IN REPLY TO TAMOGHNA DAS SHARMA'S QUESTION POSED YEARS AGO TO WHICH I THEN FAILED TO RESPOND

IN REPLY TO TAMOGHNA DAS SHARMA'S QUESTION POSED YEARS AGO TO WHICH I THEN FAILED TO RESPOND, THE QUESTION RUNNING THUS: "A very pertinent question...Netaji was one of the finest mind readers, had immense foresight followed by determination and love for motherland. Hence, it is assumed that he understood the THE THEN geo political scenario very well and thought of taking the help of Hitler & Co. What is even more important is that he succeeded in convincing a dictator of the stature of Hitler....I would like your help from here onwards since I had been involved in several debates with friends/colleagues and what people ask is that If Hiroshima/Nagasaki had not happened and Netaji succeeded in freeing India from the clutches of the British, would Japan/Germany agree or it would lead to a separate dimension ? Would like your valuable comments.

MY RESPONSE:

If the Axis Powers had won the World War, the world scenario would have changed altogether, but surely India would have retained her newly acquired freedom in the altered world order. Germany and Japan were no more dastardly in their designs than the Anglo-Americans were or have since been. The victory of the Axis powers, improbable as it was, would have been possible only at the cost of a terrible weakening of their power, leaving them in no position to control resurrected India, the very reason why the British were forced to leave the shores of India even after their victory in the war. Japan was better off than Germany in 1944 but would have to contend against the Allies in a titanic struggle for victory which would have completely pulverised her if even she could see her way to a win in the war. Hence, it would have been impractical on her part to have forced herself on India after driving the British off. India was already awake to the call of freedom and with Netaji back and at the helm of affairs, it would have been a mighty nationalist force that the Nippon Army would have had to contend with. The 2.5 million British Indian soldiers shifting loyalty in such an eventuality to Netaji would have formed a formidable force for resistance and Japan would have to settle for a friendly alliance with freed India rather than force her into slavish submission as she did to China earlier on in a totally different scenario. These were complex calculations that Netaji had to make, which he did make over decades of rumination on the emerging world order, and, hence, one may repose faith in the rightfulness of his decisions that governed the fate of future India. However, an Axis victory was never in sight once Soviet Russia had been invaded, Pearl Harbour bombed and America drawn into the war. And, yet, Netaji went for an Axis alliance once Russia refused him cooperation to that effect. This is because Netaji, a keen student of history and international relations, was able to see through the emerging world situation and came to the conclusion that the war would so weaken the world powers that either way it would precipitate the right conditions for an Indian independence. Jai Hind!

Written by Sugata Bose