Short takes
Aurobindo, Tagore & Gandhi’s role in India’s freedom struggle
Jaswant Singh

Netaji Subhas confronted the Indian Ethos 1900-1921
by Adwaita P. Ganguly; Vedantic Research centre for Comparative Civilisations, Dehra Dun; pages 224; Rs 450.

THIS volume is the second in a series of three on the life and times of Subhas Chandra Bose. It forms a link between the first which pertains to the period 1897 to 1921 and elucidates how Subhas built his philosophy of life, and the third volume which is they to come out. It will, the author claims, describe the period 1921-41, a period in which Subhas was involved in hectic political activity. The present work tries to explore how Subhas’s philosophy of life was influenced by three towering personalities of that period —Aurobindo, Tagore and Gandhi. It tries to relate the thought and activities of Subhas to the forces of his time and explains how his philosophy of life was affected by the country’s ethos, in which the main influence was that of these three personalities. It describes Aurobindo’s life in England and how this yogi revolutionary developed the ‘political philosophy of terrorism’ to fight British imperialism. You read about the tremendous effect his thought and activities had on the political milieu of India.

Then there were Tagore and Gandhi, two outstanding figures of the first half of the 20th century. No two persons could be so different from each other. Tagore was aristocratic artist-turned-democrat with proletarian sympathies. He represented the cultural tradition of India and went through life with song and dance. Gandhi, on the other hand, was a man of the masses, an embodiment of India’s peasantry. He represented another tradition of India, that of renunciation and asceticism. Tagore was a man of thought, Gandhi of ceaseless activity. Both had, in different ways, a world outlook; both were wholly Indian. They represented different but harmonious aspects of India.

The book describes how Aurobindo’s terrorism, Tagore’s ‘universalism’ and Gandhi’s ‘experimental non-violence’ shaped India’s struggle for freedom. It also shows how Subhas was quick to spot flaws in the ideals of these men and how he charted his own action plan.

The book has three sections, devoted to Aurobindo, Tagore and Gandhi. And these are such detailed studies that it raises doubts whether the book is on Subhas or on these personalities. However, it will make useful addition to the bookshelves of those who want to study the ideological basis of India’s struggle for freedom.

Pakistan Islamisation, Army and Foreign Policy

by Bidanda, M. Chengappa; A.P.H. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi; Page 301; Rs 695.

FROM the day it came into existence, Pakistan has been India’s troublesome neighbour, the measure of its hostility depending on who holds the reins of power in that country. While India stuck firmly to the democratic system, Pakistan, except some sporadic flirtations with democracy, has largely been ruled by military dictators. As India has upheld the secular character of its polity, Pakistan has kept moving towards Islamic fundamentalism. Difference with India came under the definition of Jehad and fighting India became a religious compulsion. This created strong security implications for India.

The author of this book, who has studied closely India’s defence and military matters as a newsman covering the Defence Ministry, has analysed the Islamic imprint on Pakistan’s society in general and the Army in particular. Islamic fundamentalism, he points out, started growing in Pakistan during the presidentship of Zia-ul Haq who changed the socio-political face of the country by highlighting the role of religious in public life. Benazir Bhutto, who took power in 1988, injected jehad or holy war against Indian security forces in Kashmir. Islamic fundamentalism which was initially directed against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, was turned against India under Benazir Bhutto’s leadership.

It was in the climate that cross-border terrorism found a convenient breeding ground in Pakistan, with the state providing patronage and mateial support. State-propagated Islamic fundamentalism which was first aimed at non-Muslim states, also found internal manifestation in sectarian violence. In Zia’s regime the military’s alliance with the mosque stemmed from the regime’s need to appease the right wing religio-political elements in order to remain in power. Externally, it was related to the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. The Pakistan Army encouraged the jehadis to fight a proxy war for Pakistan against the Soviet forces because it could not afford a direct confrontation with the mighty Soviet Union. These internal and external factors led to the growth of Islamisation in Pakistan. Yet, despite the resurgence of Islam, the religio-political parties have never been able to gather enough support to form a government in Pakistan. The intelligentsia has always preferred democracy to rule by a ‘Shoora’. Islamisation of the Pakistan Army, however, began in the 1980s. Till then this major national institution of that country was a non-religious organisation. Ironically, the author points out, the process of Islamisation of Pakistan Army began in India when after the Bangladesh war, the Indian Army distributed copies of the Quran among the 90,000 prisoners of war. After the take-over by General Ziaul Haq, religious assumed a formal role in Pakistan’s armed forces. Today, Islamisation of the Pakistan Army shows itself through the beards the officers sport, and the absence of alcohol in Army messes.

The book would surely have been incomplete without a reference to Pakistan’s foreign policy which has largely been India centric, with Kashmir as the central point. However, after the creation of Bangladesh, Pakistani rulers remained pre-occupied with domestic problems and developed an inward orientation. Soviet presence in Afghanistan gave Pakistan an opportunity to get closer to the USA and secure military hardware for its arsenal. The Kashmir issue once again became the focus of Pakistan’s foreign policy in the 1980s and became the ‘core issue’ in 1990s.

It became an essential part of Islamabad’s foreign policy to develop friendship with the smaller states in South Asia to counter India’s influence in the region. Thus, India became an important factor in Pakistan-Nepal relations. Both lie on India’s borders and are much smaller than India. Both have experimented with authoritarian systems and both propagate anti-India sentiments when the compulsions of staying in power demand. Moreover Pakistan has always sought the cooperation of other South Asian nations to contain India’s stature.

The book analyses these issues and contains chapters on Islamisation of the Pakistan Army, its Kashmir centric foreign policy and Pakistan’s relations with Nepal vis-a-vis India’s security concerns.

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