A violent but an irenic fighter
Osama Siddiqui
Subhas Chandra Bose also known as Netaji, lovingly called by his followers though was a famous patriot and a fearless son of the soil of Bengal. Despite having some flaws in his character like opposing Gandhi’s non-violent agenda, he will not be forgotten for the heroic role, he played for the freedom of India. In the Indian Subcontinent many people had and will have different views about Bose, but he can neither be forgotten nor removed from the Indian political history.
At the time, when he was opposing Gandhi within the Indian National Congress (INC), it seemed almost an end of his political career, at least within the INC as Bose had opposed Gandhi’s non-violent style of politics and one can disagree with the principles of Bose but one cannot deny his love for his land and its natives.
Belonging to an upper middle class family of Bengal, where education was the key to success and despite being a bright student as it was evident from the results he obtained in institutional education, he was not satisfied with the privileged British education he received in India, because, the British used to force the study of Bible and the school was hardly connected to the Indian ground reality of that time.
Subhas was well educated but during his education at Presidency College, Calcutta, an affiliated college of Calcutta University, he came across an arrogant British lecturer who disrespected Indians within the classroom where once Bose gave him a physical thrashing and became instantly popular. He was expelled from the Presidency College, hence, his expulsion was removed but he was asked to be admitted in some other college and he completed his BA from the Scottish College, Calcutta.
Later on, Bose’s father sent him to England to prepare for the Indian Civil Service (ICS) exam. Being enthusiastic about education, he took admission in the Cambridge University and completed BA in Mental and Moral Sciences. He also prepared the ICS exam alongside and though doubtful about his results still he stood 4th in his first attempt. This was enough to prove his brilliance, however, he refused to join the civil service and to serve under the British Raj.
Bose did not become a freedom fighter in a day as his elder brother Sarat Bose was already involved in the struggle for independence. Sarat Bose was a successful lawyer in Calcutta. Subhas was always inclined to fight for the freedom of his country. He belonged to Bengal where his elder brother and the famous son of Bengal, C. R. Das were already fighting for the cause of freedom. Das encouraged him to return to India and do something for his nation. Bose returned to India and met Gandhi. He was not fully satisfied with Gandhi’s policies, but he joined the Indian National Congress as he found a positive attitude in the left wing of Congress that consisted of the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru and the scholar Maulana Azad.
Bose officially became the president of Indian National Congress in 1938-39. He was a popular leader, but he had a fall out with Mahatma Gandhi, due to which he left the Congress. The fall out was not based on political egos but on policies. Netaji thought that India might take support of fascist Hitler’s Germany and Japan in order to kick the British out which was not accepted by the Congress leaders. They believed that they could not shake hands with fascists. A simple example is of Jawaharlal Nehru, who had visited Italy due to his wife’s illness, Mussolini requested twice to meet him but he refused.
Later on, Bose formed Indian forward block and made the Indian National Army to fight for the freedom of India through an armed struggle. He ran from Calcutta to Peshawar where he was disguised as a Pathan and helped by Abad Khan and Chacha Waris of Peshawar to cross the Durand Line and reach Afghanistan. Abad Khan got arrested by British Indian Police and tortured but was released from the prison in 1947, while Bose successfully escaped from Afghanistan to Moscow and eventually reached Italy.
After that, Bose travelled to Germany. Once he reached Europe, and that was not difficult for him to meet the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. In Germany, he met the love of his life Emilie and had a daughter with her named Anita Bose Pfaff. Emili was a stenographer who had good command on English. Therefore, she was asked to write a book on the historical account of India’s struggle according to Bose’s perspective. The book was named “The Indian Struggle”.
He was not supported strongly by Germans as they considered him less popular than Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru which led to his disappointment and made him to travel to Japan. Japan had won some quick wars in Asia. The Indian National Army (INA) was formed in Japan, and it was the brainchild of a Japanese major Iwaichi Fujiwara, who was heading their intelligence agency. It was formed to fight alongside Japanese Army against the British forces. Even after disagreements, Bose named the brigades of the INA after the three famous leaders of the Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and Mahatma Gandhi and the fourth himself. Women’s brigade was named as Rani of Jhansi to honor her. The INA consisted of the soldiers who were once a part of the British Indian Army in WW2 and fought Japan, but due to the defeat of the Britain, they were left on the mercy of Japanese.
The INA was not fully equipped to fight Britain, however, Bose was hopeful that the day they entered India, they would be supported by the soldiers of the British Indian Army as well. The INA marched to India on March 18, 1944 and as it was not a proper time and the monsoon rains further ruined the situation cutting all the supplies. Subhas Chandra Bose was killed in a plane crash on August 19, 1945. The British Raj wanted to do the trial of all the INA soldiers in the military courts, as they tried to wage a war against their rule.
The Congress strongly protested against this trial and quickly formed a defense team. Nehru who by then was a national leader, wore his black robe again and decided to jump in the court to defend the INA soldiers. Other lawyers appointed by the Congress were Asaf Ali, Bhulabai Desai and many others. During that time, many Indians protested against this particular step of the British, and the Congress played its role very well by stepping on behalf of the people.
Today, Bose is being restricted to Bengal (now West Bengal of India), but the fact cannot be denied that he was a proud son of the Indian soil and had followers all over India. Bose’s tendency against non-violence can be questioned due to his impatient nature but the reality is that he was fighting for the freedom of the entire country as freedom was not limited to his own self only. Even, Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad too held Bose in high esteem.
The writer attended Cardiff University and completed his Masters of Science in Business Management. He has great passion for modern South Asian history, politics, political marketing and films. He may be reached at: osamasiddiqui21@yahoo.com. He also tweets @osamasidd97.
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Very well written .Good grasp of knowledge
Very well written .Good grasp of knowledge