Bose's original photo

The grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Chandra Kumar Bose, on Monday took to Twitter to clarify the claims on the portrait unveiled by the President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday that said the portrait is that of Prosenjit Chatterjee, the actor who played the role of Netaji in his biopic "Gumnami".

"This is the original photograph of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, based on which renowned artist Shri Paresh Maity has drawn the portrait which was unveiled at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 23 Jan 2021, by Hon’ble President of India-Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said along with a picture of the freedom fighter.

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Among those who had questioned the portrait, which was recently unveiled at Rashtrapati Bhawan, was Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra. "After donating ₹5 lakhs to the Ram temple the President honors Netaji by unveiling a portrait of Prasenjit, the actor who played him in biopic God Save India (because this government certainly can't)," she said in the tweet which has now been deleted.

Social media was abuzz with the tweets and memes on the resemblance of the portrait with the actor.

Prosenjit Chatterjee had also tweeted congratulating the artist Paresh Maity for the making the wonderful piece of art.

Some people asked for Ajay Devgan's portrait as Bhagat Singh, Vivek Oberoi for Narendra Modi and Ben Kingsley for Mahatama Gandhi.

All these actors had played the role of the respective leaders in the biopics dedicated to them.

The President of India unveiled the portrait at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji on January 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Netaji's birth anniversary will be observed as 'Parakram Diwas' every year.