By Aju
Mukhopadhyay
Difference between the two first ranking leaders hindered
the birth of Modern India
 |
| Aju Mukhopadhyay |
Modern
India was born with the winning of freedom. In 1938, during the 51st
session of the Indian National Congress Subhas Chandra Bose was elected its
President. He was given an outstanding welcome and reception at Haripura. It
was his political coronation. After a year’s experience he contested for the
second term against the wishes of Gandhiji in 1939 and won the election getting
1580 votes against his rival’s (Pattabhi Sitaramayya) 1375 votes. Most Left
forces voted for Subhas. Gandhi said, “The defeat is more mine than his…,” and
added, “After all Subhas Babu is not an enemy of his country” (Gordon /Freedom
15).
The sarcastic
wording by Gandhi looking down on Subhas as “enemy” was really an irony of
fate. He called him later “Prince among Patriots” and Subhas only mentioned him
for the first time as the “Father of the Nation”. One may find a contrast
between Gandhi’s remark with the opinion of Dr. Sitaramayya, about Subhas
Chandra Bose.
“Contemporary
history carries, with its own charms as well as its own complications. And in
it – Subhas’s, what a history – what charms, what complications - A stormy life
from boyhood onwards, a strange combination of mysticisms and reality, of
intense religious fervor and stern practical sense, a deep emotional
susceptibility and cold calculating pragmaticism…”[i]
Subhas issued a
statement to Gandhi like a challenge, part of which was, “I do not know what
sort of opinion Mahatmaji has of me. But whatever his view may be, it will
always be my aim and object to try and win his confidence for the simple reason
that it will be a tragic thing for me if I succeed in winning the confidence of
other people but fail to win the confidence of India’s greatest man” (Gordon
/Freedom 15).
The Left wing of
the Congress and socialists failed or betrayed in continuing to support the
cause of the President to nominate a Working Committee of his choice. Those who
voted for Bose including Nehru now backed. And Gandhians got their resolution
passed thus: “Mahatma Gandhi alone can lead the Congress… and requests the
President to nominate the working committee in accordance with the wishes of
Gandhiji…”
“Gandhi, for his
part, was adamant and seemed determined to oust Bose” (Gordon /Freedom 16).
There are many
more examples of Gandhi’s dictatorship in the Congress which drove Subhas to
the path of revolt against it. The dictatorship left many examples of
legitimate reactions in one of the first ranking leaders of the country, KM
Munshi. Gandhi issued a stricture that those Congressmen who favoured violent
resistance or were associated with gymnasia should get out of the party; and
Munshi resigned from it.[ii]
Bose formed
Forward Block inviting all left minded people to join. He threw a challenge to
ascertain his right to criticize the Congress High Command and demonstrate
against it. This was too much for the monopolistic democratic party so he was
suspended from the Congress executive positions for three years.
Tagore, who was a
friend of Gandhi, broke his silence and wrote:
“Subhas Chandra, I
have watched you from afar when you first began your penance for the country…
In your lifetime you have absorbed many an experience. Your adherence to duty is
a positive proof of your vitality and strength. Incarceration, banishment,
incurable disease – all these have sorely tested your strength. . . . You have
emerged out of these trials with a vision that reaches beyond the bounds of the
country and encompasses the extensive grounds of world history. You have made
allies out of your troubles and obstacles… so many steps in the ladder of your
success… Those who are real and natural leaders of the country, never stand by
themselves. They belong to all men of all times. They stand on the crest of the
present and are the very first to bow in obeisance to the first purple rays
that usher the dawning future. Keeping that in mind I invite you and through
you the whole nation to give a lead to the country.” (Tagore 716-718)
Subhas Chandra was
arrested in July 1940 for leading popular demonstration in Calcutta and was
imprisoned. Bose was desperate to strike a blow to the imperialists instead of
becoming their friends to grasp power when they would leave as it happened at
the end. He resorted to hunger strike until death and the British could not go
up to that so released him in December 5, putting him under house arrest. He
escaped to foreign countries on 16 January 1941.
Congress and the issue of Partition of the country
Gandhi
who often said, “You shall have to
divide my body before you divide
India”, or if partition happened it would be over his dead body, now said to
Nirmal Bose, “With whom was I going to carry on the fight? Don’t you realise
that, as a result of one year of communal riots, the people of India have all
become communal? They can see nothing beyond the communal question. They are
tired and frightened. The Congress has only represented this feeling of the
whole nation. How can I oppose it?” (Gordon /Freedom 22)
In fact Gandhi’s
efforts to bring communal harmony were never successful. He finally supported
partition of the country. Earlier, his efforts to support Khilafat movement
could not gain him confidence of the Muslim community. The core members of both
the community looked at him with suspicion, resulting in his death in the hand
of one belonging to his own religion. Remember the horrible aftermaths of partition
in both India and Pakistan; a train load of dead bodies came to India on 15
August 1947.
“Before he was
assassinated in 1948, Gandhi – a senior journalist told me – rebuked Nehru and
Patel for not being able to reign in partition madness and wished that his
‘other son’ (Subhas)
was here!’ Reminded by a Congressman, who had witnessed the dressing down, that
Bose was dead and he had himself come to that belief, Gandhi shot back, ‘He’s
in Russia.’” (Anuj 45)
Congress assumed a
dictatorial character with Gandhi at its head. It continued under the hegemony
of one family from Nehru’s time as he was chosen by Gandhi. After partition and
independence Gandhi was almost nowhere in the running of the country. He
continued to remain on his chosen path of moral and ethical reformation of the
people while living in his secluded corner. The path New India followed was
entirely different from Gandhi’s ideals. A crippled and weak India was attacked
by China; and India compromised with Pakistan, almost dividing Kashmir, which
still plagues the country.
What Netaji did outside the country
We must with indebted heart remember that in spite of all
pitfalls and reversal of situations in the War ravaged world Subhas Bose gave
the clarion call “Give me blood and I promise you freedom.” He gave the battle
cry of “March to Delhi/ Delhi Chalo” on 21st October 1943. He established the
provisional Government of Free India, which was recognised within few days by
Japan, Germany, Italy, Burma, Thailand and China. The provisional Government
acquired its first Indian territory when Japan handed over Andaman and Nicobar
islands to it on 6th November 1943. The territories were named ‘Sahid’ and
‘Swaraj’ islands respectively. Subhas called upon the Indian people to “rally
round our banner and to strike for India's freedom”. The INA Brigade assisted
by the Japanese army advanced inside Indian border. Indian flag was hoisted in
Kohima in March 1944. INA carried on a heroic campaign against the Allied
Forces. Netaji moved from one battle field to another. He often flew from Tokyo
to Manila to Singapore to Rangoon. After the fall of the Axis powers Netaji
went into hiding and to help him Japan officially declared that he died in air
crash near Taihoku airfield on 18 August, 1945. This was a means adopted by
Subhas Chandra Bose himself to escape from the clutches of the allied forces.
All those who have maintained the idea of his death in air crash have lulled themselves
into falsehood for their own interests.
“Two recently declassified
Intelligence Bureau (IB) files have revealed that the Jawaharlal Nehru government
spied on the kin of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for nearly two decades… between
1948 and 1968. Nehru was the prime minister for 16 of the 20 years and the IB
reported directly to him. The files show the IB resumed British-era
surveillance on the two Bose family homes in Calcutta… The agency seemed
especially keen to know who all the Bose kin met and what they discussed.”[iii]
Prime Minister Nehru
knew of Bose’s presence and was afraid of the chances of his coming back that
could threaten his near autocratic ruling and stay as Prime Minister.
Clash of policy and win of the one considered perished
The
main clash between Gandhi and Subhas was clash of policy. When Subhas, at the beginning of his political
career, met Gandhi on 21 July 1921, he told Gandhi that he differed with his
ahimsa stand for he believed that India would never achieve independence in a
non-violent way against the Imperialist Britain.
Subhas’s contest
was against the will of the one who felt himself all-in-all in Congress
organization and had an idea that none could override him. He pushed his
colleagues against the President who felt cornered and resigned against such
dictatorial conduct. It was a clique, more violent than violent combat;
silently pushing Subhas to leave the country and the movement in chaos
resulting in partition of the country.
Many greats, during
Gandhi’s time, resigned from Congress which was established by other patriots
in 1885. It was because of Gandhi and his group’s total non-cooperation that
Bose had to take a dangerous route to flee the country throwing dust in the
Police’s eyes on 16 January 1941 and join the most dangerous human group during
the war time to set his country free in spite of all impediments created by his
political colleagues. Bose could have done greater things had he lived in India
including gaining freedom without partition.
The Quit India
Movement called by Gandhi in 1942 was not at all non-violent (all the leaders
including him were in jail almost up to the end of the drama). British had to
leave India in a war ravaged condition of their country in the face of Naval
revolt and near revolt by the Indian Army and Air Force which was the result of
their actions against INA soldiers.
Non-violent
movement produced a result like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Never the British had yielded to this type of
movement though they much liked that in contrast to the violent movements which
took the form of terrorism sometimes as a result of their unjust repression.
They handed over power to their friends to continue. To corroborate our views
that Quit India Movement flapped on the way and Indian freedom was won by
violent revolution, by blood- shedding struggle by Subhas Chandra Bose and his
followers, let’s have a few relevant quotes from the modern history as reported
in India Today.
“The declassification of the Netaji files has sparked a
massive debate on the need to rewrite modern Indian history…
“A controversial new book written by military historian
General GD Bakshi seeks to overturn the traditional idea of how India won its
freedom. India Today has been able to
exclusively access an advance copy of a Knowledge World Publication, Bose: An Indian Samurai… In 1956,
Clement Attlee had come to India and stayed in Kolkata as a guest of the then
Governor. Remember, Clement Richard Attlee was the man, who as leader of the
Labour Party and British Prime Minister between 1945 and 1951, signed off on
the decision to grant Independence to India.
“PB Chakraborthy was at that time the Chief Justice of the
Calcutta High Court and was also serving as the acting Governor of West Bengal.
He wrote a letter to the publisher of RC Majumdar’s book, A History of Bengal. In this letter, the Chief Justice wrote, “When
I was acting Governor, Lord Attlee, who had given us independence by
withdrawing British rule from India, spent two days in the Governor’s palace at
Calcutta during his tour of India. At that time I had a prolonged discussion
with him regarding the real factors that had led the British to quit India.”
Chakraborthy adds, “My direct question to Attlee was that
since Gandhi’s Quit India movement had tapered off quite some time ago and in
1947 no such new compelling situation had arisen that would necessitate a hasty
British departure, why did they have to leave?"
“In his reply Attlee cited several reasons, the principal
among them being the erosion of loyalty to the British crown among the Indian
army and navy personnel as a result of the military activities of Netaji,”
Justice Chakraborthy says.
“That’s not all. Chakraborthy adds, “Toward the end of our
discussion I asked Attlee what was the extent of Gandhi’s influence upon the
British decision to quit India. Hearing this question, Attlee’s lips became
twisted in a sarcastic smile as he slowly chewed out the word, m-i-n-i-m-a-l!”
“This startling conversation was first published by the
Institute of Historical Review by author Ranjan Borra in 1982, in his piece on
Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian National Army and the war of India’s liberation.
“To understand the significance of Attlee’s assertion, we
have to go back in time to 1945. The Second World War had ended. The allied
powers led by Britain and the United States had won. The axis powers led by
Hitler’s Germany had been vanquished. The victors wanted to impose justice on
the defeated armies. In India, officers of Netaji Bose’s Indian National Army
were put on trial for treason, torture, murder. This series of court martials
came to be known as the Red Fort Trials.
“Indians serving in the British armed forces were inflamed
by the Red Fort Trials. In February 1946, almost 20,000 sailors of the Royal
Indian Navy serving on 78 ships mutinied against the Empire. They went around
Mumbai with portraits of Netaji and forced the British to shout Jai Hind and
other INA slogans. The rebels brought down the Union Jack on their ships and
refused to obey their British masters. This mutiny was followed by similar
rebellions in the Royal Indian Air Force and also in the British Indian Army
units in Jabalpur. The British were terrified. After the Second World War, 2.5
million Indian soldiers were being de-commissioned from the British Army.
“Military intelligence reports in 1946 indicated that the
Indian soldiers were inflamed and could not be relied upon to obey their
British officers. There were only 40,000 British troops in India at the time.
Most were eager to go home and in no mood to fight the 2.5 million battle
hardened Indian soldiers who were being demobilised. It is under these
circumstances that the British decided to grant independence to India.”[iv]
More interesting would be the eyewitness memoir of
the former Prime Minister of India, IK Gujral, who was present at the Karachi
uprising of the Royal Indian Navy in 1946. He wrote on 20.2.2006:
“The naval mutinies of February 1946 remain
indelible in the Nation’s mind and even more deep in the psyches of those like
me who had witnessed this turning point in history of the freedom struggle…
“Even the firing of the tear gas shells that
followed did not affect them, while the determined groups of Ratings peacefully
squatted on the tramway lines, ready to face the guns. Their high morale was
inspiring. The on-lookers spilled on the road to join the slogan shoutings, ‘Netaji ki jai’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’.
“The Commissioner
ordered the firing of the tear gas shells. That made the processionists and the
spectators even more excited. They covered their eyes and faces with wet
kerchiefs or with clothes got wet with the water sprinkled from the balconies.
The women from the balconies passed on to them their wet ‘sarees’ and other
garments to ward off the gas. Soon they passed on fruits and sweets and buckets
of drinking water without any touch of panic. It was a mela like atmosphere.
The public now mingled with the processionists. It was difficult for police to
segregate them” (Ratings 25-26. IBC 25-26).
It is to be noted that Nehru and Patel with the support of
Gandhi used all means to subdue this Naval revolt. But finally the result was
achieved. India was granted the desired Freedom though truncated by partition.
In Free India it is the sacred duty of all authorities to
disseminate the true history of the Independence Movement as the first
knowledge about modern India. It has long been suppressed. Children of the
country who grew old in Free India knew a false history. It should be rectified
by all means for the present and future generations.
Notes and References:
[i] The History of Indian National Congress.
V.2-1935-1947. p.678 (as quoted in Taihoku Theke Bharat: Netajir Antardhan
Rahasya by Sri Abhijit. Kolkata: Dey’s Publishing. 1971. Second Edition.
Hardbound.)
[ii] Nahar Sujata. Mother's Chronicles.
Mysore: Mirra Adity Centre. Book 5, pp.
231 – 237.
[iv] India Today,
25.1. 2016- http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/exclusive-attlee-told-bengal-governor-netaji-not-gandhi-got-india-freedom-claims-book/1/579741.html
Work Cited:
1. Freedom. A paper in it: “Themes in a
Political Biography of Subhas and Sarat Chandra Bose” by Leonard Gordon.
Columbia University; New York. USA.
2. The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore. Ed. Sisir Kumar Das.
New Delhi: Sahitya Akademy. 2002. Hardbound. Reprint. V.3
3. Dhar Anuj. India’s Biggest Cover–up. New Delhi: Vitasta Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
1912. Hard bound.
4. Revolt of RIN Ratings (February 1946): Indian
Book Chronicles (IBC); Supplement with February 2006 issue. Jaipur, India.
This article shows very clearly that independence happened due to the actions of the supreme patriot, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and not due to the non-violent methods of Gandhi. However, this truth has been covered and lost as the Congress took over power from the British and didn't let the true winner of freedom become the ruler.
ReplyDeleteThis turn of events has kept us slaves of the British till date because the Congress and the Nehru/Gandhi family were but followers of the British and have continued to rule India like their masters did. That is why the culture of of looting India that the British had started has continued uninterrupted till date.
Because Netaji, as a patriot, wasn't able to rule independent India, we have not experienced freedom even to this day. By correcting certain gross misconceptions about the Indian freedom movement we can only hope that the Indian population will realise that we are not free and try to bring patriotism into politics to stop the loot of India.