• Capt. Praveen Davar

An epitome of suffering and sacrifice Subhas Chandra Bose began his political journey with a career sacrifice. Having passed the ICS examination in London, in July 1920, he decided to resign from the elite service before leaving the shores of England. Inspired by the example of C.R. Das, the ‘uncrowned king of Bengal’ who, like Motilal Nehru had sacrificed his lucrative legal career and creature comforts, the 23-year-old Bose wrote to his brother Sarat: ‘If C.R. Das at his age can give up everything and face the uncertainties of life, I am sure a young man, like myself, who has the no worldly care to trouble him, is much more capable of doing so.’

Soon after arrival in India, Bose met Mahatma Gandhi in Bombay (now Mumbai) in July 1921 to offer his services in the freedom struggle. On the latter’s advice, Bose met Deshbandhu C.R. Das in whom he found ‘a leader’ and decided to follow him. He held both Das and his co-swarajist Motilal Nehru in such high esteem that a decade later, he regretted their loss in a speech during a political conference in London on June 10, 1933: ‘ It is not easy to learn or to remember the lessons of past history and the latest developments in India go to show that we have not yet assimilated the lessons of 1921 and 1922 and, unfortunately, for us, with the death of Deshbandhu C.R. Das and Pandit Motilal Nehru of hallowed memory in 1925 and 1931 respectively, there disappeared from the Indian scene two political giants who might have saved India from the political mess in which she now finds herself.’ By this time, Bose had become disillusioned with the Mahatma.

Since 1927 when Bose developed his own political thinking, he, along with Jawaharlal Nehru declared that the goal of Congress must be ‘Complete Independence’ and not ‘ Dominion Status’ which elders like Gandhi and Motilal Nehru had advocated. The Congress declared this goal at the Lahore session of INC under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru which became a decisive turning point in the independence movement. Knit by an abiding faith in socialism and secularism, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bose emerged as leaders of the younger generation with a new outlook and ideas which often came in conflict with those of Gandhiji. However, Bose praised Mahatma’s Dandi March which was one of the most ‘brilliant achievements of his leadership’ and ... ‘the height to which his statesmanship can ascend in times of crisis.’

Bose similarly praised Jawaharlal Nehru but regretted that the latter did not accept the leadership of Congress Socialist Party (CSP): ‘With a popularity only second to the Mahatma, with unbound prestige amongst his countrymen, with a clear brain possessing the finest idea, with an update knowledge of modern world movements, that he should be found wanting in the essential quality of leadership.’ But when Netaji took over the reins of the Indian National Army (INA) from Rash Bihari Bose, one of the brigades of the Azad Hind Fauz was named after Jawaharlal Nehru, his closest comrade in the Congress for over two decades. The other three brigades were named Gandhi, Azad (Maulana Azad) and Bose.

Netaji held the colonial government responsible for dividing Indian people. After the time of Asoka, he wrote, India had gone through many ups and downs in her national life. There have been periods of decay, followed by periods of progress and upheaval. But throughout these ups and downs in our national life, we have been able, in the long run, to keep up our progress. He stated: ‘About 1000 years after Ashoka, India again reached the zenith of progress under the Gupta emperors. This was followed by another glorious epoch in Indian history of about 900 years under the Mogul emperors. Therefore, it is worth remembering that the British notion that we have been unified politically under British rule is entirely wrong. All that the British tried to do during their regime in India is to divide the Indian people and to weaken, disarm and emasculate them.’

While in Germany, after his great escape, Bose countered the British propaganda against the Muslims non-participation in the freedom movement. He wrote in a periodical in August 1942: ‘British propaganda has deliberately created the impression that the Indian Mohammedans are against the Independence movement. But this is altogether false. The fact is that in the nationalist movement, there is a large percentage of Mohammedans. The President of the Indian National Congress today is Azad- a Mohammedan. The great revolution of 1857 was a grand example of national unity. The war was fought under the flag of Bahadur Shah, a Mohammedan, and all sections of the people joined in it.’

Bose visualized an India which will be absolutely neutral and impartial towards all religions. He followed this approach in the Azad Hind Fauz. In 1946, Gandhiji wrote in the Harijan: ‘although the INA failed to achieve its objective, they have a lot to their credit... greatest among these was to gather together under one banner men of all religions and race and to infuse into them the spirit of solidarity and oneness, to utter exclusion of all communal and parochial sentiments. It is an example which we should all emulate.’ To solve the language problem of India, Bose advocated the use of Hindustani- a mixture of Hindi and Urdu- In Roman script. Presiding over the Haripura Congress session, in 1938, he said: Roman script will facilitate their (masses) learning of European languages. I am quite aware how unpopular the immediate adoption of Roman script will be in our country. Nevertheless, I would beg my countrymen to consider what would be the wisest solution in the long run.’

Subhas held the view that ‘communalism will go only, when communal mentality goes’. Destroying communalism is the ‘task of all those Indians-Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu and Christians etc. - who have .... the communal outlook and have developed a genuine national mentality.’ He wanted different religious groups to be acquainted with the traditions, ideals and history of one another as cultural intimacy will pave the way towards communal, peace and harmony. Netaji, one of the greatest iconic figures of the freedom struggle, will remain a source of inspiration for his heroic deeds, patriotism and fearlessness.

(The author is a former Secretary AICC and Editor, The Secular Saviour)