THE PATRIARCH, THE PATRIOT AND THE PRIME MINISTER

THE PATRIARCH, THE PATRIOT AND THE PRIME MINISTER

The young eagles of the Congress prior to the grand rift which led to Bose's expulsion from Congress, his escape from British India and his re-emergence as Netaji. These two leaders with leftist leanings were the modernisers of the freedom movement and the architects of New India. The patriarch Gandhi oversaw proceedings with alarm and wooed Nehru to his side but failed to harness Bose's unbridled energy, his uncontrollable enterprise for freedom at any cost. The rest is history. 

Haripura, 1938, saw Bose's emergence as President (Rashtrapati) of Congress, his prophetic speech from the Presidential podium, his chalking out a national policy for the organization of the rank and file of the Congress, his vision of freedom and governance, his economic policy in general with the formation of the National Planning Committee which he invited Nehru to chair, which in independent India evolved to becoming the National Planning Commission, and his call for exclusion of all sectarian elements from the Congress, that is, those affiliated to the Hindu Mahasabha and to the Muslim League. Bose called for the formation of a disciplined army of cadres for the Congress which alarmed Gandhi who scented anarchy imminent in the Congress thus far controlled by him and directed along lines of non-violent passive resistance. The recent developments in Soviet Russia, Italy, Germany and Japan of totalitarian communist and fascist regimes dictating terms to a submitting population made Gandhi apprehensive even as they inspired Bose to call for a full-scale launch of the struggle for complete independence. Gandhi's view of the polity, its cultural position and requirements thereof was in sharp contradistinction to Bose's and this led to their head-on conflict. Bose was elected President in Tripuri, 1939, in opposition to Gandhi's nominated candidate, was sidelined by the Working Committee thereafter, banned from running office of Congress for three years and finally forced to resign membership of Congress whereupon he launched his own party, the All India Forward Bloc, was interned in December, 1940, and escaped from house arrest in January, 1941. Through arduous terrain across Afghanistan he reached Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo, Singapore and Rangoon before he arrived in Port Blair and last in Imphal to liberate 300 sq. miles of Indian terrain. But fate deemed otherwise. Heavy monsoon and failing fortunes in the war for the Axis powers forced the Indian National Army to retreat. Japan was nuked on 6 and 9 August, 1945. On 15 August Japan surrendered. The war came to an end for the INA as well. Bose went missing after 17 August, 1945 where he was last photographed in Saigon.

The INA soldiers were tried at the Red Fort in 1945-46, the Royal Indian Navy revolted in 1946, the Muslim League conducted genocide of Hindus in Bengal and India was partitioned on 14 August, 1947. The Transfer of Power was deceptive and dubious, the transfer of population ghastly. A million died and tens of millions were rendered refugees. Nehru became Prime Minister of the Dominion of India and inherited non-violently the harvest of the armed assault of Netaji and his INA. The Prime Minister thereafter got a new narrative scripted of India's winning independence through Gandhian non-violence. The Mahatma was assassinated on 30 January, 1948 by Nathuram Godse. Patel integrated India by getting 550 principalities to join the Indian Union. Kashmir was attacked by Pakistan in 1947 as Maharaj Hari Singh dillydallied in his allegiance to India. Pakistan illegally occupied parts of Kashmir. The rest came to India. Patel died in 1950. Nehru reigned on, the patriarch of the Non-aligned Movement. 

Written by Sugata Bose