IN RESPONSE TO A MISCARRIAGE OF INTENT AS PERCEIVED BY AN EARNEST READER

Well, that is your own inference, dear friend, but it is not corroborated by my essay. I have not mentioned or implied that Gandhiji and Netaji moved millions from the same platform. Rather, it is common knowledge and, hence, needed no specification, therefore, that they moved along parallel pathways to move the said millions, unless, of course, if by your assertion you imply that Gandhiji moved the masses and Netaji, war-bound as he was then during the tumultuous days of the great cataclysm that was tearing humanity apart in the first half of the 1940s, did not. But even then it must be admitted that Netaji did move three million expatriate Indians in East Asia and countless more within India who he inspired to rise up in rebellion against the British at a time when the Quit India Movement had been crushed, the leaders of Congress incarcerated and a hapless population left leaderless and without political direction. Throughout the 1940s, post his great escape, Subhas Chandra Bose exerted tremendous influence on the masses in India and virtually became the most dominant voice for freedom in active political life till 18 August, 1945 and thereafter post his disappearance till India achieved freedom on 15 August, 1947. His shadow loomed over the ramparts of the Red Fort during the INA Trials and, like the ghost of Caesar, scurried home the enemies to the future republic. Netaji in absentia was present everywhere as the soul of a suppressed people seeking liberation after two centuries of darkness and induced destitution.

Thus, in all fairness it may be said that the Mahatma and Netaji worked along parallel planes towards the same objective, that of national freedom and that both drew adherents by the millions to support their cause. The relative success or failure of their respective political endeavours is not for me to pass judgement on for I am not sufficiently well-endowed with intelligence and understanding to comprehend the complexities of the historical flow with its inevitable prejudice towards the victor in war. Therefore, I bring my humility as offering at the feet of all the hallowed heroes of the freedom struggle and in this I find my mark and with it my peace. I have not done anything close to the seminal achievements of the heroes of the independence movement and I wish to emulate them ever so feebly in laying my soulful service at the altar of freedom of the motherland which is an ever-evolving process and never quite a settled case once and for all. Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!