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The 126th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is being celebrated across the country and it is time to recall Bose’s outlook for the freedom struggle that reflects his belief to the core of his heart. It is also important to recall that Bose his journey in the freedom struggle with a sacrifice of his lucrative career as an ICS officer. Bose resigned from ICS and came back to India in 1920.
From this point till he left India incognito in 1941, Bose, within this short span launched a war against the British regime in India. He met several leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and VD Savarkar. Bose garnered an idea of India’s freedom deeply rooted in the ethos of secularism.
His book “Indian Struggle: 1920-1942”, is a great account of his experience and his outlook towards both the freedom struggle and an India free from the clutches of colonialism.
Netaji Expressed Disappointment about his Meetings With Jinnah And Savarkar
Netaji’s book is not only a real account of the political situation of India at that time but also it reveals the political streams, especially where religion and politics overlapped. Peeping through the book is an important voyage of our past, our history.
When Bose met them, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar stood at opposite poles but both hovered in the field of religion. Jinnah was president of the Indian Muslim League and Savarkar was the president of the Hindu Mahasabha when Bose met them. Bose fervently believed that both of them, representing the two dominant religious streams of India should take part in the freedom struggle with a common aim of liberating the ‘people’ of the country regardless of the religious belief system one follows.
Bose met Jinnah with a passionate appeal to join the united struggle of people for freedom. Bose even told Jinnah that he would be the first prime minister after India achieved freedom from British rule. Bose’s wholehearted effort went in vain and Jinnah appeared steadfast in the creation of Pakistan by dividing India based on religion.
Bose wrote in the book-- "Jinnah was then thinking only of how to realise his plan of Pakistan (a division of India) with the help of the British."
Bose was also not pleased with Savarkar and his ideas, which is reflected in his writings in the book. About Savarkar, Bose wrote—“Savarkar seemed to be oblivious of the international situation and was only thinking how Hindus could secure military training by entering Britain's army in India."
But a peep into the book reveals Bose’s daunting effort to make India free and to keep it undivided, reflected in his relentless efforts to disincline those leaders whose actions polarised the freedom struggle.
On both Jinnah and Savarkar, Bose had to conclude that nothing could be expected from either the Muslim league or the Hindu Mahasabha.
Bose’s strong belief in secularism and deep respect for the composite culture was also reflected in his other writings. In his book, An Indian Pilgrim, (his unfinished autobiography) Bose highlighted the composite culture of the people of India. According to him, the Battle of Plassey was a fight jointly fought by both Hindus and Muslims.
The following lines of Bose in An Indian Pilgrim suffice his take on history—"History will bear me out when I say that it is a misnomer to talk of Muslim rule when describing the political order in India before the advent of the British. Whether we talk of the Moghul Emperors at Delhi or the Muslim Kings of Bengal, we shall find that in either case, the administration was run by Hindus and Muslims together, many of the prominent Cabinet Ministers and Generals being Hindus. Further, the consolidation of the Moghul Empire in India was affected by the help of Hindu commanders-in-chief. The Commander-in-chief of Nawab Sirajudowla, whom the British fought at Plassey in 1757 and defeated, was a Hindu and the rebellion of 1857 against the British, in which Hindus and Muslims were found side by side, was fought under the flag of a Muslim, Bahadur Shah."
Every time we offer our tribute to Netaji, we need to recall his outlook towards the freedom struggle and his understanding of Indian History.
Also Read: Subhas Chandra Bose: Celebrated Today, Forgotten Tomorrow?