BY WAY OF REFERENCE
Netaji's reverence for Mahatma Gandhi as a person of supreme self-sacrifice for the nation must be distinguished from his categorical rejection of the leader's political philosophy and practice and the ineffectual nature of his passive revolutionary methods in his bid to gain independence from a powerful imperial enemy 'armed to the teeth' as Netaji referred to the British in his overseas radio broadcast.
We frequently hear these days that Netaji reserved the highest respect for the Mahatma and addressed him in his overseas radio broadcast in a voice filled with emotion as 'Father of the Nation' whose blessing he sought in his conduct of the war that the army led by him would wage against the British Crown to liberate India. There is, in this constant refrain of supposed harmony between the leaders of the day then, an attempt to gloss over their terrible differences of political position which eventually cost India dearer that anyone but the bravest and the brightest and the vilest, too, could envisage. Such a superficial approach to a serious discussion that involves the understanding of an entire nation about its recent past whence they may seek directions as to the future that lies ahead, is a serious departure from intellectual norms and productive of great harm, for the people, misdirected and misled into believing that all was well with the Mahatma's non-violence and genial about the behaviour of his proteges towards Netaji and his revolutionary army, will be culpable to making the same mistakes as they had made in offering mass support for the wrong horse in this race for freedom.
While it is important that a prejudiced view against the adversaries of Netaji will produce a distorted image of their revolutionary relations and conduce to mass misapprehension of a worse order than the suppression of seminal facts of our freedom struggle by the political dispensations of the day have created, it must be borne in mind that a dilution of critical appraisal by invoking the gods of emotion among the masses whenever a serious study of their relations is called for, is inappropriate as well. Hence, a dispassionate view of the conflicting currents of the bygone days when India's political destiny was being shaped by these leaders, is the call of the hour. For this the maximum data, well-founded and indubitably factual, must be made available to men to ruminate. This is the historical imperative and not emotionalising the contentious issues by overemphasising mutual reverences exchanged between the titanic figures of the day. After the facts have been placed before the public, let men decide what they will about the respective relations of these great leaders and their contributions, compromises and conniving to precipitate the collapse of Bose's political future is concerned.
Jai Hind !
Written by Sugata Bose
Netaji's reverence for Mahatma Gandhi as a person of supreme self-sacrifice for the nation must be distinguished from his categorical rejection of the leader's political philosophy and practice and the ineffectual nature of his passive revolutionary methods in his bid to gain independence from a powerful imperial enemy 'armed to the teeth' as Netaji referred to the British in his overseas radio broadcast.
We frequently hear these days that Netaji reserved the highest respect for the Mahatma and addressed him in his overseas radio broadcast in a voice filled with emotion as 'Father of the Nation' whose blessing he sought in his conduct of the war that the army led by him would wage against the British Crown to liberate India. There is, in this constant refrain of supposed harmony between the leaders of the day then, an attempt to gloss over their terrible differences of political position which eventually cost India dearer that anyone but the bravest and the brightest and the vilest, too, could envisage. Such a superficial approach to a serious discussion that involves the understanding of an entire nation about its recent past whence they may seek directions as to the future that lies ahead, is a serious departure from intellectual norms and productive of great harm, for the people, misdirected and misled into believing that all was well with the Mahatma's non-violence and genial about the behaviour of his proteges towards Netaji and his revolutionary army, will be culpable to making the same mistakes as they had made in offering mass support for the wrong horse in this race for freedom.
While it is important that a prejudiced view against the adversaries of Netaji will produce a distorted image of their revolutionary relations and conduce to mass misapprehension of a worse order than the suppression of seminal facts of our freedom struggle by the political dispensations of the day have created, it must be borne in mind that a dilution of critical appraisal by invoking the gods of emotion among the masses whenever a serious study of their relations is called for, is inappropriate as well. Hence, a dispassionate view of the conflicting currents of the bygone days when India's political destiny was being shaped by these leaders, is the call of the hour. For this the maximum data, well-founded and indubitably factual, must be made available to men to ruminate. This is the historical imperative and not emotionalising the contentious issues by overemphasising mutual reverences exchanged between the titanic figures of the day. After the facts have been placed before the public, let men decide what they will about the respective relations of these great leaders and their contributions, compromises and conniving to precipitate the collapse of Bose's political future is concerned.
Jai Hind !
Written by Sugata Bose
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