Remembering the other side of Bose

Praveen Davar

SUBHAS Chandra Bose came under the spell of the Mahatma as a youth leader of the Indian National Congress( (INC), till he  fell out with him in  his second term as President INC, culminating in his “great escape,” this month, exactly 75 years ago.  After resigning from the ICS in 1921, Bose sought an interview with Mahatma Gandhi who was in the process of launching the Non-Cooperation Movement.  Advised by the Mahatma, the young Subhas adopted Chittaranjan Das, the then “tallest” leader of Bengal, as his mentor and simultaneously also came under the spell of Motilal Nehru, a close comrade of his mentor.  Both Motilal Nehru and CR Das were the two most prominent lawyers of the country. They had sacrificed their respective hefty law practice and huge estates for the cause of the freedom struggle.

By the late 1020s, Bose, alongwith Jawaharlal Nehru, had become a youth icon.  So popular were these two “young Turks” amongst the youth that even revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad and Jatin Das were inspired by them.  That Bose was not only politically and personally close to Jawaharlal Nehru, but also had great reverence for Motilal Nehru can be gauged from a letter he wrote to the elder Nehru. He was trying to convince Motilal Nehru to accept the presidentship of  the INC (Kolkata session, 1928) : “The situation in the country today is such — that we can think of nobody else who can rise to the occasion — I am not exaggerating matters when I say that if for any reason you decline the presidentship the effect would be so disastrous in this province that it will seriously affect the success of the Congress session.” After the death of CR Das in 1925, Bose gradually became the most popular leader of Bengal.  He represented the rebellious tendency in Bengal, not just against the British but against the central leadership of the Congress as well.  He was elected the Mayor of Calcutta (now Kolkata), defeating JM Sengupta, who was the nominee of the Congress “high command.” While Bose was idelogically opposed to the “rightist” Vallabhbhai Patel, he was personally and politically close to the latter's elder brother Vithalbhai Patel, a leader of the Swaraj party founded by Motitlal Nehru and CR Das.  Vithalbhai and Bose had met in a sanatorium in Vienna where both were convalescing in 1933.  When Gandhiji suspended the civil disobedience movement, they issued a strong worded joint statement, the Patel-Bose manifesto, calling for a new radical leadership of the Independence movement. (Vienna, May 1933): — “The time has therefore come for a radical reorganisation of the Congress on a new principle and new method — noncooperation will have to be changed into a more militant one.” So fond of Bose had Vithalbhai become that he willed a portion of his fortune to him to be spent for the “political uplift of India and for publicity work on behalf of India's cause in other countries.” But the will was challenged by Vithalbhai's sibiling, Vallabhbhai Patel as a consequence of  which Bose didn't receive a penny.

Meanwhile, relations between Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru were becoming stronger by the day.  While Jawaharlal was in prison  in India, Subhas travelled from Vienna to Badenweiler to be with Kamala Nehru, who was suffering from TB.  He remained there till Jawaharlal arrived, after being released from prison.  When Kamala Nehru died, Subhas was there to help Jawaharlal and his daughter Indira (then 19) with the funeral arrangements. When Jawaharlal told Subhas that he was intending to set  up a foreign affairs department in the Congress, the latter was pleased since it was entirely in consonance with his views. Subhas returned to India in May 1936 and was soon arrested. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the Congress President, gave a country-wide call to observe May 10, 1936 to put pressure on the British authorities to release him. Jawaharlal's second consecutive term was  coming to end in 1937 and a suitable successor had to be found.  As the masses were solidly behind the Nehru-Bose duo, Gandhiji with his foresight, decided to back the candidature of Bose.  Though the rightist lobby led by Sardar Patel opposed him tooth and nail, the Mahatma  declared that “there really was no one other than Subhas who deserved to become the “Rashtrapati” (as president of the INC was addressed those days).

The first term of Bose was a smooth affair, with many activites aimed at setting up goals to see that “everybody —man, woman and child — is better clothed, better educated and has sufficient leisure for recreation and cultural activity.”  Though Bose reassured Gandhians that he firmly believed in encouraging cottage industries, he was inclined, like Nehru, to embrace the idea of heavy industrialisation.   Jawaharlal was away to Europe in 1938 but Bose wanted him back to take over as the Chairman of the National Planning Committee he proposed to set up for socio-economic reconstruction of the country when it became free.   He wrote to Nehru: “You cannot imagine how I missed you all these months. Several problems will await solution till you are back. I hope you will accept the Chairmanship of the Planning Committee.”

In envisioning the future of India, both Nehru and Bose placed considerable importance on the position of women and sought to initiate measures by which they could be brought into the mainstream of the development process. One of the most comprehensive reports prepared under the aegis of the National Planning Committee was on women and their future in the planned economy of India. Proceeding along the guidelines suggested in the Fundamental Rights Resolution adopted by the Karachi Congress in 1931, the women's report in the National Planning Committee spelt out in detail the existing social, economic and legal obstacles to the achievement of equal status and opportunity and advocated ameliorative measures, which were surprisingly modern and advanced.  While Nehru, as Chairman of the National Planning Committee, was actively involved in its preparation, Subhas shared most of its recommendations, without, however, being directly involved because of his preoccupations as Congress President.

The need to forge national unity on the basis of the advances made by scientific progress was a constant preoccupation with Subhas. With a restless zeal and inspired by the example of  Russia, which in a short while had progressed from “being a country of half-starved peasants to well-clothed industrial workers”, Subhas envisaged an India where industrial progress could improve “the standard of living of the people at large”.   

However, despite the enourmous work Bose had undertaken in his first term, his re-election was opposed by the right wing of the Congress comprising Patel, Rajaji, Rajendra Prasad and Pandit Pant.  Their choice was Abul Kalam Azad.  But the Maulana considered discretion as better part of valour and refused to enter the fray against Bose.  This pitted Patabhi Sitaramayya of Andhra against Bose.  In a keenly fought contest, Bose polled 1,580 votes against 1,375 of Sitaramayya.      The re-election of Bose was a big blow to the right-wing of the Congress led by Sardar Patel who had earlier stated that “Subhas's re-election is held to be harmful to country's cause.”  The Mahatma however, admitted to his defeat but, with his characteristic humility, added: “After all, Subhas babu is not an enemy of his country. He has suffered for it.”  All this, and more later, would, however, not heal the wounds and prevent Bose from charting an independent course  and, ultimately, sacrificing his life to realise his dream of Azad Hind.

The writer, an ex-Army officer, is Member, National Commission for Minorities. The views expressed are personal.