TAGORE'S 'DESHANAYAK' AND HIS DOMAIN, THE TAGORE WAY
The problem that I have with this address of Tagore is that he restricts Subhas Chandra Bose repeatedly to being the leader of Bengal and does even once address him as the leader of the nation which he specifically reserves for Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore's 'Deshanayak' must be understood to be the captain of the destiny of Bengal and no more. Bengal, though, in those days meant the Bengal Presidency comprising today's West Bengal, Bangaladesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and the North-eastern provinces and parts of Himachal Pradesh. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) This penchant for calling himself the poet of Bengal may suit the poet in some sense but it is quite inappropriate in the case of the firebrand national leader that Bose was and of significant international standing, too. The poet's pertinent speech was delivered at Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata, 1939, if I recall right, which would mean that in strict organisational terms Subhas Chandra had already graduated to the highest echelon of national leadership with his election to the Congress Presidency in the two successive years of 1938 and 1939 at Haripura and Tripuri. But such short-sightedness was uncharacteristic of a poet of such a seminal stature and, in effect, by recognition of the mettle of Subhas Chandra in such glowing provincial terms, nonetheless, much reduced him in estimation in national terms and confined him, so to say, to being the premier leader of the province (desh) of Bengal and not the nation (desh) that undivided India was.
Myopia can haunt even the most universal of men in whom catholic ideas seek habitat in the superficial plane of emotive articulation but do not become consonant with their very existence. Such is the problem of detailed observation that strikes roots in localised terrain and induces one to focus on the immediate environs of habitual residence and rumination. Such, perchance, was the predicament of the poet whose sights, ever set in practical terms on the plethora of stimuli in the surroundings, failed to apprehend in comprehensive terms the domain of leadership dominance of Subhas Chandra and relegated him to being the leader of Bengal alone instead of the vaster motherland, quite out of a habitual inertial sense. That it should be so, in hindsight may be construed as the poet's grand failure to apprehend the impending meteoric career of the one who would emerge as the undisputed leader of the liberation struggle, one whose every move in the international plane sealed the doom of the British Empire. Or, perhaps, Tagore was of the conviction that only Mahatmaji with his vast national following from the aristocrat to the pariah was worthy of wearing that laurel of national leadership. In point of fact, Tagore, in this very speech, made it abundantly clear towards the end that his naming of Subhas Chandra as 'Deshanayak' in no way meant that he was by implication hailing Subhas as the new numero uno national leader ahead of Gandhiji. Tagore reiterated that in his opinion Mahatmaji remained India's supreme leader ahead of all and Subhas' new honorific in no way reduced the preeminent leadership status of the Sage of Sabarmati.
All this extent of leadership in terms of the Tagorean honorific on Subhas Chandra Bose never did apply to Gandhiji who in the poet's eyes remained the undisputed leader of the entire people of India and not just Gujarat. What could have been the reason for it? The most obvious reason must have been Gandhiji's massive popularity all over India that lent no doubt over his said all-India leadership status. Contrarily, Bose was overwhelmingly popular in the Bengal Presidency and not so pronouncedly in other parts of India as was Gandhi in his uniformly overwhelming way. This is the crux of the issue. The leader of the Congress movement for freedom was unanimously and indisputably Gandhi and not Bose which is what Tagore underscored in the latter part of his speech despite conferring upon Subhas Chandra the honorific 'Deshanayak' with its territorial limitations.
When we Bengalees overly inflate the territorial significance of the honorific 'Deshanayak' than is historically tenable, we do so out of emotional gullibility in so far as reading into Tagore's intent in its conferring is concerned. Reading more into it than is due in terms of the dated speech of 1939 is, perhaps, on account of Netaji's subsequent brilliant career overseas when he was showered upon by his comrades and colleagues with this latter honorific as the leader nonpareil of India's liberation struggle. But conflating the two honorifics out of historical context is improper and adherence to the stated truth in Tagore's speech is due in all fairness. Not that it will reduce Netaji's leadership luminosity but that it will put things in their proper perspective.
Written by Sugata Bose
The problem that I have with this address of Tagore is that he restricts Subhas Chandra Bose repeatedly to being the leader of Bengal and does even once address him as the leader of the nation which he specifically reserves for Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore's 'Deshanayak' must be understood to be the captain of the destiny of Bengal and no more. Bengal, though, in those days meant the Bengal Presidency comprising today's West Bengal, Bangaladesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and the North-eastern provinces and parts of Himachal Pradesh. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) This penchant for calling himself the poet of Bengal may suit the poet in some sense but it is quite inappropriate in the case of the firebrand national leader that Bose was and of significant international standing, too. The poet's pertinent speech was delivered at Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata, 1939, if I recall right, which would mean that in strict organisational terms Subhas Chandra had already graduated to the highest echelon of national leadership with his election to the Congress Presidency in the two successive years of 1938 and 1939 at Haripura and Tripuri. But such short-sightedness was uncharacteristic of a poet of such a seminal stature and, in effect, by recognition of the mettle of Subhas Chandra in such glowing provincial terms, nonetheless, much reduced him in estimation in national terms and confined him, so to say, to being the premier leader of the province (desh) of Bengal and not the nation (desh) that undivided India was.
Myopia can haunt even the most universal of men in whom catholic ideas seek habitat in the superficial plane of emotive articulation but do not become consonant with their very existence. Such is the problem of detailed observation that strikes roots in localised terrain and induces one to focus on the immediate environs of habitual residence and rumination. Such, perchance, was the predicament of the poet whose sights, ever set in practical terms on the plethora of stimuli in the surroundings, failed to apprehend in comprehensive terms the domain of leadership dominance of Subhas Chandra and relegated him to being the leader of Bengal alone instead of the vaster motherland, quite out of a habitual inertial sense. That it should be so, in hindsight may be construed as the poet's grand failure to apprehend the impending meteoric career of the one who would emerge as the undisputed leader of the liberation struggle, one whose every move in the international plane sealed the doom of the British Empire. Or, perhaps, Tagore was of the conviction that only Mahatmaji with his vast national following from the aristocrat to the pariah was worthy of wearing that laurel of national leadership. In point of fact, Tagore, in this very speech, made it abundantly clear towards the end that his naming of Subhas Chandra as 'Deshanayak' in no way meant that he was by implication hailing Subhas as the new numero uno national leader ahead of Gandhiji. Tagore reiterated that in his opinion Mahatmaji remained India's supreme leader ahead of all and Subhas' new honorific in no way reduced the preeminent leadership status of the Sage of Sabarmati.
All this extent of leadership in terms of the Tagorean honorific on Subhas Chandra Bose never did apply to Gandhiji who in the poet's eyes remained the undisputed leader of the entire people of India and not just Gujarat. What could have been the reason for it? The most obvious reason must have been Gandhiji's massive popularity all over India that lent no doubt over his said all-India leadership status. Contrarily, Bose was overwhelmingly popular in the Bengal Presidency and not so pronouncedly in other parts of India as was Gandhi in his uniformly overwhelming way. This is the crux of the issue. The leader of the Congress movement for freedom was unanimously and indisputably Gandhi and not Bose which is what Tagore underscored in the latter part of his speech despite conferring upon Subhas Chandra the honorific 'Deshanayak' with its territorial limitations.
When we Bengalees overly inflate the territorial significance of the honorific 'Deshanayak' than is historically tenable, we do so out of emotional gullibility in so far as reading into Tagore's intent in its conferring is concerned. Reading more into it than is due in terms of the dated speech of 1939 is, perhaps, on account of Netaji's subsequent brilliant career overseas when he was showered upon by his comrades and colleagues with this latter honorific as the leader nonpareil of India's liberation struggle. But conflating the two honorifics out of historical context is improper and adherence to the stated truth in Tagore's speech is due in all fairness. Not that it will reduce Netaji's leadership luminosity but that it will put things in their proper perspective.
Written by Sugata Bose
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