Netaji: A visionary ahead of his time

When India was fighting for freedom from enslavement, Mahatma Gandhi galvanised the masses into one single force for freedom but the British divided Indian society and polity into religious groups to deny us freedom. It was at such a time of hopelessness and despondency that Subhas Chandra Bose emerged as the charismatic leader and took up the challenge to make India a free nation.

Subhas was convinced that peaceful satyagraha will not give us freedom. India has been fed on the myth of ‘Sabarmati ke sant tune kar diya kamal’ (Gandhi did the magic). The fact of history is that the British were compelled to leave India because of the influence and pressure created by Netaji on the Indian military and the masses. The then prime minister of Britain admitted as much.

January 23 was Netaji’s 119th birthday. He is obviously no longer with us, but he lives in the hearts and minds of millions of Indians. While remembering this great son of India, we need to closely look at his vision of a free India and his advice on how to make India a truly great nation - secular, democratic, powerful and modern.

Bose strongly opposed what is called ‘communalism.’ Bose’s image of India’s future was inter-denominational. He perceived an India of Hindus and Muslims, of Sikhs and Christians, of Parsis and Buddhists. He strictly opposed Jinnah’s two nation theory and advocated an India beyond religious, linguistic, and caste differences. Bose’s ability to integrate different religious and linguistic groups into the Azad Hind Fauj, where all soldiers frequently ate from a common kitchen, underlines this philosophy. Bose was of the firm view that religion is an entirely personal matter of every individual.

Degree of discipline

But it needs to be recognised that his secularism was very different from the one being paddled today in Indian polity. He did not believe in any distinctions or special treatment of religious classes except in matters of education and personality development. Present day vote bank policies are entirely alien to Bose’s ideology. He was a democrat by conviction. He strongly believed that a degree of discipline both in social and political conduct was essential to sustain democracy.

Bose’s conduct during the two years when he was leading the Indian National Army was admittedly less than democratic but that was an environment of war and Bose behaved more as a commander on the battle field where cohesion, discipline and sacrifice were paramount necessities.  
It is pertinent to remember that Mahatma Gandhi accepted an invitation by Mussolini on his way back from the round table conference. Nehru, the idealist, would never have accepted such an invitation by a fascist dictator — but Gandhi did; so had Bose. Both were equally democrats. Bose can indeed be called a pragmatic democrat, willing to integrate non-democratic elements in his overall policies — as long as this was in national interest.

His understanding of India’s economic future was very different from Gandhi’s. He clearly favoured industrialisation — but industrialisation guided by a strong government. Bose was a pragmatist, especially in the field of the economy. He was skeptical of the efficiency of free markets to overcome the economic and social disparities prevailing in India.

The planned economy that Nehru followed after 1947 was very much according to Bose’s orientation: industrialisation under politically set priorities and guided by the government; industrialisation including international cooperation but with a strong political shield to protect Indian markets. It was Subhas who set up the first planning Committee (commission) of the Indian National Congress (INC) and appointed Nehru as its chairman.

Bose was a leftist within the INC but he believed that left and right had to be forgotten when it came to national interests. Bose was an Indian nationalist - beyond left and right. This outlook enabled him to accept any partner, Germany or Japan, who promised to help in gaining India’s independence.

Bose wanted to make India a global power. And he wanted the military aspect of that power to be prominently visible. He wanted India to become a power like all the other powers using all its available muscles in its best national interest. This was exactly what Bose’s idea about foreign policy was all about. India must be a power following its own national interests and not follow any specific ethical standard.

Today, after six decades of freedom, the country once again faces grave challenges threatening its very integrity. We only have to look at our present day polity, our social divisions, our standards of governance and the socio economic disparities to get some idea of what Netaji had visualised and where we have come to stand today. There is imperative need to take Netaji’s philosophy, ideology and advice to our youth so that they may meaningfully lead the nation to a better tomorrow.