Subhas Chandra Bose as man, politician and, briefly, player on the world stage: Rohit Wanchoo reviews two fine new biographies of Netaji.
His Majesty’s Opponent is a comprehensive biography, meticulously researched and elegantly written. The extensive use of archival sources and the assessment of Subhas Chandra Bose in the context of international developments during World War II make this a definitive biography. In its deft discussion of his ideas and emotional responses this book by Sugata Bose, grand-nephew of S C Bose, is unlikely to be surpassed.
There are controversies that the author refers to only in passing or dwells on briefly because they are not so important in his biography; but they do concern historians of modern India. In explaining the contest between the warrior and the saint the book seems to be ambivalent about the real reasons for the contest between M K Gandhi and Bose. The book makes several references to the relationship between a patriarch and a rebellious son but also blames vested interests, Congress right-wing leaders and rivals. The difference in their ideologies and the pace of political change the two leaders favoured is a major factor in the parting of ways. Why Bose could not come to terms with the Congress right wing and Gandhi in 1938-39 deserves detailed discussion. In retrospect it strikes one as ironic and unfortunate that Bose, who managed to negotiate with the Nazis and the Japanese imperialists between 1941 and 1945, could not do so with Gandhi, Nehru and Patel in 1938-39.
Although Bose had defeated Gandhi’s nominee in the Congress Presidential election he could not emerge as the alternative leader. For this, Patel’s hostility, Gandhi’s “cunning” and Nehru’s vacillation or “riding two horses” are not alone responsible. If Bose was not willing to split the Congress his refusal to accept the dilution of his control over the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is difficult to understand. For if Bose could think of coalitions with the Muslim League during this period he should not have had such an uncompromising attitude towards a more moderate CWC. At this time he was not a leader of the peasantry as Gandhi was and he could have tried to reach out to this class even after a compromise with the Gandhians. The radicalisation of the Congress that he sought could have been facilitated by such a strategy.
The dramatic journey of Bose from Calcutta to Berlin via Kabul and Moscow and much later by submarine and aeroplane from Germany to Japan made him a hero for the Indian people. The saga of the Indian National Army stirred the imagination of patriots and invariably arouses strong emotions. For the British, collaboration with Nazi Germany and fascist Japan made Bose an enemy to eliminate. Indian communists and anti-fascists were also critical at that time of Bose’s willingness to collaborate with such brutal regimes. This collaboration has worried Indian nationalists relatively little as many believed that Britain’s crisis was India’s opportunity and the Quit India movement was popular. Of far greater importance in India was the question of non-violence. Bose appealed to young people and revolutionaries, just as Gandhi was supported by moderates and votaries of non-violence. Bose’s justification for choosing his allies that his biographer provides will be of more interest to readers in the West than in India.
This biography brings out the kind of mobilisation of overseas Indians in South-east Asia that Bose achieved even under Japanese occupation. Rich Chettiars in Burma and rubber plantation workers in Malaya were attracted to Bose, as were Indian prisoners of war. The account of INA’s military advance towards Imphal and its subsequent retreat is detailed and judicious. The entry into India could not be achieved and therefore a rebellion in India could not be fomented. If we believe Milan Hauner then the delay in transferring Bose to Japan destroyed any reasonable chance to use him in the struggle against the British. By early 1943 the tide had turned against the Axis powers after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad and the American victories in the Pacific. Although Bose maintained his independence as the leader of the Provisional Government of India, INA could not have fought the Allies without the Japanese. The importance of INA, however, lies not in its military success but its ideological impact. Although the bulk of the Indians in the British Indian army remained loyal during the war, the example of INA may have inspired those naval ratings who mutinied in 1946 in Bombay and Karachi. Bose died in a plane crash in 1945 but became a national icon.
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Bose in Nazi Germany by Romain Hayes is a slim but well researched book on the relation of Subhas Bose with the Nazi Party. The man who had been marginalised in Congress was able to acquire a stature in Germany between 1941 and 1943 that enabled him to deal with the Japanese on favourable terms. Even the British intelligence reports on his activities in South-east Asia stopped referring to him as a Quisling. The Germans treated Bose and the cause of Free India with benevolence because they wanted to support a “noble” and popular cause. For an expansionist and racist regime, argues Hayes, this was a “peculiar paradox”. Although Bose could not bring the Germans to declare their support for Indian independence, his stature in Axis and even Indian eyes grew. In early 1942 Hitler observed in private that Bose had “eclipsed” Nehru. Maulana Azad felt that radio broadcasts by Bose from Germany had influenced Gandhi’s attitude towards the Cripps proposals in 1942.
Although Bose did not give up his political ideology in Nazi Germany, he did reveal dictatorial tendencies and favoured a strong central government in his article entitled “Free India and her Problems”. Bose was not duped by the Nazis nor was he an anti-fascist leader. Like many nationalists, he was exclusively concerned with Indian independence. This diminishes Bose’s stature since he made no mention of Nazi brutalities and especially the extermination of the Jews. As the fate of Bose got inextricably linked with that of the Axis powers, he suffered defeat. Hayes argues that had Bose been less “temperamental” and more “moderate” like Nehru and Azad, and had he remained in India instead of escaping to Germany, he would have been able to play a more significant role in post-war India.
The author teaches history at St Stephen’s College, Delhi University
HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire
Author: Sugata Bose
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 448
Price: Rs 699
BOSE IN NAZI GERMANY
The First Account of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Party
Author: Romain Hayes
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 284
Price: Rs 399