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Who was a better leader – Subhash Chandra Bose or Mahatma Gandhi ?
Both Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi were infallibly dedicated to the cause of Indian freedom. They were loved by the masses and feared by the Raj. But between themselves, these two icons of India's freedom movement shared a rather frosty relationship and history is replete with instances of trenchant differences between them.
Although Subhash Chandra was a follower of Gandhi during the initial days, the later part of the 1930s witnessed a growing radicalization of his thoughts and Bose became increasingly frustrated with the lack of momentum in the independence movement. As Bose started to assert his bold stance in various party forums, it led to a polarization in the Congress party ranks.
Bose found himself frequently at loggerheads with Gandhi and their differences often came out in the public. All these bickering reached a climax when Subhash Chandra Bose became Congress President for a second term in 1939 defeating Gandhi-nominated candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Unable to hide his displeasure, Mahatma commented "Subhash' victory is my defeat." But this unhealthy environment within the party made Bose's task all the more difficult and soon he resigned from his post.
Subhash Chandra Bose and Gandhi also disagreed over their visions for the post-Independence Indian state. Bose was influenced by the success of the five-year plans in the Soviet Union and he advocated for a socialist nation with an industrialized economy. Gandhi was opposed to the very concept of industrialization.
In spite of all the differences in ideologies, both these great men admired and respected each other. In 1942 Gandhi called Subhash Bose the "Prince among the Patriots" for his great love for the country. Bose too admired Gandhi and in a radio broadcast from Rangoon in 1944, he called Mahatma Gandhi "The Father of Our Nation."
Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose
were two legendary personalities, gigantic in
their political moral and ethical stature. Both
of them were two worthy sons of Mother India.
In 1915, soon after his return from South Africa
Gandhiji became the unquestioned leader of
India's freedom movement and Indian National
Congress. He transformed
'an unarmed, politicallysubjugated,
dumb and
illiterate mass of humanity
into a fearless, non-violent,
politically awakened,
resurgent militia. Verily out
of dust, he made Indians
into men'. Subhas Chandra
Bose, 'the stormy petrel of
Indian Renaissance'
younger to Gandhi by 28
years who had resigned his
brilliant career in the much
coveted heaven-born Indian Civil Service with
the resolute aim and determination to devote
himself entirely to the fight for India's freedom
The saga of relationship between Subhas
and Gandhi starts with Subhas meeting Gandhi
on the very day (on 16th July, 1921) of his
landing at Bombay. Their first meeting set the
contours of the relationship over the coming liberation of their motherland. The whole life
of both the leaders was an epic struggle for
India's independence. In fact, the life long
"Tapasya" of both, ended with the ultimate
sacrifice of their very lives.
Inspite of all these, there were glaring
differences between Gandhi and Subhas and
in political life both were posed against each
other. Young Netaji was a firebrand nationalist
who believed in the tradition of Tilak and
Aurobindo. Gandhiji, on the contrary, was a
reluctant nationalist who belonged to the
tradition of his mentor Gokhale and Tagore.
Bose's strong revolutionary urge for the
emancipation of his motherland made him
critical of many of Gandhiji's techniques.
In 1920, at the age of 23, Subhas joined
the Non-cooperation Movement which was
going on with all its fury in Bengal under the
leadership of Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das.
He took prominent part in the agitation against
the Prince of Wales's visit. In protest against
the decision of Gandhi in calling off the Noncooperation
Movement as a sequence to the
Chauri Chaura incident in 1922, Bose felt
highly dejected. In 1927, Subhas was elected
as one of the General Secretaries of the Indian
National Congress. A British Parliamentary
Commission, known as Simon Commission
was appointed, to fix up the exact status of
India's Constitutional development. Indian
leaders had long been thinking in terms of early
Dominion Status. For Subhas, the demand of
Dominion Status appeared to be too short of
his dream of full freedom. To the utter
astonishment of everybody he roared before
the Commission. 'India shall be free, the only
question is when'? For this bold statement he
incurred the displeasure of the Mahatma who
rebuked Bose in the sharpest language such of quarter of a century between these two foremost
leaders of India's freedom struggle.
To Subhas Bose, Gandhi always
remained 'India's greatest man'. His
appreciation of the unique contribution of
Gandhi was unequivocal. He recognised and
admitted Gandhi as the undisputable, unrivalled
leader of the masses.
Subhas had all praise for
Gandhi's unflinching
patriotism, firmness in
character, love for truth etc.
Infact, Bose bowed before
Gandhi's 'single hearted
devotion, his relentless
will, and his indefatigable
labour'. To Gandhi, Bose
was like a son whose 'self
sacrifice and suffering,
drive, integrity and
commitment to the national cause and the
capacity to bind all Indians into one people
were unsurpassed.'
Both Gandhi and Bose were totally
honest men. They were internationalists and
humanists. They were secular in approach and
anti-racial in outlook. In whatever situations
they were and whatever they were doing, their
minds were always diverted towards the which was never before heard in the public
from Gandhiji
The year 1927 brought Subhas closer to
Jawaharlal Nehru at the annual session of the
Indian National Congress, which was held at
Madras. They formed the Independence of
Indian League and under their joint effort,
resolution for 'Complete Independence' was
passed. In the next year due to the opposition
of Gandhi the resolution to reiterate the demand
for Complete Independence could not be
approved. Thus Bose's proposal was defeated.
In 1929 to separate Nehru from Subhas,
Gandhiji nominated Jawahar as the President
of Indian National Congress. The Mahatma was
happy as he thought that Bose would be
ineffective without support from Jawaharlal.
But Subhas a different stuff altogether, despite
opposition both from Nehru and Gandhi
declared 1929 to be the year of preparation
for a massive civil disobedience movement.
In the subsequent events that immediately
followed the same sort of ambivalence in the
relationship between these two leaders are
clearly discernible. Subhas praised Gandhiji
for Dandi March and Salt Satyagraha (1930).
He wrote nostalgically 'The march of Dandi -
an event of historical importance which will
rank on the same level with Napoleon's march
to Paris'. He particularly admired Gandhiji
success in involving women into the freedom
movement. At the same time Subhas severely
criticized Gandhiji's participation in the Second
Round Table Conference in London. Bose was
much perturbed by the way Gandhiji played
his cards at the Round Table Conference.
Gandhiji should have spoken, he felt, at the
Round Table Conference, with a firm voice.
In his treatise 'The Indian Struggle' which was
published in November 1934 Subhas wrote, In the midst of the hostile situation Subhas
resigned the Presidentship of the Congress on
29th April, 1939, and immediately proceeded
to form a radical party bringing the entire left
wing under one banner. In this connection, it
would be most appropriate to mention that -
Bose's innate devotion and respect for Gandhiji
remained as firm even though his path was
diverging. He clearly stated 'it will always be
my aim and object to try and win his confidence
for the simple reason that it will be tragic for
me if I succeed in winning the confidence of
other people but fail to win the confidence of
India's greatest man'.
Subhas had his 'last long and hearty talk
with the Mahatma on 20th June, 1940.' He had
pressed Gandhi to launch the struggle taking
advantage of the critical position of the British
in the Second World War. He told that it was
the most opportune time and it was impossible
to think of any other situation in which India
could start the struggle. Mahatma replied, 'why
do you think that we cannot get better
opportunities later on ? I am sure we will have
many such opportunities. Whether England
wins or loses the war, she will be weakened
by it; she will have no strength to shoulder the
responsibilities of administering the country,
and with slight effort on our part she will have
no alternative but recognise India's
independence'.
The whole nation was aroused when
Subhas Bose made his spectacular escape on
17th January, 1941 (it was the day fixed for
his trial for sedition) while under house
detention at Calcutta and finally reached
Germany in order to lead struggle for freedom
from outside. Gandhi, on his part, could never
endorse Subhas Bose joining with the Axis
powers. Even outside India, Bose remained 'Father of our Nation, in this holy war of India's
liberation we ask you for your blessings and
good wishes.'
During 1945 and 1946, Gandhiji came
to know a lot about the exploits of Subhas and
his Indian National Army. While addressing
the INA prisoners he paid unreserved tributes
in hailing Bose as 'Netaji'. He also paid
unqualified tribute to the INA. 'The greatest
among its achievements was to gather together,
under one banner, men from all religions and
races of India, and to infuse in them the spirit
of solidarity and oneness, to the utter exclusion
of all communal and parochial sentiments. It
is an example which we should all emulate.'
It is thus clear from the above that both
Gandhiji and Subhas discussed all the
problems that confronted them, honestly
realised their differences. Their relationship
was based on truthfulness, transparency,
sacrifice and suffering. No wonder, they had
the deepest concern for each other till the end.