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The two leaders had a complex relationship yet formed a partnership and even after their parting of ways, the two admired each other in their efforts for India's freedom.
These facts need to be reiterated time and again in order to clear the air that shrouds the complex layers of history, assert Bhavuk Sharma and Prashansa Upadhyay, PhD candidates at the Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University.
A Rediff Special to mark Netaji's 128th birth anniversary.
Introduction
Subhas Chandra Bose, the highly adored freedom fighter with indomitable spirit and indefatigable courage, was born on January 23, 1897.
He is among those rarest of men in history whose life as well as 'afterlife' have been equally romanticised and admired.
His escape from British-ruled India and his role at the forefront of the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) generated an air of heroism about him in India.
When he died in an air crash in 1945 (and till now we have no reason to believe otherwise), the heroism got mixed with a yearning for this charismatic leader in a country advancing towards freedom.
Thereafter, continuous attempts have been made by all quarters to appropriate him.
In this process of appropriation many statements have been taken out of context and many half-truths have passed on as complete and candid pictures.
This has given rise to many myths regarding Subhas Chandra Bose, especially on his relationship with Mahatma Gandhi.
We shall make an attempt to understand the relation between the two, within a proper historical context.
That provides us with a vivid picture which is complex yet historical and rational.
The two had different world-views but a common goal, freedom of India.
We shall study their relations in three phases but one thing that shall be kept in mind is that these are no clear-cut distinctions but only based upon the dominant strand of feelings during the respective phase.
The Early Phase: Admiration with a pinch of salt
Having left the ICS, Bose had responded to the nation's call and soon became the right hand man of C R Das, the tallest Bengali leader at the time.
Das was pragmatic and flexible enough when compared to Gandhi.
While Bengalis had been reverential to Gandhi, they had never accepted him unequivocally as the undisputed leader of the Indian national movement.
Gandhi's firm belief in non-violence was not attractive to Bose, who had idealised the extremist leader Aurobindo Ghosh. (Leonard Gordon, Brothers Against The Raj, 1997, page 53)
Bose, therefore, believed that every means which could bring independence was acceptable as opposed to the purely non-violent path followed by Gandhi.
Bose recounts his first meeting with Gandhi, where his critical attitude is on display.
Bose wrote in his An Indian Pilgrim: The Indian Struggle, 'I reached Bombay... and obtained an interview with Mahatma Gandhi. My object... was... a clear conception of his plan of action... There were three points which needed elucidation... how were the different activities... going to culminate in the last stage of the campaign... how could mere non-payment of taxes or civil disobedience force the Government to retire from the field... how could the Mahatma promise "Swaraj" [self-rule] within one year....
'His reply to the first question satisfied me... his reply to the second question was disappointing and his reply to the third was no better... my reason told me clearly... that there was a deplorable lack of clarity in the plan which the Mahatma had formulated and that he himself did not have a clear idea of the successive stages of the campaign which would bring India to her cherished goal of freedom.' (Subhas Chandra Bose, An Indian Pilgrim, 1964, pages 54-55)
Despite this, Bose worked tirelessly for the success of the non-cooperation movement in Bengal.
His colleague during that time, Upendranath Banerjee, has reaffirmed this fact. (Leonard Gordon, Brothers Against The Raj, 1997, page 62).
When C R Das advocated non-cooperation from within the council and for that purpose, council entry, Bose actively supported him.
Bose through Banglar Katha and Forward, brought forward the goals of Swarajists.
He in fact became the chief executive officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation in 1924, largely on Das's insistence.
However, just then Subhas Bose was struck by a calamity best described in his own words -- 'In the early hours of the morning of 25 October 1924, I was roused from my sleep as I was wanted by some police officers.
'The Deputy-Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, on meeting me said: "Mr. Bose, I have a very unpleasant duty to perform. I have a warrant for your arrest under Regulation III of 1818. He then produced another warrant authorising him to search my house for arms, explosives, ammunition, etc. Since no arms, etc. were forthcoming, he had to content himself with taking a pile of papers and correspondence.'
Thereafter, Gandhi in an article titled Crown of Thorns articulated his differences with Subhas stating that 'it is these considerations (Bengal wanting Motilal as president) which actuate even the dare -- all Bengal patriot [Subhas Chandra Bose] to want Pandit Motilal Nehru as the helmsman for the coming year.' (Uma Iyengar and Lalitha Zackariah ed. Together They Fought: Gandhi-Nehru Correspondence 1921-1948, 2011, pages 70-71)
The reference is to the Calcutta session of Congress where Gandhi's choice was Jawaharlal Nehru.
The end of this 'Early Phase' can be marked by the disagreements Bose had with Gandhi over the issue of complete independence.
Both Nehru and Bose wanted the Congress to adopt complete independence as its goal in place of dominion status.
Gandhi tried to placate both the wings -- old and the new within the Congress -- by adopting an amendment that if the British did not concede to the demand for dominion status within two years, complete independence would then be adopted.
Nehru and Bose representing the left wing within the Congress, started organising the branches of the Independence League all over the country and in November (1928) at Delhi, the Independence League was formally inaugurated.
What alarmed Gandhi at this moment was also Bose's predilection towards military style characteristics which were fully on display at the Calcutta session of 1928. (Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Nehru And Bose: Parallel Lives, 2014, page 77).
At Calcutta, the AICC passed Gandhi's resolution by 118 votes in favour as against 45 votes in opposition.
The open session had, however, clearly brought out Bose's popularity as his amendment, though it could not be passed, secured 973 votes in favour as against 1,350 votes in opposition to it.
The Confrontational Phase: Direct challenge to Gandhi
The starting of this phase can be marked from the Gandhi-Irwin pact.
Bose felt that Gandhi had let them down by not being able to get as many favourable provisions as might have been possible with Motilal Nehru around.
Though one thing which needs to be clarified is that Bose absolved Gandhi of the accusation that he did not do enough to save Bhagat Singh.
He wrote in his book, 'Pressure was brought to bear upon the Mahatma to try to save the lives of these young men and it must be admitted that he did try his very best.' (Bose, An Indian Pilgrim: The Indian Struggle, page 184)
Bose went so far as to comment on the Gandhi-Irwin pact that 'today we are meeting under the shadow of a great tragedy.' (From his presidential address at the Karachi conference of the All India Naujawan Bharat Sabha on March 27, 1931)
Bose had been a vocal critic of the Mahatma ever since the passing away of Jatin Das, the Bengali revolutionary who died due to a hunger strike lasting more than 60 days.
Bose was absolutely livid with the Mahatma because messages poured in from various places on Jatin Das's death and one of them from the family of Terence McSwiney, the lord mayor of Cork, who had died a martyr under similar conditions in Ireland.
He notes about the Mahatma's attitude in contrast, 'In this connection the attitude of the Mahatma was inexplicable. Evidently the martyrdom of Jatin Das which had stirred the heart of the country did not make any impression on him. The pages of Young India ordinarily filled with observations on all political events and also on topics like health, diet, etc, had nothing to say about the incident.' (Bose, An Indian Pilgrim: The Indian Struggle, page 146)
While the differences were wide, yet they tried to work together which has been shown by Rajmohan Gandhi. He notes that the Karachi session was also notable for the remarkable unity displayed by Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Bose. (Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel: A Life, 1991)
Bose then went to Europe where he looked after an ailing Vithalbhai Patel.
Since the two of them had been dissatisfied with Gandhi's tactics recently, they decided to issue a joint statement against Gandhi's methods.
As his last but not insignificant political act, Vithalbhai Patel along with Subhas Chandra Bose signed a joint statement against Gandhi's passive resistance stating that he had failed as a leader and India now needed new methods for its independence. (GI Patel, Vithalbhai Patel: Life And Times, Volume 2, 1950, pages 1217-1218)
However, due to Gandhi's fast and ill-health during that time, the statement did not receive the significance and reception that was intended.
Bose was now convinced of revolutionary means for India's freedom and it marked a parting of ways in more ways than one.
At this time when Bose had started having differences with Gandhi, he was simultaneously moving closer to Nehru.
The difference between Bose and Nehru regarding Gandhi was that while both were deferential to him, Nehru was not ready to break with him unlike Subhas.
Despite these differences, Bose chose to devote an entire chapter to Mahatma Gandhi in his book An Indian Pilgrim: The Indian Struggle.
While talking of his success to connect with the masses using their own language and symbols, he believed that it was the interregnum of non-arrival of constitutionalism and the non-feasibility of revolutionary methods at that time which paved the way for Gandhi's success. (Bose, An Indian Pilgrim: The Indian Struggle, 1964, page 267)
Crediting him for bringing the Congress in its present potent form, he believed that the time had now come when other methods would prove more useful than the Gandhian ways.
The reluctance of Nehru to break away from Gandhi was criticised by Bose in a 27-page long letter he wrote to Nehru on March 28, 1939. (A Bunch Of Old Letters, page 340)
Subhas had earlier written a letter to Gandhi dated March 25, 1939, wherein he referred to their meeting in February where Gandhi had asked him to act as per his wishes.
This had been said in reference to the formation of the Congress Working Committee after Bose had been elected president despite Gandhi's opposition.
Even Nobel Laureate Tagore had tried to persuade Gandhi to treat Subhas gently, of whom Tagore was very fond. (Ramchandra Guha, Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World 1914-1948, 2018, page 564)
Even in this letter Bose wrote to Gandhi with an admission of his powers and accepting his importance.
He wrote that 'while there is a wide gulf within the party's two factions, you alone could bridge it.' (A Bunch Of Old Letters, pages 354-357)
That Gandhi had differences with Bose, he never tried to hide them. In the stand-off between two completely honest and forthright individuals, there was remarkable honesty.
When Sarat Bose (Subhas's elder brother) wrote to Gandhi that Patel had a hand in the mean, malicious and vindictive propaganda against Bose, Gandhi replied saying there have been no such efforts from Patel's side, 'rather Bose has been facing opposition directly from me'.
Patel's use of the simile of a fine old boat for Gandhi and a new leaking boat for Subhas did not help matters either.
It is true that in the case of Bose's presidentship Gandhi acted as a shrewd politician. but there was no malicious intent behind this.
This was because when Patel had been sceptical of Subhas at the Haripura session, Gandhi had endorsed Subhas as president. (Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel: A Life, 1991, page 539)
Furious at having to work in a hostile environment, Bose resigned and formed the Forward Bloc, a vanguard of the left in Congress.
At Madras in January 1940, Bose hit out at Gandhi, not personally but on his ideology, when he said, 'To say that we must spin our way to Swaraj or that spinning is the acid test of our fitness for Swaraj is something to swallow.' (Times of India, January 13, 1940).
The parting of ways was now complete.
The Last Phase: Admiration and Affection stand out
It is this final phase of their relationship which must be looked upon to provide a vivid picture of their feelings for each other.
It starts from the time Bose escaped from India and thereafter, led the Indian National Army.
The two very often admired each other in public and appreciated each other for their efforts in India's struggle for independence.
In his radio address broadcast from Bangkok on Gandhi's birthday in 1943, Subhas referred to him as India's greatest leader.
He went on to say that 'the service which Mahatma Gandhi has rendered to India and to the cause of India's freedom is so unique and unparalleled that his name will be written in letters of gold in our national history for all time.' (S A Ayer editor, Selected Speeches Of Subhas Chandra Bose, 1962, page 201)
In a statement issued by Bose on February 22, 1944, after Kasturba Gandhi's death, he said, 'I pay my humble tribute to the memory of that great lady who was a mother to the Indian people and I wish to express my deepest sympathy for Gandhiji in his bereavement.' (Selected Speeches, page 212)
In a message broadcast from the Azad Hind Radio on July 6, 1944, Bose showed concern for Mahatma Gandhi's health and sought his blessings.
He said, 'Father of our nation, in this holy war of India's liberation we ask for your blessings and good wishes.' (Selected Speeches, page 218)
Bose had even named one of the battalions of his INA as the Gandhi Regiment.
As for Gandhi's regard for Bose, we must turn to Guha who has adeptly summarised Gandhi's position.
On Gandhi's last day in Calcutta, he gave an interview to the United Press of India, the conversation focusing on the great, and recently deceased, hero of Bengal, Subhas Chandra Bose. (Bose had died in an air crash in August, after Japan's surrender to the Allies he was apparently en route to Russia.)
Gandhi was generous to a man with whom he had had major political and philosophical differences.
He warmly endorsed the adoption of the Indian National Army's slogan 'Jai Hind', noting that 'just because it had been used in war, it need not be eschewed in non-violent action'.
As for Bose himself, Gandhi remarked that he 'always knew of his capacity for sacrifice. But a full knowledge of his resourcefulness, soldiership and organising ability came to me only after his escape from India.' (Ramchandra Guha, Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World 1914-1948, 2018, page 768)
Conclusion
Thus, the two leaders had a complex relationship yet formed a partnership and even after their parting of ways, the two admired each other in their efforts for India's freedom.
These facts need to be reiterated time and again in order to clear the air that shrouds the complex layers of history.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com