THE MAHATMA OF THE MASSES ... 3

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's satyagraha was indeed a novel method of passive resistance of an oppressed people against the tyranny of an oppressive regime brutalising its subjects for vicious villainous ends. It was most efficacious, perhaps, for the self-uplift of the passive resister but not pragmatic enough in countering villainous regimes such as the erstwhile colonising British. The doctrine was elevating morally and was, therefore, powerfully contributory towards the building up of national character which was then in bud. Gandhi's words were revolutionary, potent in clarifying concepts that revealed the true nature of the oppressive, exploitative British rule in India, and even stirring enough to rally mass support of his plans and programmes for the liberation of the land from foreign yoke, but the actual battle fought on such a basis still proved to be impotent in dislodging the deeply entrenched colonial barbarians from the landmass of the sub-continent. And this is the tragedy that has befallen humanity throughout history that the barbarian has overrun the more cultured peoples of the world by the use of brute force to thwart the advancing tide of civilisation, and it is here that Gandhi's humane use of non-violent resistance towards resolving conflicting issues may have been sublime in principle but not pragmatic enough in a world of perverse politics, and it is herein that Netaji's understanding of the enemy's intents and designs becomes so relevant as the complementary element to Gandhism that was eventually instrumental in the attainment of liberation from British hands. What a synthesis it could have been if the duo, despite differences, could deliberate to resolve their antithetical stances on the basis of the unifying love for the motherland which each possessed in super-abundance but only could not bring to focus in the same plane for the protection of the motherland's territorial integrity, for already the secessionist forces had begun to raise their ugly heads and any astute observer of the then political trends in dependent India would have clearly envisioned the British intent of Balkanising India or, at least, partitioning her along religious fault lines. If Gandhiji had not been so intransigent as he in effect was, post-Tripuri, India would have been spared much of her future ordeal beginning with her gruesome amputation and running on till date with continuous war with her own province Pakistan, perfidiously granted State status by the diabolical British Indian Government in collusion with the Muslim League to permanently debilitate India and keep her in servility for as long as was realistically possible. And this much for British fair play and justice, courtesy the Mahatma's magnanimity towards his beloved enemy and his distrust of India's greatest patriot, the shining star of India's freedom, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!