Reviews - Books I Read - DRJG: Subhas Chandra Bose - Leader Of Youth (Netaji Collected Works Volume 6)

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Subhas Chandra Bose - Leader Of Youth

Netaji Collected Works

Volume 6

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Reading this series of volumes of the collected writings and speeches of Subhash Chandra Bose's earlier years, before he left India, it's not only a window to the mind of the person, but more so a glimpse of the history of India, then in making.

If one knew nothing about it, as most of the younger generations brought up or even born post independence are likely, since mist history of those years has for most part been pushed under the carpet by the Congress associated governments that ruled for most part until 2014, except a few selected sentences here and there - one would wonder why, in this volume that covers late 1920s, Subhash Chandra Bose is going after youth organisations quite so much - and other questions arise, as well.

Most of the answers are obvious if only one connects the timing with the most glaring events of the time, and reaction of seniormost congress leaders.

This was when Simon Commission arrived to determine fate of India, protested strongly across India by most of Indians. In Lahore, the senior and revered leader Lala Lajpat Rai, who was leading the peaceful protest, was viciously and brutally beaten up by the British police, with blows by wooden sticks on head and body.

He succumbed subsequently to the injuries, but British government opined that the connection between assault and death was uncertain.

Congress seems to officially have adopted the stance, at least in public and official pronouncements from the party, even post independence. The chapter from autobiography of the first PM of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, included in school texts, mentioned the event, but if the subsequent death of the elder was mentioned, it was not mentioned as caused by the assault.

But people then knew, and so would anyone not biased, that the assault was far from unrelated to the death of the elderly freedom struggle leader.

Young contingent of college youth who were present at the protest and had saved him from further assault by drawing him away, weren't fooled by the official denial of responsibility. They vowed to avenge his death, and did. The nation was electrified, and further so because the whole lot evaded capture successfully, and proceeded to spread word of revolution, working and living in villages through the country. They were Bhagat Singh and his HRA group.

Congress leaders could not allow a dissemination of the grip they had had on nation as sole representative of India, and even more so, certainly not allow the impact HRA group had created.

Hence the subsequent salt march, as admitted by Gandhi in private conversation when questioned, to wipe off the impact of Bhagat Singh and his group.

And, as if HRA wasn't enough, Chattagram revolt too came at this time, the flame from North-West in Punjab caught in extreme Eastern corner of the nation. That made a strong impact, of course, everywhere in India.

And hence, too, the series of writings and Speeches in this volume.

Subhash Chandra Bose was young, educated and earnest, and that's exactly why he was picked and deputed for the purpose by senior leaders deliberately, in an effort to turn the nation - especially youth - back to be harnessed to congress.

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On the other hand, he had unshakable confidence in India.

" ... The Working Committee may be indifferent to our sufferings but I know it for a fact that the people of other provinces are whole-heartedly with us in the non-violent struggle that we are carrying on now."

And India was, indeed, united despite all seeming divisions, most of which were exaggerated in the first place by the British, as per Macaulay, in interest of breaking India.

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From Wikipedia -

"In late December 1928, Bose organised the Annual Meeting of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta.[98] His most memorable role was as General officer commanding (GOC) Congress Volunteer Corps.[98] Author Nirad Chaudhuri wrote about the meeting:

""Bose organized a volunteer corps in uniform, its officers were even provided with steel-cut epaulettes ... his uniform was made by a firm of British tailors in Calcutta, Harman's. A telegram addressed to him as GOC was delivered to the British General in Fort William and was the subject of a good deal of malicious gossip in the (British Indian) press. Mahatma Gandhi as a sincere pacifist vowed to non-violence, did not like the strutting, clicking of boots, and saluting, and he afterward described the Calcutta session of the Congress as a Bertram Mills circus, which caused a great deal of indignation among the Bengalis.[98]""

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58. THE GOAL AND PROGRAMME OF THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE

"Presidential Address at the Karachi Conference of the All India Naujawan Bharat Sabha, 27.3.1931

This speech was shortly after the executions of Bhagat Singh and his group, carried out surreptitiously at night by prison authorities, the bodies chopped up, and, instead of handing them over to the families for proper funerals, surreptitiously attempted to burn all together.

This was on March 23, 1931.

The families, though, were milling outside the prison gates, and saw the fire, and had discovered this dastardly action.

Prison employees who'd been ordered to carry out this procedure had, seeing the people coming, run away.

Subhash Chandra Bose was asked to speak to the organisation that belonged to the young followers of Bhagat Singh and his group, HRA.

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Ignored deliberately until then, at least officially for most part, by the senior congress leaders, to the extent that Gandhi had even carried out a seemingly revolutionary salt march, just so he could wipe out the impact on India of HRA, of Bhagat Singh and his group, as he'd privately admitted to someone who asked - now they could no longer do so.

They now had to admit that HRA, especially the group that had been executed, had been freedom struggle warriors, had made an impact on the nation, especially the young, and deserved to be noticed.

But but Subhash Chandra Bose was the one delegated for the purpose, particularly of speaking to the youth organisation that followed Bhagat Singh and his group.

This, perhaps, was a sacrifice of convenience.

If he succeeded in bringing the young followers of Bhagat Singh back - or those freshly awakened - to congress, congress won. If there was risky due to association it was for Subhash Chandra Bose, and for ever in future thereafter, Gandhi and his coterie could indicate that he'd been discarded for sympathy with violence.

As they indeed did, having their unspoken or whispered word echo through unthinking followers for decades thereafter, as justification of sidelining and throwing out a promising, hard working, brilliant leader, who British government were afraid enough of - so much so, he'd been imprisoned more often than the said senior leaders, often only on the excuse that otherwise he'd fo something!

So he did. He threw the British out, eventually.

Congress simply, falsely took credit thereof - and sidelined him, again.

For nearly seven decades.

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"Friends and comrades,

"Today we are meeting under the shadow of a great tragedy. Our minds are too full to speak. At such a critical moment in the history of our country, you have asked me to preside over your conference. For this I feel grateful to you."

So far, so good. But thereafter he proceeds presumably as per congress guidelines by the seniors.

Rest of the speech, amazingly, does not mention Bhagat Singh and his group, at all - neither their names, lives and work, nor the shameful way they were executed in secrecy and attempts by British to dispose their bodies instead of handing them over to the families.

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Instead, Subhash Chandra Bose proceeds to carry out in words the theft intended by congress - of HRA revolutionary program, thinking and politics, only, without mentioning them at all, but tacking nonviolence thereon.

"We are concerned here with the consideration of that socio-economic structure and body politic which will help to foster manhood and develop character and the will to translate into reality the highest ideal of collective humanity. We are also interested here in investigating the methods that will bring about the earliest attainment of this goal. I am led to the conclusion that the principles which should form the basis of our collective life are justice, equality, freedom, discipline and love. Therefore, in order to ensure equality, we must get rid of bondage of every kind—social, economic and political—and we must become fully and wholly free.

"To summarize what I have said, I want a Socialist Republic in India. The message I have to give is one of complete, all-round, undiluted freedom. Until the radical or revolutionary elements are stirred up we cannot get freedom, and we cannot stir up the revolutionary elements among us except by inspiring them with a new message which comes from the heart and goes straight to the heart."

Exactly everything that Bhagat Singh and his group, HRA, had been preaching until they were imprisoned.

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"The fundamental weakness in the Congress policy and programme is that there is a great deal of vagueness and mental reservation in the minds of the leaders. Their programme is based not on radicalism but on adjustments— adjustments between landlord and the tenant, between the capitalist and the wage-earner, between the so-called upper classes and the so-called depressed classes, between men and women."

He proceeds to chalk out congress program of reforms, which used the same trick British played to shift the burden - speaking of social reforms, especially within Hindu society, but avoiding other sections of society - and avoiding speaking of just how that would get India freedom from colonial British rule.

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Now, a first - mentioning Bhagat Singh by name.

"Before referring to the Gandhi-Irwin truce, I must say something about the Lahore executions. Bhagat Singh was a symbol of the spirit of revolt which has taken possession of the country from one end to the other. That spirit is unconquerable and the flame which that spirit has lit up will not die. India may have to lose many more sons before she can hope to be free. These recent executions are to me sure indications that there has been no change of heart on the side of the Government and the time for an honourable settlement has not arrived as yet."

Again, a sleight, in mentioning him - and none other amongst the group, not even those executed - only to reduce the importance, by saying he was only one of many others required to make that sacrifice.

Did anyone ever bother to ask, who was willing the knife and making those sacrifices, only to have credit and fruits go thereof to those not required to be sacrificed?

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Now, a smidgen of honesty from congress.

"With regard to the truce embodied in the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, I may say that it is exceedingly unsatisfactory and highly disappointing. What pains me most is the consideration that at the time this Pact was drawn up we actually had more strength than would appear from the contents of the document. The Pact has inherent weakness, but now that the truce is an accomplished fact the question before us is what is to be done at this stage. I do not for one moment question the patriotism of those who are responsible for the truce terms. Consequently the best course for us will be to do some positive work which will strengthen the nation and the nation’s demand. For this purpose I have outlined my programme which the more radical sections among our countrymen will do well to adopt and carry out. This will avoid unnecessary conflict with the Congress leaders at a time when such conflict may tend to weaken the people and strengthen the Government. Above all, let us have restraint and self-control even when we have to criticise others. We shall lose nothing by being courteous and restrained, and we may gain much."

In other words, congress must be allowed to lead, even though they consistently fail to deliver, post Gandhi's arrival in India.

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Summing up the Congress view -

"India is the key-stone to the world edifice and a free India spell the destruction of Imperialism throughout the world. Let us, therefore, rise to the occasion and make India free so that humanity may be saved."

So he just asked many more to sacrifice themselves just as Bhagat Singh did, so India could be credited with leading the world in ending imperialism, and Congress royals - Nehrus, Gandhis - take credit thereof?

Without a so much as a thank you?

Did he realise this?

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What was done to Subhash Chandra Bose after he'd disobeyed the diktats, regarding ignoring the officially proclaimed democratic structure of congress party, and doing exactly as told by Gandhi or wished by a Nehru, was no different.

They simply made sure, from then on, that no leadership survived to compete with claim of a Nehru, without bring culled into slave status as done to Sardar Patel, or nipped in bud as attempted with Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh and several others.

Is it any wonder that Subhash Chandra Bose, like Bhagat Singh and HRA, and others before them, had a devotedly loyal following, envied by congress?

They led from the front, risking their own lives.

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59. INDIA'S HISTORIC MISSION

"Speech at All India Naujawan Bharat Sabha in Karachi, 5.4.1931

Here, Subhash Chandra Bose admits weakness of congress - after all, he's speaking to HRA inspired youth!

"The fundamental weakness in the Congress policy and programme is that there is a great deal of vagueness and mental reservation in the minds of the leaders. Further the programme is based not on radicalism but on adjustment. Adjustment between the landlord and the tenant, between the capitalist and the wage earner, between the so-called upper classes and the so-called depressed classes, between man and woman—may be an ideal state of thing for one who would like to maintain the present equilibrium—but 1 am doubtful whether this adjustment can stir up the revolutionary elements in society which alone can win freedom of the Indian National Congress with its present attitude of the adjustment in all controversial matters—can win independence for India ; it will be a cheap price to pay for freedom. But whether this small price can bring us freedom—I seriously doubt."

He chalks out his program, as approved within limits of congress.

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Subhash Chandra Bose asks people to choose between left and congress, before mentioning the one matter that this audience must have been aflame with -

"Friends, before I wind up, you will no doubt like me to express my views on the truce that has been arrived at, between the Government and the Working Committee of the Congress. But before I do so, I should like to unburden myself on a matter which has profoundly moved the whole of India. I mean the recent execution of Sirdar Bhagat Singh and his comrades. This event is an historic one and is pregnant with lessons for the future and I shall crave your indulgence for dwelling on it at length.

"Bhagat Singh is dead ! Long live Bhagat Singh ! For months and months have the people of India watched and waited with tense anxiety for the end of the tragic drama that was being enacted at Lahore. The end has atlast come. The curtain has ultimately been rung down on a scene indescribable for its deep pathos and memorable for its selflessness. From start to finish the drama has been so rich in variety and so alive in its colouring that we have had to hold our breath in awe and anxious expectation. It ended with the self-sacrifice of Bhagat Singh and Jatin Das. With rapture and reverend admiration do we gaze at these two rare types of martyrdom which recent history has produced. Just as the funeral procession of Jatin Das was one long triumphal march—so also the execution of Bhagat Singh is an act of consecration which will inspire the whole nation. No wonder that the Lahore Conspiracy here have stirred the heart of India to its very depth. But do the Government realise it ? Again I say “Bhagat Singh is dead! Long live Bhagat Singh !” Bhagat Singh is not a person. He symbolises the spirit of revolt which has taken possesion of the country from one end to the other. The spirit is unconquerable, the flame that spirit has lit up will not die. Therefore we do not grieve that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are no more. India may have to lose many more sons before she can hope to be free. But if we grieve it is because they have had to die at a time when the premier nationalist organisation in the country—the Indian National Congress—has declared a truce with the British Government. What fate is in store for the other sons of India, like Harkishinalal, Dinesh Gupta and Ramkrishna Biswas can not be easily visualised. The question may therefore be pertinently asked what is the value of this truce if these acts of hostility are to go on and if we cannot save the lives of our best heroes?"

Senior leaders of the Congress Party must have writhed in shame.

If they had conscience.

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Subhash Chandra Bose questions, and points out the complete invalidity, indeed the fraudulent nature, of the - lame - arguments that British government, and senior leaders of congress, would offer, for carrying out the executions and not trying to stop them, respectively.

"It may be argued logically that there was nothing in the truce terms to say that the Capital sentences would not be given effect to. I admit this point. But may we not ask what the object of the truce is ? It will be admitted on all hands that the object of the truce is to bring about an atmosphere of peace and goodwill, prior to the negotiations at the Round Table Conference, so that the discussions take place in a cool and dispassionate manner, and without bitterness or prejudice. Will that atmosphere be created if capital sentences are passed and executed and if a large number of political prisoners are still in imprisonment ? If the Government today are so exacting about the letter of the truce terms—if they are so keen about having their pound of flesh—what hope is here that they will part with power when the time for negotiation or discussion arrives ? It is not for nothing that Mahatma Gandhi has always insisted on a change of heart prior to a settlement or negotiations for a settlement. The Government that continues to have the same bureaucratic, and if I may say so vindictive mentality is not the Government that will voluntarily hand over India to the people’s representatives. It may be urged that we shall negotiate for transference of power not with the Indian Civil Service or the Government of India, but with the British Cabinet or with the British people altogether. But if in the matter of holding an enquiry into police excess or commuting death sentence the British Government has to surrender to the will of man on the spot, it is not to be expected that in much larger questions involving transference of power, the same Government will be guided to a very large extent by the will of the steel frame?"

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Subhash Chandra Bose shames congress, particularly Gandhi, without naming him.

"The recent executions are to me, therefore, a sure indication that there has been no change of heart on the side of the Government. The time for an honourable settlement is not yet ripe. We have yet to travel a long way along the path of suffering and sacrifice before we can hail the advent of Swaraj. A page from recent Irish History will substantiate my point. Alderman MacSweeney Lord Mayor of Cork, went on hunger strike as a protest against his imprisonment. When he was on the point of death, passionate appeals were made to His Majesty the King on behalf of Britishers and Irishmen alike asking him to exercise his royal prerogative and save MacSweeney’s life. The King was deeply moved but announced through his Secretary that he was unable to do anything because his ministers were opposed to clemency. The King therefore had to capitulate. The effect of this in Ireland was that the fight with Britain went on with increasing bitterness. After some time both parties felt it desirable to call a truce and settlement. The question of amnesty to political prisoners was then broached and the Sinn Fein leaders demanded the release of all prisoners, including those who had been sentenced to death. The British Cabinet agreed to release every body except Seon McKeon who had been condemned to death. The Sinn-Fein leaders thereupon threatened to break off the truce if Seon McKeon was nof released within twentyfour hours. In reply to ultimatum, the same Cabinet which had declined to spare the life of Terence MacSweeny inspite of country-wide agitation, released Seon McKeon within twenty four hours. MacSweeney had to die because the time for settlement had not arrived. Seon McKeon was saved because there was going to be a lasting peace and a change of heart had taken place on the side of the British people. May we not apply the same moral to Indian History?

"Brave as Bhagat Singh and his comrades were, they did not ask for clemency. They had resolved to give their all, so that India could be free. But the whole country desired their lives to be spared. If truce had been declared, if peace was within sight then the lives of these brave and selfless men could be transformed and could be utilised in the task of national reconstruction. The whole country, including all parties and shades of opinion had given unmistakable expression to the desire and demand for commutation. But if every possible effort had been made on the side of the people their was one more effort which could have been made. When the negotiations for a truce were going on the Congress as the one representative nationalist organisation in the country could have espoused the cause of the revolutionaries and of the Labour party of India. The Congress need not thereby have identified itself with the methods or tactics of the revolutionaries of the Labour Party. It could have simply pointed out that since these two parties existed and since they were also working for the salvation of India according to their own light, abiding peace could not possibly be established until they were somehow made parties to it."

Hence, of course, the vindictive treatment meted out to Subhash Chandra Bose by Gandhi, after the uoung leader had been elected as the president of the Congress Party for a second time, soon enough hereafter - after having made him president the year before in the first place, so that nobody could technically claim that he'd never been recognised for his worth!

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He proceeds to expound on the mistake further.

"A generous gesture on the part of Government at this juncture would have had a most wholesome effect on these two parties and on the country at large. ... The Government with all its strength and resources would in either case have lost nothing if by conciliation they could placate all the militant parties in the country, it would be a moral triumph for them. If conciliation failed, they could once again resort to repression and could then do so with greater justification."

But they chose instead to put their boot on the neck of India, and Gandhi chose a conciliatory posture, at expense of hundreds of Indians imprisoned without trial or worse, for no reason.

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Subhash Chandra Bose further names and shames congress as partner in guilt.

"If the Government have blundered, so also has the Congress. During the truce-talks the Congress could have spoken for the whole country, just as Sinn Fein had spoken for the whole of Ireland without identifying itself with the methods of the revolutionary and Labour parties, the Congress could very well have identified itself with their demands. But the Congress failed to do so and in failing it has only lowered itself in the estimation of the country and of the world. A similar attitude could have been adopted by the Congress after the petition for the commutation of the death sentences passed on Bhagat Singh and others rejected by the Government.

"If the Congress had officially demanded the commutation of the death sentences it would not have lost anything but have risen in the estimation of the whole country and might possibly have saved the life of Bhagat Singh. Even if the demand had been rejected by the Govt., the Congress would have had this satisfaction that it had done its duty and no one could then have nursed any complaint or grievance against the Congress for not doing its best to have Bhagat Singh and his comrades."

He's all but branded them in words, hereby, as selfish cowards.

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What's more, he also indicted congress for stupidity, slavishness, or both.

"With regard to the truce embodied in what is known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact I may say that it is exceedingly unsatisfactory and highly disappointing. What pains me most is the consideration that at the time this pact was drawn up, we actually had more strength than would appear from the contents of the document. I shall here summarise some of the unsatisfactory features of the truce terms:—"

And then he proceeds to enumerate them, well over half a dozen points that can be easily seen by anyone then over childhood.

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"(1) Ordinances like the Bengal Ordinance (Bengal Criminal Amendment Act) and the Burma Ordinance whereby people are incarcerated without trial on mere suspicion have not been repealed.

"(2) Provisions for the return of fines and of confiscated property are not satisfactory.

"(3) The demand for the enquiry into the police excesses should not have been given up, particularly after it was made on behalf of the Congress. Further the Congress should have stood by Garhwalis who refused to fire on unarmed people and the policemen who were dismissed on political grounds. The Government refused to let down their own men inspite of the many excesses committed by them whereas the Congress did not stand by their own men."

All of which was subsequently pushed under the carpet, Bhagat Singh and his group branded as also-ran but hit-headed, and Subhash Chandra Bose sidelined so much that INA was barely mentioned.

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It gets worse.

"(4) The Congress should not have given up the boycott of British goods—particularly when this does not form part of the Civil Disobedience movement. In normal times before the Civil Disobedience was started last year we could carry on the Boycott of British Goods, but unfortunately now we cannot. Therefore we are now in a worse position after the Civil Disobedience Movement than we were before it.

"(5) The provisions for the manufacture of salt are not adequate—since salt could be manufactured only within a limited area.

"(6) The restrictions that have been agreed to in connection with picketing places us in a more difficult position than before the Civil Disobedience Movement was started last year. If these restrictions are strictly adhered to it will be difficult, if not impossible, to have picketing at all."

None of which was admitted to post independence generations, told only how great Gandhi was to have gone to London by invitation of the British government, despite not wearing their attire.

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Complete shame, next.

"(7) Above all, the provisions regarding amnesty are exceedingly unsatisfactory. In the first place all Civil Disobedience prisoners have not so far been released. Further we cannot, under the truce terms claim amnesty for revolutionary and Labour party prisoners. The hanging orders will not be stopped—the different conspiracy cases like Chittagong Armoury Raid case and Meerut conspiracy case are to go on. Political prisoners who had been in prison for 10 or 12 years like the Martial law prisoners in the Punjab are to remain in jail. Last but not the least, the Bengal detenus imprisoned as detained without trial are not to be released. What then is the value of this amnesty. I should further point out that the distinction between violent and non-violent prisoners now made by the Congress is a new stunt. It was not made in the Delhi Manifesto in 1929 nor was it made in the celebrated eleven points of Mahatma Gandhi."

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He admits honestly -

"It does not require any further argument to expose the satisfactory character of the truce term. On perusing the document one cannot help feeling that it was agreed to with a defeatist mentality on the side of the Congress and the language at several places militates against our sense of self respect and honour. If we really had been in a weak position when the truce was arrived at—I would not have made much protest—but were we really so weak at that time ? I doubt it."

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But then, surprisingly, goes -

"But the truce is now an accomplished fact and the question is that we should ponder very carefully before we take any aggressive step. Instead of wasting our energy in negative criticism, let us do something positive and beneficial. I do not for one moment question the patriotism of those who are responsible for the truce terms. Far from it, consequently the best course for us to do would be some positive work which will further strengthen the nation and the nation’s demands. For this purpose at the very outset I have indicated the outlines of a new programme which the more radical section among our country would do well to adopt and carry out. This will avoid unnecessary conflict with the Congress leaders at a time when such conflict may tend to weaken the people and strengthen the Government. ... "

This is tantamount to, after an admission of guilt of congress amounting to almost complicity in execution of Bhagat Singh and his group, and of plight of hundreds of detenus across the country for little or no reason, before asking the nation to let Congress lead, nevertheless!

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And the usual - congress asking India to sacrifice her sons so congress may glory in leading the world -

"Above all let us have restraint and self-control even when we have to criticise others. We shall lose nothing by being courteous and restrained and we may gain much. If we believe in our programme let us carry it out to the best of our ability. If our programme is based on truth it is bound to be accepted by our countrymen in the long run for truth will ultimately prevail in this world. Friends, I have taken up a lot of your valuable time but I have done. Let us address ourselves to our task in all seriousness, with unflinching courage but in all humility. The vision of free India, a completely free and emancipated India is what has captivated my soul. It is the dream of my life and the goal of all my activities. India has much to contribute to the culture and civilization of the world. The whole world is anxiously awaiting that gift. And the last gift which India will make to the world is a new socio-economic order and a body politic which will have lessons for the whole of humanity. India is the key stone of the world edifice and free India spells the destruction of Imperialism throughout the world. Let us therefore rise to the occasion and make India free so that humanity may be saved."

They - the British Government, the senior leaders of the Congress Party - must have been terrified that armed revolts might break out everywhere across India, in wrath about execution of Bhagat Singh and his group, and other revolutionary groups - Surya Kumar Sen of Chattagram, and many more.

Loss of India was a serious concern for British, and loss of leadership, fame and glory, and power, that for the Congress Party, especially the senior leaders Gandhi and Nehru, latter concerned about securing the future of his son.

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Post independence students were told vaguely about Chattagram revolt, but nothing more than the name of the place! Not even the names of Surya Kumar Sen and his group!

It took a bunch of Hindi films to tell the new generations about just how tremendous these other patriots who were not Gandhi or Nehru - Bhagat Singh and his group, Surya Kumar Sen and his group, ... and many, many others, even Subhash Chandra Bose - had been, really. Congress had pushed it mostly under carpet, and great personae of India were at most mentioned by name, if that.

Naming a subarb in Delhi after them was a favour some were awarded.

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68. COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE AND ITS MEANING

"Speech at Noakhali, 15.5.1931

Noakhali was only taught in history in schools gor seven decades as the place where Gandhi went and fasted, when regime across border in North-West after partition refused to take responsibility for his security in view of the massacres of millions of Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan.

It was never explained, why Noakhali? Why not Calcutta, where Direct Action Day massacre of over ten thousand Hindus had broken resolve of Gandhi and congress to not allow partition.

It's only recently that the explanation came through, the fact of history of massacre of over 150,000 Hindus in Noakhali during biggest Hindu festivals, that year, mentioned in context of further history of the time.

This was to come only shortly after this speech by Subhash Chandra Bose at Noakhali, which wasn't that long after the Lahore execution of Bhagat Singh and his group followed by the horror perpetrated by the prison authorities, of chopping up the bodies and attempting to dispose them off by the back gates, secretly, instead of handing them over to the families who were anxiously waiting outside the front gates of the prison.

Biographies of Subhash Chandra Bose repeatedly suggest that, had he been in India, the partition and horrors thereof would never have taken place.

So the name of Noakhali here, and the mention of Subhash Chandra Bose speaking at the place, is bound to bring shivers.

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" ... Different youth or other institutions are but tributaries to the great river, namely the Congress. Small institutions must not show any sign of revolt as the Chairman of the Reception Committee has shown against the Congress. They shall but add strength to the Congress. The English used their last weapon against India through Miss Mayo, but Indian womanhood proved it false by their courageous activities during a year’s struggle. Indian independence requires her mothers’ and sisters’ sacrifices and without them Indian nationality is a misnomer."

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Over and over, the theme now introduced is that Jatin Das was a sacrifice, there are millions of such sacrifices necessary, and that Gandhi is the leader orchestrating the conducting of sacrifice under auspices of congress, the sole organisation representative of India.

" ... Minimum sacrifice as Mahatma Gandhi preaches is for the masses but for youths it is the maximum sacrifice. Youths have to chalk out an effective programme which shall attain strong physique for them, shall bring them stout heart, spirit of sacrifice, expansion of soul. We want thousands of Jatin Das, we want selfless self-reliance amongst youths. Youth would create the future India where men and women, workers and peasants and all shall have their part."

This theme was to continue past partition to where Gandhi opposed any opposition of massacres of Hindus by muslims - vehemently! - and said that the refugees should be gorged to return to their homes, even if only you be murdered by their muslim brothers; that they should only have love in their eyes for those muslims murdering them as they died; that Hindus fleeing instead are unable to comprehend the sacrifice ceremony he, Gandhi, is conducting!

He used a word from ancient India for the sacrifice ceremony, highly inappropriate in the context since it was human sacrifice in this case, a concept not present in ancient India and not a practice then or later in India.

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69. YOUTH AND THE FUTURE OF INDIA

"Speech at Noakhali Youth Conference, 17.5.1931

This begins revoltingly.

"We want thousands of Jatin Das from among the youths of Bengal, emulating his spirit of self-less-ness. We want a new band of youngmen imbued with a keen sense of race consciousness. For, it is the youth who would create future India where men and women, workers and peasants would all enjoy the blessings of freedom. I call upon you to realise what a glorious role you have to play in the near future and then march forward with no thought except the emancipation of the motherland in bondage, to distract your attention."

Why this insistence on separation of Jatin Das from his group, Bhagat Singh and others, all of whom were on hunger-strike together and tortured ,physically assaulted by prison authorities, alike?

They were imprisoned because they were together in freedom struggle, and were on hunger-strike for protest against unhygienic food and other conditions of their prison. That Jatin Das succumbed while others survived to have their demands dealt with, is not exactly a fault of others - or greater sacrifice from the one whose physical condition wasn't quite upto that of others.

That apart, congress demanding such sacrifices from millions of others while not having even sympathised with the HRA group while they were carrying out the struggle in prison, nor trying to save their lives, is almost treating them as objects not on par, inhuman!

................................................................................................

"I may refer to the example of Mazzini and Italy of those days and say how the hundredfold divisions and other barriers then existing in the way of freedom, could not freeze genial current of Mazzini’s youthful heart and thurst him from realising his ideal of securing freedom for Italy. In dependence was not to be had by debates and controversies but by real Sadhana and Karmayoga, by sacrifice at the alter of the motherland of all handkerings after self and power. Restlessness is noticed, of late, among the youths and it is welcomed as a sign of life and an indication of searching after truth. The same tendencies were to be found in the youth movements all over the world."

Is he attempting to indicate, in all but words, the necessity of extending freedom struggle beyond Gandhi's strict adherence to nonviolence? How else foes one interpret his 'Independence was not to be had by debates and controversies but by real Sadhana and Karmayoga, by sacrifice at the alter of the motherland of all handkerings after self and power'?

................................................................................................

70. NORTH BENGAL IN DISTRESS

"An appeal, 22.5.1931

"“The public are already aware that there is acute, wide-spread distress prevailing all over North Bengal. Gaibandha is one of the Centres which has been hit very hard indeed. Harrowing tales of starvation, distress and destitution are daily pouring in. It is said that in Gaibandha Sub Division alone, over 3 lakh people have been affected. Immediate steps should be taken to undertake relief work and to ameliorate distress as far as possible. I understand that the Gaibandha Congress Committee have taken up the work. ... "

Was this beginning of the theft of harvest of Bengal by British, or did that happen only during war?

................................................................................................

76. INDIA SAVED MEANS HUMANITY SAVED

"Address at Narail, 17.7.1931

"Friends, you know how many nations with diverse culture came to India and ultimately became an organic part of the Indian nation. This voluntary admixture considerably developed and enriched our culture and civilisation. The English however, stubbornly resisted any tendency toward fusion with the Indians and on the other hand, attempted to impose on India their own life and culture. ... "

That was the view of erstwhile colonial rulers who'd not adapted either, but imposed their own, and worse, conducted horrendous massacres and destructions, apart from the loot; what they and those who followed their view call fusion is result of India’s culture refusing to die, or be wiped out, surviving instead and flourishing, over and over, for over a millennium and a half.

" ... When at the beginning of British rule in India, there arose the question whether India should adopt the English language in Education, Raja Rammohan Roy urged that there would be no development or improvement unless we learnt it, we could not save ourselves except by learning Western methods from Westerners themselves. Thus we came to study the English language and literature."

That, too, is no different from previous millennium and a half of invaders' regimes, except British government allowed educational institutions other than those forcing their own education, view, et al. Such institutions did begin and flourished, in local languages as well, teaching yet another language - English - simply as another subject. This, too was not different, except in existence of such institutions at all.

Was Bengal so under heel of the former colonial rulers that it had forgotten indigenous culture completely, adopting thinking of the previous invaders in toto?

................................................................................................

"Then appeared Swami Vivekananda when the basis of Indian nationhood was secured. The Swami breathed life into the people by preaching the message of freedom. He realised that it was the light of freedom alone that could illumine the life of India. Through his lectures, poems and writings he declared that “Freedom is the song of the soul”. Vivekananda spoke of spiritual freedom no doubt but there is no disputing the fact that when the soul is roused, manifestation of awakening appears in every department of life. When a man is in good health, every limb and organ has the glow of life. On the contrary, when he is diseased,, every limb and organ shows signs of paleness and morbidity. This is equally true in the case of a nation when the desire for freedom takes root in the heart of a nation, it is disseminated in all the spheres of life.

"To give this nascent idea of Freedom a new form and shape came Sri Aurobindo Ghose. He declared that “complete autonomy free from British control” was our ideal. It was bold and inspiring. Bengal, nay the whole of India, was thrilled into life and activity. The hankering of the heart had found real expression and the whole country cried out as it were “Here after all is a man after my heart”. Friends, how many leaders of India at the time dared speak in that strain ? Thus developed the present day Nationalism twenty five years ago."

Didn't several freedom struggle warriors of Maharashtra say this before, from Vasudev Balwant Phadke to Lokamanya Tilak, if it's only British colonial regime being discussed? When British began, Marathi empire wasn't yet quite gone; heritage of Shivaji and his spirit of freedom was very alive. In fact British admitted that as long as the last representative administration of the Maratha empire lived, they had remained uncertain of their own control over India.

................................................................................................

As much as Sri Aurobindo was to rise to be of far greater stature - indubitably so in almost every way - nevertheless, Lokamanya Tilak did speak of complete independence before him in time, even if it was only because he was not only senior in age but also that when he was active in India, and declared right to independence, Sri Aurobindo was still a young student living in England, sent by his father.

Quoted from Wikipedia:-

"Tilak joined the Indian National Congress in 1890.[14] He opposed its moderate attitude, especially towards the fight for self-government. He was one of the most-eminent radicals at the time.[15] In fact, it was the Swadeshi movement of 1905–1907 that resulted in the split within the Indian National Congress into the Moderates and the Extremists.[11]"

"The measures used to curb the pandemic caused widespread resentment among the Indian public. Tilak took up this issue by publishing inflammatory articles in his paper Kesari (Kesari was written in Marathi, and "Maratha" was written in English), quoting the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, to say that no blame could be attached to anyone who killed an oppressor without any thought of reward. Following this, on 22 June 1897, Commissioner Rand and another British officer, Lt. Ayerst were shot and killed by the Chapekar brothers and their other associates. According to Barbara and Thomas R. Metcalf, Tilak "almost surely concealed the identities of the perpetrators".[16] Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. When he emerged from prison in present-day Mumbai, he was revered as a martyr and a national hero.[17] He adopted a new slogan coined by his associate Kaka Baptista: "Swaraj (self-rule) is my birthright and I shall have it."[18]

"Following the Partition of Bengal, which was a strategy set out by Lord Curzon to weaken the nationalist movement, Tilak encouraged the Swadeshi movement and the Boycott movement.[19] The movement consisted of the boycott of foreign goods and also the social boycott of any Indian who used foreign goods. The Swadeshi movement consisted of the usage of natively produced goods. Once foreign goods were boycotted, there was a gap which had to be filled by the production of those goods in India itself. Tilak said that the Swadeshi and Boycott movements are two sides of the same coin.[20]

"Tilak opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and was supported by fellow Indian nationalists Bipin Chandra Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. They were referred to as the "Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate". In 1907, the annual session of the Congress Party was held at Surat, Gujarat. Trouble broke out over the selection of the new president of the Congress between the moderate and the radical sections of the party. The party split into the radicals faction, led by Tilak, Pal and Lajpat Rai, and the moderate faction. Nationalists like Aurobindo Ghose, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai were Tilak supporters.[15][21]"

................................................................................................

" ... Gentlemen, how many Englishmen are there to rule over the whole district of Jessore ? Their rule is possible only because we go out of our way to co-operate with them. I will give an example. When I was in the Berhampore Jail the relations and friends of an ordinary convict came to see him. The convict told them, “go and tell the members of my family that I am very happy here. The Sarkar has made me a hakim to rule over 250 prisoners.” The fact was that he had been made a convict overseer. Gentlemen, this is how they rule us with our help and keep us under subjection. In a subject country there are no Hakims and all are mere slaves. As inside the jails so also outuside it, they rule the slaves with the help of other slaves.

"Therefore if the people of the land refuse to co-operate with the foreigners, there will be an end of British domination in India. Decades ago Seely, Townshend and others foresaw it. When India withdraws her co-operation, wrote Townshend, “the Empire which rose in a day will vanish in a night.”

"Now not only do we serve them but we feed them. We purchase their articles worth 110 crores of rupees and thereby England maintains herself. That is why we took to boycott and adopted Swadeshi. In all programmes of National work, we place there two items at the fore viz., non-co-operation and boycott with a view to arouse the will to be free among the people and there will be no freedom until the national will is roused."

................................................................................................

"Emancipation of women is also equally essential for the attainment of freedom. The part that women played in the freedom movement in other countries is too well-known to be retold here. Our womenfolk should now be freed from any disabilities that they may be suffering under and they should be emancipated. ... "

He forgets Queen Laxmibai of Jhansi? Even the British officer who had persecuted her causing her death in the independence war of 1857, lauded her as the greatest of the warriors he'd known!

And while there have been other great women of history in India, Queen Laxmibai of Jhansi was surely far too recent and too well known, for Subhash Chandra Bose to have forgotten?

................................................................................................

"I believe India lives because it is necessary that she should live. The world requires that she should live. She has yet much to give to and teach the world. The nation which has a mission to perform for the world can not die. How many nations in history have disappeared from the face of the earth but India still lives having survived the onslaught of time. The world wants to be benefitted by her teachings, though she has already given much to the world."

" ... in physical, mental and intellectual qualities, India holds her own, when pitted against rest of the world. To-day Europe talks of the Doctrine of Humanism, but five hundred years ago our poet Chandidas pronounced it through his poems."

How does he not see it in the great epics of India, Ramayana and Mahabharata?

If one knows them - and isn't blinded by fraudulent propaganda by British following Macaulay policy, reputations of West's equating India with any sort of social inequalities are right there, all over the epics.

And this is apart from the fact of no society outside India being devoid of a caste system of their own, usually all of them (except that of India) being based on power, wealth, property, titles, race, gender - and creed. India alone separates power and wealth, places intellectual vocations above, equates and classifies by profession and no other criteria, and sets out rigid rules that do not allow misuse thereof.

West's 'droit de seigneur", the greatest difference between India and west, isn't spoken of by West in context of India, but its propagation is the reason why societies West seem integrated. They aren't - dominant races (read tall, blond, blue eyed) merely have suppressed others (shorter, darker, dark haired, dark brown eyed) - but they do exist, in an underlying stratum, made all but invisible.

India not only had no 'droit de seigneur', but quite the opposite - India deified a Rama who went yo war to free his wife from the powerful king who'd abducted her, a Queen Padmini of Chittor who preferred a funeral pyre to being forced to live with another man other than one she'd chosen to marry, and in this all women of Chittor joined her even as their men fought the last battle to death, against the invader Allauddin Khilji, who'd gone to war demanding that the king hand over his queen. His soldiers were likewise expected to take other women of the land if the Chittor king had complied.

................................................................................................

" ... Swami Vivekananda spoke of India’s spiritual mission but I think that her mission is not merely spiritual but many-sided as well. In the sphere of Religion and Society, India alone will find a solution. ... "

Perhaps his floundering, his confusion represents that of most youth of Bengal of that era, hence his loyal following, their trust in his honesty and his earnestness.

Higher, remote peaks of Himalaya are hidden from view of those in planes below.

................................................................................................

78. BOYCOTT OF ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE WELCOME

"Statement as President of the B.P.C.C., 15.8.1931

Wonder if they, then, realised importance of this date.

"For more reasons than one I am glad at the decision of the Working Committee of the Congress to boycott the Round Table Conference. In the present temper and mentality of the Government it is exceedingly improbable that they will feel disposed to concede to our national demands. Further, the recent developments have confirmed the anticipations of the Left-wingers and they may now claim to stand vindicated. From the very beginning they did not feel happy about the truce conditions and they were pessimistic about the consequences of the truce as well as about the Round Table Conference. It now remains for the Working Committee to sit down and seriously consider on the one hand whether or not they should send a formal notice to the Government that the truce has ended and on the other hand to seriously consider what the immediate programme before the country should be."

What had, exactly, transpired?

................................................................................................

"The formal termination of the truce will indicate hardly any change in the political atmosphere of Bengal for the simple reason that this unfortunate province has not enjoyed the truce atmosphere for even a day. What with the Bengal Ordinance and what with the Special Tribunals and Conspiracy cases and a host of other minor factors, the wheels of repression have been moving unceasingly since March last, with the result that if the hearts of people are examined today, hardly a trace of goodwill will be discovered. ... "

Was Bengal more under the British boot due to the HRA, the revolutionary group of Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh et al, having active members from Bengal, including Batukeshwar Dutt who was with Bhagat Singh in the Assembly case, and Jatin Das whose death had been due to participation in the hunger-strike in prison accompanied by tortures and physical assaults by prison authorities at behest of or by orders of British government?

Was there extra repression of Bengal, with British government suspecting not only sympathy of Bengal for HRA, but germinating of revolutionaries all over the province?

................................................................................................

Again, Subhash Chandra Bose indulges in honesty.

"Bengal seems to have become so accustomed to repression that breaches of the Gandhi-Irwin pact in this province do not come as surprise but are regarded as almost inevitable. Unfortunately the repressive policy of the Government has seriously undermined the hold which the Congress had over the younger generation in this province. Being exasperated at the attitude of the Government on the one hand and on the other, the inability of the Congress to end the chapter of repression, young men have completely lost their heads. It is owing to this exasperation and in opposition to the persistent propaganda of the Congress in favour of non-violence that there has been a recrudescence of revolutionary activity of late. ... "

Couldn't have endeared him to seniors in congress, and yet, his honesty must have appealed to the nation, hence the strong loyalty from his following!

And hence, too, congress seniors picked to have him elected president of the Congress Party, soon enough, before deciding that his being reelected by an overwhelming majority, despite Gandhi's explicitly expressed instructions to the opposite, was a danger for the intended leader, so this competition must be quashed by hook or by crook!

Crook it had to then be, and every fraud used against him - by the Congress Party then, and Congress Party Governments of India post independence of India.

................................................................................................

" ... If the Government by following a conciliatory policy do not strengthen the movement and propaganda in favour of non-violence which the Congress has been carrying on, I do not see how the Congress can succeed in its mission to win over the whole country to the cult of non-violence. ... "

Again, this was too true to be digestible as far as either the British Government of India was concerned - or the Congress Party, for that matter!

................................................................................................

" ... Today one can hardly expect the Government to have the farsighted statesmanship to resort to conciliation. Therefore, hope and light can come only from another quarter. If the Congress launches a militant non-violent programme as it did last year, it is possible not only to drown all revolutionary activity but also to unite all sections of Congressmen all over the country who today may be quarrelling amongst themselves. Let us, therefore, await the lead of the Working Committee."

This estimation and advice, honest and true, must have been highly resented by both, the British Government and the senior leaders of the Congress Party.

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80. SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SURPLUS OF RELIEF FUND

"Letter to the President, Bengal Congress Flood and Famine Relief Committee, 22.8.1931

"Dear Sir,

"You will remember that in 1922 a Flood Relief Committee called the Bengal Relief Committee was formed for organising relief in North Bengal. It will be within the knowledge of the public that the name of the Committee was deliberately chosen as the Bengal Relief Committee. The reason for this choice was that Relief Committees, which had been formed earlier than 1922 and which had surplus amounts left unspent (like the Dacca Cyclone Fund) were reluctant to spend the money in hand for the Flood relief work in 1922 and it was argued that the money raised for the Dacca Cyclone Relief could not be spent legitimately for the North Bengal Floods. It was felt by the public in 1922 that surplus funds should always be spent for subsequent floods and disasters in any part of Bengal. To avoid technical difficulty, therefore, the name of the Bengal Relief Committee was deliberately chosen, so that relief in any part of Bengal could be taken up with the help of surplus; funds left unspent by the Committee."

With such hair-splitting arguments, to keep from spending funds collected for public relief works on public relief, congress corruption must have germinated early, decades before independence - and those of such mind couldn't have liked Subhash Chandra Bose for bringing it out into the open!

................................................................................................

"N.C.W.—14

"It transpired subsequently that when the relief work in North Bengal was closed in 1923 the committee had in hand a few lacs of rupees. ... "

This was a huge amount, at a time when rupee was less than ten to the pound, gold was far below seven per gram, and so on.

" ... Further a large amount from the surplus fund was invested in Khadi work through only one organization viz., the Khadi Pratisthan. It is known to every body that Sj. Satish Chandra Dasgupta, one of the secretaries of the Bengal Relief Committee was also the secretary or chief organiser of the Khadi Pratisthan. The latest information is that the Khadi Pratisthan is a losing concern and the money invested in Khadi will not be recovered."

How was this not inappropriate, if the leftover funds from relief for one part of Bengal were considered not proper for use of relief for another part of Bengal?

Was this ever considered worthy of an enquiry? Or was corruption by congress routine, post stalwart leaders such as Lokamanya Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and so on?

................................................................................................

Electrifying!

"I would now request you, Sir, as the President of the Bengal Congress Flood and Famine Relief Committee, to investigate into the following points :—

"1. What was the surplus left after relief work in North Bengal was closed in 1923 ?

"2. Was the surplus money spent for Khadi work in whole or in part ?

"3. If so, what is the amount so invested for Khadi work ?

"4. Was the sanction of the Committee taken before investing the money in Khadi work. If so, what is the amount and in which Bank is it invested ?

"5. Is there any surplus cash left? If so, what is the amount and in which Bank is it invested?

"6. If there is any surplus cash left, will that money by handed over to the Bengal Congress Flood and Famine Relief Committee?"

Subhash Chandra Bose had the honesty, the voltage to ask these questions - and did not have the dishonesty to do so privately!

Over and over, it's obvious why his exponentially growing following overwhelmed the senior congress leaders, and displeased them!

................................................................................................

He doesn't stop at questioning, but - intending to be helpful - provides information!

"If my information is correct there were three secretaries to the Bengal Relief Committee and two of them were kept entirely in the dark as to the investment made and expenditure incurred by the Bengal Relief Committee after relief work was closed in 1923."

Hence his subsequent ouster from the Congress Party, and the almost hate speech from the then PM of India - was that latter post Chinese attack in 1962?

................................................................................................

82. CAUSES OF RESIGNATION FROM THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT, B.P.C.C., AND ALDERMAN OF CALCUTTA CORPORATION

"Speech to the Congressmen in Bengal, 18.9.1931

"Since the present dissensions started in Bengal I do not think any patriotic Congressmen has felt happy. So far as I am concerned, from the beginning I have endeavoured in my own humble way to end the dispute. It appeared clear to me from the outset that there were three ways of solving the problem. Firstly, to strictly follow the constitution and rules of the Indian National Congress and the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee and deal with a firm hand with all those who violate the rules and resort to indiscipline. Secondly, to effect a compromise between different sections or groups of Congressmen which will ensure co-operation in all items of Congress activity. Thirdly, in the event of the other two alternatives failing, to induce one party to stand aside altogether.

................................................................................................

"My own experience tells me that in this province there is bound to be one group or party who will always be opposed to those who are put in charge of the Congress organisation. This at least has happened during the last ten years. When the opposition against the present executive of the Provincial Congress Committee crystallised, attempts were made to disarm or to alloy it by resorting to the first two methods indicated above. No solution could, however, be arrived at by working out the constitution and the rules of the Congress, firstly because there was in Bengal a group of Congressmen who were determined to flout the Provincial Congress Committee on every possible occasion and partly because the Working Committee of the Congress failed to deal with indiscipline in a manner that was expected of them. Similarly, no solution could be arrived at on the lines of a compromise between the different sections of Congressmen."

Did women come in later than this?

................................................................................................

Here, the event mentioned obliquely surprises.

"It will be remembered that when the late Pandit Motilal Nehru of revered memory came to Bengal in January 1930 to enquire into the Bengal dispute we were on his suggestion, agreeable to compromise but the other parties were not. After Panditji’s award was given it was expected that the dispute would end but that hope was not realised. The same oppositionist and separatist tendency manifested itself on the occasion of the Municipal Elections of 1930 and in the formation of the Civil Disobedience Committee. When truce between the Congress and the Government was effected this year, it was expected that we would turn over a new chapter. Once again we were disappointed. ... "

Was there no condolence meeting and speech in Calcutta?

Perhaps there was, and someone else spoke, someone more senior.

If not, did this add to a bias that subsequently congress was accused of having had, by some of the partition era refugees from East Bengal, and too, some stalwart political leaders from Bengal who were not necessarily refugees?

................................................................................................

" ... Opposition to the Provincial Congress Committee continued. It first manifested itself in the formation of rival Congress Committees in the Districts and a rival B.P.C.C., called the Provincial Congress Sangha. This was followed by an open revolt against the Provincial Congress Committee at the time of the last election, in May last. Thereafter the Working Committee appointed an arbitrator to go into the whole question and give his award. Once again it was hoped that the appointment of an arbitrator would bring about the cessation of hostilities. But when the Provincial Congress Committee proceeded to form the Flood Relief Committee and invited all parties to join, the oppositionists refused to co-operate and constituted a separate committee. This was followed by an appeal from Mr. J. M. Sen Gupta in his election manifesto calling upon the Congress councillors of the Corporation to break away from the Congress Municipal Association and form a separate party. That separate party has already been formed and it has effected an open alliance with the European and nominated groups in the Corporation."

Such were the shenanigans that expedited subsequent fall of congress in Bengal, giving rise to not only governments formed by other parties, but eventually to partition, helped not a little by Direct Action Day in August 1946, under leadership of Suhrawardy, the then CM of Bengal, who could have attempted to control it but has been perceived as one who did the opposite, instructing police to not interfere.

................................................................................................

Quoted from Wikipedia:-

" ... Calling for Direct Action Day, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the All India Muslim League, said that he wanted “either a divided India or a destroyed India”.[16][17]"

" ... More than 4,000 people died and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours.[3][4] This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali, Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North Western Frontier Province. These events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India."

" ... The League's rally began at Ochterlony Monument at noon exactly. The gathering was considered as the 'largest ever Muslim assembly in Bengal' at that time.[32][page needed]

"The meeting began around 2 pm though processions of Muslims from all parts of Calcutta had started assembling since the midday prayers. A large number of the participants were reported to have been armed with iron bars and lathis (bamboo sticks). The numbers attending were estimated by a Central Intelligence Officer's reporter at 30,000 and by a Special Branch Inspector of Calcutta Police at 500,000. The latter figure is impossibly high and the Star of India reporter put it at about 100,000. The main speakers were Khawaja Nazimuddin and Chief Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Khwaja Nazimuddin in his speech preached peacefulness and restraint but spoilt the effect and flared up the tensions by stating that till 11 o'clock that morning all the injured persons were Muslims, and the Muslim community had only retaliated in self-defence.[3]

"The Special Branch of Calcutta Police had sent only one shorthand reporter to the meeting, with the result that no transcript of the Chief Minister's speech is available. But the Central Intelligence Officer and a reporter, who Frederick Burrows believed was reliable, deputed by the military authorities agree on one statement (not reported at all by the Calcutta Police). The version in the former's report was—"He [the Chief Minister] had seen to police and military arrangements who would not interfere".[3] The version of the latter's was—"He had been able to restrain the military and the police".[3] However, the police did not receive any specific order to "hold back". So, whatever Suhrawardy may have meant to convey by this, the impression of such a statement on a largely uneducated audience is construed by some to be an open invitation to disorder[3] indeed, many of the listeners are reported to have started attacking Hindus and looting Hindu shops as soon as they left the meeting.[3][33] Subsequently, there were reports of lorries (trucks) that came down Harrison Road in Calcutta, carrying hardline Muslim gangsters armed with brickbats and bottles as weapons and attacking Hindu-owned shops.[34]"

"On 17 August, Syed Abdullah Farooqui, the President of Garden Reach Textile Workers' Union, along with Elian Mistry, a hardline Muslim hooligan, led a huge armed mob into the mill compound of Kesoram Cotton Mills in the Lichubagan area of Metiabruz[citation needed]. The mill workers, among whom were a substantial number of Odias, used to stay in the mill compound itself. On 25 August, four survivors lodged a complaint at the Metiabruz police station against Farooqui.[36] Bishwanath Das, a Minister in the Government of Orissa, visited Lichubagan to investigate into the killings of the Oriya labourers of Kesoram Cotton Mills.[37] Some sources estimate that the death toll was 10,000 or more.[6] Many authors claim that Hindus were the primary victims.[2]

"The worst of the killing took place during the day on 17 August. By late afternoon, soldiers brought the worst areas under control and the military expanded its hold overnight. In the slums and other areas, however, which were still outside military control, lawlessness and rioting escalated hourly. ... "

" ... Lord Wavell alleged that more troops ought to have been called in earlier, and there is no indication that more British troops were not available.[2] The rioting reduced on 22 August.[32]"

"Prominent Muslim League leaders spent a great deal of time in police control rooms directing operations and the role of Suhrawardy in obstructing police duties is documented.[6]

"Both the British and Congress blamed Jinnah for calling the Direct Action Day and the Muslim League was seen responsible for stirring up the Muslim nationalist sentiment.[45]

"There are several views on the exact cause of the Direct Action Day riots. The Hindu press blamed the Suhrawardy Government and the Muslim League.[46] According to the authorities, riots were instigated by members of the Muslim League and its affiliate Volunteer Corps,[3][18][14][19][47] in the city in order to enforce the declaration by the Muslim League that Muslims were to 'suspend all business' to support their demand for an independent Pakistan.[3][14][19][48] ... "

"Rioting in the districts began on 10 October 1946 in the area of northern Noakhali district under Ramganj police station.[52] The violence unleashed was described as "the organized fury of the Muslim mob".[53] It soon engulfed the neighbouring police stations of Raipur, Lakshmipur, Begumganj and Sandip in Noakhali, and Faridganj, Hajiganj, Chandpur, Laksham and Chudagram in Tippera.[54] The disruption caused by the widespread violence was extensive, making it difficult to accurately establish the number of casualties. Official estimates put the number of dead between 200 and 300.[55][56] After the riots were stopped in Noakhali, the Muslim League claimed that only 500 Hindus were killed in the mayhem, but the survivors opined that more than 50,000 Hindus were killed. ... "

" ... Rioting also took place in Punjab and Northwest Frontier Province in late 1946 and early 1947."

................................................................................................

If the Congress Party in Bengal had not been debilitated by internal squabbling, as indicated by some of the writings of Subhash Chandra Bose in this volume, then, presumably Suhrawardy - or, for that matter, anyone similar - wouldn't have been in charge of Calcutta or Bengal in 1946, and so Jinnah couldn't have succeeded in sparking off the series of massacres that ended killing, according to at least one European source, eleven million Hindus, apart from half a million muslims and a number of Sikhs a little less than the latter number.

................................................................................................

"To summarise what I have said above, we have failed to restore unity in the ranks of Congressmen in Bengal through the working of the Congress constitution or through a compromise. The fact stares us in the face that Congressmen in Bengal stand divided today and the Government and our enemies are making capital out of the situation. Those who are in charge of the organisation today are not able to secure the co-operation of all parties. We feel that for the present dissensions it is not we who are to blame but the oppositionists. Nevertheless, the man in the street, the average member of the public, does not stop to enquire which party is to blame and he wants a solution of the dispute at any cost and by any means. I have no doubt that I am interpreting the mind of Bengal correctly when I say that Bengal today demands an end of the present dissensions even if the most drastic measures be necessary for bringing about that consummation. The recent happenings in this province have made the demand for unity all the more insistent. On the one hand several lakhs of our countrymen are in the grip of flood and famine. On the other hand our countrymen in Chittagong have been subjected to inhuman suffering and untold misery. Thirdly about 800 of our best men are still suffering incarceration for the crime of patriotism.

................................................................................................

"My close associates and fellow workers are aware that for a long time I have been seriously thinking of restoring unity in the ranks of Congressmen by adopting the third course, that is by voluntarily resigning from the Executive of the Provincial Congress Committee. The conviction has daily strengthened in my mind that no useful purpose can be served by retaining office, if the co-operation of all sections of Congressmen is not secured. Retention of office today is no longer a help but is a positive hindrance to national service.

"Whatever hesitation I felt in resorting to the third course has finally been removed as a result of the terrible shock which the staggering news from the Hijli Detention Camp has given me. The indescribable sufferings of our countrymen in prison and outside are to us a Divine Warning that we should close up our ranks and present a united front to our enemies."

Why is that very name - Hijli Detention Camp - unfamiliar to post independence generations, except perhaps those professionally in history and specifically so in this period of history of India?

................................................................................................

"I am, therefore, submitting my resignation of the office of President of the Provincial Congress Committee as well as Alderman of the Calcutta Corporation. While doing this I appeal to all that is great and noble in my fellow congressmen in Bengal and earnestly implore them to rise to the occasion and once for all put an end to the present dissensions. I can assure them that I am a stern disciplinarian myself and I bear no ill-will against anybody. I shall be content to work in the capacity of an ordinary humble Congressman and whoever may occupy the Presidential chair will be able to commandeer my services. If Bengal can be saved as a result of my self-effacement I shall be happy to pay that price and I shall feel more than amply rewarded if my countrymen will in exchange give me a corner in their hearts."

He certainly did get that, place in hearts of India!

................................................................................................

83. CONDITION OF DETENUS IN THE HIJLI CAMP AND AT KHARAGPUR RLY. HOSPITAL

"Statement on the situation at Hijli and Kharagpur, 19.9.1931

Quoted from Wikipedia:-

"The large numbers of those who participated in armed struggles or the non-cooperation movement against the British could not be accommodated in ordinary jails. The British colonial government decided to establish a few detention camps; the first one was located in Buxa Fort followed by the creation of Hijli Detention Camp in 1930. A significant moment in the Indian independence movement occurred at here in 1931 when two unarmed detainees, Santosh Kumar Mitra and Tarakeswar Sengupta, were shot dead by the Indian Imperial Police.[3] Subhas Chandra Bose came to Hijli to collect their bodies for interment. Many Indian nationalists, including Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, voiced strong protests against the British Raj over this incident.[4] The firing which later known as "Hijli firing" is the only incident of police firing inside a detention camp.[5]"

................................................................................................

"Along with Sjs. J. M. Sen Gupta, Nripen Banerji, Dr. Charu Banerji and Mrs. Banerji, Sj. Sushil Roy Chowdhury and other co-workers I visited Kharagpur yesterday (Friday). Kumar Debendra Lal Khan, Sjts. Sailaja Sen and Ram Sunder Singh also joined us. We were not allowed to visit the Hijli Camp but I saw several detenus at the railway Hospital at Kharagpur including those who were injured. I also had occasion during my visit to ascertain the truth of the press reports that have appeared in the papers. I am now in a position to say that what has appeared in the press is rather an under-estimation. The assault on the detenus was unprovoked and diabolical in character. Sjs. Santosh Mitra and Tarakeswar Sen have died bravely and the country will honour them for ever as Martyrs. Sjs. Gobinda Dutta and Sashindra Ghosh are in a serious condition in the railway hospital. The condition of Sj. Krishnapada Banerji, Sudhir Sen, Sabita Rai Chowdhury, who are in hospital is causing anxiety as also that of Sj. Ashutosh Hazra who is in the Hijli Camp."

Some of us know that these camps began with British in South Africa, before they were copied by Germany under nazi rule.

We were unaware about there being any in India, which isn't complimentary to congress rule of most of seven decades post independence.

................................................................................................

"All the detenus are on hunger-strike and they will continue it till a non-official committee is appointed. So far the detenus have been allowed to attend the injured in hospital but it is apprehended that this facility will be discontinued from tomorrow (Sunday). In that case trouble is likely to arise again. I earnestly appeal to the local authorities not to be cruel and to permit the detenus to nurse their sick friends in hospital."

That he did not visit Bhagat Singh et al is possibly due to distance, possibly to congress whip against it due to ideological differences, possibly Gandhi's policy. But here, he's visiting detenus not very different in action or ideological lack of opposition to violence.

Did Subhash Chandra Bose grow fast with experience, or were his sympathies focused prominently in Bengal, his own province and hence concern? Possibly both? One would like to think it was only former, combined with the effect of the impact Bhagat Singh and his group had on the nation, which only grew post their deaths.

................................................................................................

"I have come back from Kharagpur pained and humiliated to an indescribable degree. Our Comrades in Jail are being killed and shot at like cats and dogs. In these circumstances should we still fight and quarrel ? Let us sink all differences and close up our ranks in the presence of our enemies. I have already said in my statement which has appeared in today’s paper that henceforth I shall be an humble servant of the people ready to serve them in any capacity that may be demanded of me and ready also to efface myself to my utmost capacity. I am glad to find that several of my friends have already congratulated me on the step that I have taken in resigning all positions and this has confirmed me in my belief that I have interpreted the mind of Bengal correctly. Let us hope that through our efforts Bengal will soon recover her former prestige and glory."

When did he grow from Bengal centric mindset to encompass India as a whole?

................................................................................................

86. INTERVIEW WITH THE DETENUS ON HUNGER-STRIKE IN HIJLI CAMP NOT PERMITTED

"Statement 1.10.1931

"Sj. Satindra Nath Sen and I arrived at Kharagpur on Tuesday morning by the Down Bombay Mail. We took the earliest opportunity of applying for an interview with the detenus, who were on hunger-strike. We met the Commandant, Mr. Baker, who told us that without the order of Government he could not permit us to interview the detenus. I pointed out that we had come to persuade our detenu friends to give up the hunger-strike and it was within the discretion of the Commandant of the Hijli Camp to grant the interview if he thought fit. When I was a detenu under the Ordinance, in similar cases when hunger-strike had been resorted to by the detenus, the Jail Superintendent had used his discretion in allowing interview with us. But the Commandant said in reply that he could not grant an interview and suggested to me that I should wire to the Writer’s Buildings for permission. I said that if he personally was not opposed to the interview, it would expedite matters if he referred our case to the Government for orders over the telephone. To this he agreed and it was arranged that we should call on him at 1 P.M. and by then he might be able to get some reply from the Government.

................................................................................................

"At 1 P.M. when we drove to the Hijli Camp, our carriage was held up on the way by sepoys, who said that they had no orders to allow us to proceed. We told the sepoy and the havildar that we were going to see the Commandant nt 1 P.M. by appointment and that we had not been obstructed in that fashion in the morning. But he proved to be adamant and I wrote to the Commandant saying that without a written permit from him we were not being allowed to proceed to his office. The Commandant replied to my letter saying that it was not good for us to proceed any further. He had telephoned to Mr. Hutchings, who had told him that he could not himself give the permission for the interview but that he would consult Mr. Prentice. He further said that it would not be possible for us to interview the detenus the same day. All our effors to obtain an interview with the detenus proved to be of no avail. Fortunately in the morning we met Sj. Amarendra Nath Chatterjee, who was going to see his younger brother Sj. Barendra Nath Chatterjee at the Hijli Detention Camp. We told him that we were trying to have an interview with the detenus but we did not know whether the desired permission would come. In case we did not get the permission, we requested Amarendra Babu to convey our wishes to the detenus that they should discontinue the hunger-strike in keeping with the desire of the public."

................................................................................................

Did the British Government care, if detenus died of a hunger-strike?

Churchill certainly did not see anything wrong with millions of Indians dying of starvation in Bengal due to British having stolen the harvest, not long after this, when he was PM during WWII.

So much so, not only he said so publicly, but forced the aid sent by Roosevelt, ships filled with grain specifically for India, to turn back from Australia.

Were the Brits in charge during early 1930s very different? Unlikely. Whether due to abrahmic creeds being nonchalant regarding lives of 'others', racism of Europe or whatever else, they literally couldn't care less.

................................................................................................

88. LET BENGAL SAVE HERSELF AGAIN

"Statement issued to Associated Press, 16.10.1931

Here's genesis of India losing Bengal.

"I do not feel concerned about the attitude of the Working Committee of the Congress. For some time past I have ceased to expect anything from the Working Committee where Bengal affairs are concerned and I believe that is also the feeling that is gradually gaining ground in this province. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that in many places in Bengal there is positive resentment at the callous indifference of the Working Committee towards the vital problems of Bengal. ... "

................................................................................................

Senior leaders of the Congress Party were, hereby, forewarned.

Seemingly they didnt realise it.

If they did, they might, subconsciously, have blamed Subhash Chandra Bose for speaking out at all, even if it was reality.

" ... The best thing for Bengal would be to forget the Working Committee, to stand entirely on her own legs and work out her own salvation. ... "

But he was looking out for well-being of Bengal, and if congress wasn't helping, what other way could Bengal find it other than standing up for its 'own salvation'?

................................................................................................

" ... In 1905 Bengal saved herself by her own exertions and there is no reason why she should not do the same in the year 1931. I firmly believe that if Bengal rises to the occasion in face of the present tragedy as she did twenty-five years ago, she will be able to have all her grievances redressed, even if she be unaided by the rest of India. ... "

It's unclear whether it's due to hindsight, or it's effect of Subhash Chandra Bose and his words, but it's an almost tragic sense that overcomes one as one reads those words, about a province having to save itself, 'even if she be unaided by the rest of India'.

In the event, eventually, it was Mother India to the rescue of a separated East Bengal, slightly less than a quarter of a century post separation due to partition.

This, despite Bengal having been the only province to have given a clear mandate in favour of partition.

................................................................................................

But next words could be interpreted either way, and were in any case perhaps ignored by those that seemed to destroy Bengal, partition India, or both, at any cost.

" ... But in order to achieve that, Bengal must stand united, sinking all party differences and forgetting all personalities. I do hope that Bengal will not be lacking in selfless patriotism at the present hour. We want the very best and the noblest in us to come forth in the service of our common cause. ... "

The elder brother, Sharatchandra Bose, tried his best to keep Bengal united.

But, by that time, that meant separating from India, in any case, and so partition of Bengal was then inevitable if partition of India had to happen - the latter of which had been decided, as one source says, the day Russian tanks rolled into Berlin.

................................................................................................

On the other hand, he had unshakable confidence in India.

And India was, indeed, united despite all seeming divisions, most of which were exaggerated in the first place by the British, as per Macaulay, in interest of breaking India.

................................................................................................

"The Committee have completed the first stage of the enquiry viz., the recording of evidence. Tomorrow they will hear the argument of both sides. We shall then anxiously await their report. In spite of the Committee being an official one, I do not think that we have anything to complain about their work at Hijli. At least that is my personal view. But how far the findings of the Committee will meet with public satisfaction and approval, it is too early to say. In any case, the evidence recorded by the Committee will be before the public and they will be able to form their own conclusions and draw their own inferences therefrom. I would like to state clearly in this connection that what the public want is not merely a fair and impartial report from the committee but also adequate amends for the grievous wrong that was perpetrated."

................................................................................................

Next, even more serious.

"With regard to the Chittagong incidents also, the public demand is of a similar character, we want reparation for the helpless and unarmed people of Chittagong on whom terrible losses were inflicted. My personal view is that on the basis of the enquiries made in connection with the Hijli and Chittagong incidents a list of demands should be drawn up on behalf of the public and there should be a campaign for the fulfilment of those demands."

'Incidents'??????

Was he not concerned about the freedom struggle warriors, but only with the effect thereof on the citizens uninvolved, victims of the vengeance wreaked by British authorities?

................................................................................................

"The rights of citizens are being so easily and so frequently trampled upon in Bengal that I feel it would be desirable to have a permanent institution, called the Civil Rights Committee, to deal promptly with all cases of injustices and encroachments on the rights of citizens. If such a committee be strong, active and thoroughly representative, we shall soon be able to end the dark chapter we are now passing through merely through the force of organised public opinion."

'The rights of citizens' hardly existed in India under British except on paper, and their bring trampled was true of not only Bengal but all of India, including the region of Afghanistan taken over by British but never conceded by Afghanistan.

................................................................................................

89. GRIEVANCES AND DEMANDS OF JAMSHEDPUR WORKERS

"Speech delivered to the workers of the Tata Iron and Steel Co. 17.10.1931

" ... On Sunday, the 27th Sept., I met Mr. A.R. Dalal Director, who had arrived from Bombay that morning. I placed some of the grievances before him at the interview. The next day we had a Conference with Mr. Dalal again at which comrades Naidu, Moitra and Moni Ghosh were also present. We discussed in detail the list of grievances and demands already submitted to the General Manager. There is one other question which we discussed with Mr. Dalal at length, viz., the question of an Enquiry into the incidents of the G. Town Maidan meeting of the 20th September 1931.

"It is too early to say what results will come out of the efforts we are making. Much depends on the strength and solidarity of the workers themselves. However, we hope that some improvement will be effected. ... a much-desired change has been effected after years of agitation and endeavour."

The demands and grievances seem reasonable on face of it, but they are numbered, 1 to 25.

Was this a strategy so that management might feel victorious in granting a few?

Subhash Chandra Bose lists them out.

................................................................................................

"Grievances and Demands of Workers

"1. Restoration of collection of membership subscription from salary bills.

"2. The Bar Mill Workers who have been laid off on compulsory leave should be immediately called back and put back to work at their respective rates as per the assurance given by Sir P. Ginwala and the General Manager on the 31st March and 7th April 1931. There should be a remission of house rent for the period the workers have been idle. They should get their wages from September inclusive, since they were assured that the Mills would commence work in September.

"3. Full pay should be given for the period the men of the New Rail Mill, New Finishing Mill, Plate Mill and Shipping Department were put off work.

................................................................................................

"4. All men victimised and discharged on flimsy grounds should be reinstated.

"5. All men whose rates were reduced without justification should be restored to their old rates.

"6. There should be no reduction of wages in future.

"7. Suspensions and other punishments on flimsy grounds and without previous proper investigation should be discontinued and such cases should be reviewed by the Management as early as possible.

"8. Compulsory leave should not be resorted to.

"9. All undue restrictions at the gates on the movements of the employees should be withdrawn.

................................................................................................

"10. Full pay should be given for the periodical off days.

"11. The privileges of the daily rated and weekly paid men, including Health Deptt. staff, should be revised and be brought in line with those of the monthly rated men as far as possible.

"12. Leave with half pay should be given on medical grounds.

"13. Gratuity and pension schemes which have been promised for years should be introduced.

"14. The advance loan granted on the settlement of the 1928 dispute should be formally written off as although it is not being recovered from the men in employ, it is being recovered at the time of discharge.

................................................................................................

"15. Reduced school fees for wards of employees should be restored.

"16. Departmental production bonus in departments in which it is not given at present should be given.

"17. Enhancement of rents for Land and Quarters should be withdrawn.

"18. Those who are not getting the minimum pay of the grade in which they are working should be given same and annual increments as per grade should be given without interruption.

................................................................................................

"19. Improvements in one-roomed quarters such as Golkholi, R-N-type, Ramdas Bhatta and C. Town should be immediately undertaken.

"20. Adequate arrangements should be made for the lighting of Roads and Bustees frequented and occupied by the workers.

"21. Adequate arrangements should be made for water supply where such arrangement do not exist."

................................................................................................

Now comes a strange, and shocking, demand. It's so unexpected that one wonders why this was allowed to stand by anyone mediating, much less Subhash Chandra Bose!

"22. The period of service entitling a woman worker to Maternity Benefit should be reduced from one year to six months."

Think about it! While even supposedly most developed countries were not then giving such benefits - one may expect Russia did, but US, even as late as in 1980s, had bosses in private firms not only fire secretaries if their pregnancy were discovered, they did do with explanation using abusive language!

On the other hand, here's Tata a concern in 1940s, under British rule in a country looted for centuries - till India was reduced to not only poverty but repeated famines, and workers demand that a woman co-worker should have maternity benefits reduced from a year to half that long???????

And Subhash Chandra Bose, with his repeated stance regarding women on equal footing, allowed that yo stand, amongst the demands he supported?

Or did he do so because equality was interpreted literally regardless of physical disparities? That women getting maternity benefits was resented because males don't?

Did he, too, agree?

He wasn't a teen. In the large bose clan, with several younger siblings and nephews and nieces, he knew who suffered maternity and consequences thereof.

In Scandinavian countries, men do get paternity leave, at least post WWII. But they do, too, participate in childcare, including work with diapers and bottles. Did these Jamshedpur employees do any of that? Individually, perhaps, but one doubts it.

How could Subhash Chandra Bose be so thoughtless?

Or did the maternity benefits amount to compulsory leave without pay? That could not be called benefits, could it?

................................................................................................

"23. Due consideration should be given to the memorandum of grievances submitted by the clerical staff and timekeepers on 22-7-30 particularly the question of making the general shift continuous.

"24. Abolition of the general relieving gang in the time keeping department, as it is causing great hardship.

"25. The Labour Organisation should be effectively represented on the School Committees, Welfare Committee, and such other public welfare committees."

................................................................................................

90. DEMANDS ON THE BASIS OF ENQUIRIES AT CHITTAGONG AND HIJLI

Statement issued to the Press, 23.10.1931

"I am glad to learn that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel desires to take up in right earnest the important problems that are now confronting Bengal. I only wish that it would have been possible for the Working Committee to meet in Calcutta and I am sorry that inspite of the desire of the Congress President the inconvenience of some members has stood in the way."

One can understand that he didn't wish to name them, but that leaves one wondering whose inconvenience and what exactly was it that cost Bengal and India the subsequent turns of events.

................................................................................................

"I find from the papers that Sardar Patel has said that neither B.P.C.C. nor I had informed him about the Hijli incident. We were all given to understand that Bengal members of the Working Committee were in close communication with the Congress President. Moreover, the B.P.C.C. was without a head at that time, because I resigned the very day I got the news of the Hijli tragedy. The newspapers must have carried the news about the Hijli happenings to all parts of the country."

Was there a disagreement, if not feud, between the two leaders that were of a calibre superior for leadership of the nation?

................................................................................................

"As I previously intimated the Congress President that owing to previous engagement I may not be able to attend the meeting of the Working Committee at Delhi on the 27th instant. I have to leave for Goila in Barisal to perform the ceremony of interring the sacred ashes of martyr Tarakeswar Sen and it was not possible to put off or avoid a public function of such a sacred character. Nevertheless the present President of the B.P.C.C. will, I hope, attend the Working Committee meeting and place all the facts about Beneal before that body.

................................................................................................

"I have already indicated my views publicly. We shall have to formulate our demands on the basis of the enquiries held at Chittagong and Hijli. These demands must include the immediate and unconditional release of all detenus and adequate safeguards against a repetition of such tragic incidents in future. Further we should demand adequate amends for the grievous wrong perpetrated on our countrymen. Once these demands are formulated, I propose to undertake a raging and tearing campaign in the country for the fulfilment of these demands. We must keep up the sacred flames that consigned to ashes the bodies of martyr Santosh Mitra and Tarakeshwar Sen. The tragedies of Chittagong and Hijli have cast lengthening shadows all over the country. The lesson of our servitude and humiliation have been burnt deep into our soul. Between England and India lie the corpses of Santosh Mitra and Tarakeswar Sen, lest we forget, lest we forget!"

Repeatedly, one wonders why exactly he refrains from paying due homage to Bhagat Singh and his group. Was it a serious difference of opinion about whether British physical assault against Lala Lajpat Rai however brutal and deliberate, had caused the latter's death, or is it about concerns limited to Bengal?

................................................................................................

91. DEPRIVED OF PERSONAL LIBERTY AND HARASSED

Statement from Chandpur on 10.11.1931

"I arrived at Narayanganj on Saturday the 7th November 1931 accompanied by Sjs. J. C. Gupta, Narendra Narayan Chakravarti, Hemendra Nath Das Gupta and Abinash Bhattacharya from Calcutta for enquiring into the situation at Dacca. It will be remembered that three of us had been appointed members of the Dacca Enquiry Committee at a public meeting held at the Albert Hall in Calcutta on Thursday the 5th November."

Next part surprises due to seeming lack of preparedness on part of British officers.

Perhaps they had not expected to be countered by someone intelligent and brave.

................................................................................................

"When the steamer reached Narayanganj Ghat, several police officers and constables as also the Sub-Divisional Officers of Narayanganj boarded the steamer. A launch also drew alongside the steamer in which we had travelled. Soon after, I was approached by a European police officer (who later on transpired to be Mr. Ellison, the Acting Superintendent of Police) and served with an order under Section 144 Cr. P. C. ordering me to refrain from entering the district of Dacca for a period of two months—this order being signed by Mr. Gladding, the District Magistrate of Dacca. I was then asked by Mr. Ellison to step into the launch which would carry me to the steamer leaving Narayanganj straight for Goalundo. He also asked me to hurry up because the down mail steamer was being detained because of me. I said that my destination was Dacca and so long as I was a free man I would travel towards Dacca. I also said that the order was absurd, illegal and uncalled for and I had no intention to obey it. Mr. Ellison then had some consultation with the S.D.O. of Narayanganj and others and coming up to me placed his hand on my shoulder and said “I arrest you”. He then said that I would have to get into the launch and reach the mail steamer travelling from Narayanganj to Goalundo. I protested saying that if I disobeyed the order under Section 144 I could be prosecuted under Section 188 but I could not be forcibly externed from Dacca District in this fashion. The Acting Superintendent of Police would not listen to me and said that those were his instruction and my luggage was then sent over to the launch. However, I again protested against what clearly appeared to be illegal action on the part of the Government and Police Officers. This caused Mr. Ellison to pause and he had another consultation with the S.D.O. of Narayanganj and other officers. Finally he came up to me and said that I would have to land and go up to the thana with him and as I was under arrest I followed him ashore. There he put me into a car and drove to the thana. At first he told me that I would have to be at the thana for a minute but later on I found that I had to remain there for over 2 hours. At the thana the Officers had a further long conversation and after some time Mr. Ellison came up and said that I had not been arrested but that I had been placed under police protection. He also asked me to go gack to Calcutta and obey the order but he remarked at the same time that he knew at the outset that I would disobey the order. He also asked me what had happened at jagatdal when a similar order under Section 144 Cr. P. C. had been served on me. In reply I said that if I was not under arrest I proposed to walk away. My destination was Dacca and I wanted to reach that place. As for Jagatdal, I said that the authorities soon after my arrest realised their mistake and not only set me free, but also withdrew the order prohibiting me from holding meetings in that area. I then asked Mr. Ellison what he would do if in view of my offence being noncognisable, I demanded to be let out on bail. In that case they could not prevent me from remaining within Dacca. Mr. Ellison and the S.D.O. at this point went away and had a long consultation elsewhere and were probably in telephonic communication with the Magistrate who was then at Dacca, ten miles from Narayanganj. In the meantime I was getting restless. I asked the thana officer whether in view of what Mr. Ellison had remarked before he left, I was to consider myself still under arrest or not. The thana officer could not enlighten me and he telephoned to the Acting S. P. The latter replied that he was coming along presently. After some time he came and told me that I was not under arrest but under “virtual restraint’. I told that I wanted a straight and clear reply as to whether I was legally still under arrest or not. I had once been arrested on the boat and I followed the Acting Superintendent of Police to the thana simply because I was under arrest. If I had been free at the time I would not have come to the thana. Mr. Ellison tried to wriggle out of the difficulty. He would not give a straight reply and went on repeating that I was under “virtual restraint”. When I referred to the arrest on the boat, I was told that that was a misunderstanding. I replied that there was no misunderstanding about that arrest, though it might have been a mistake to have arrested me there. I then said that since I was no longer under legal arrest, I would make a move and I actually got up and began to move. Mr. Ellison then caught hold of my arm and prevented me from moving. This happened twice. I strongly protested against this illegal conduct on the part of a police officer and said that I should either be legally arrested or I should be set at liberty. I could not be deprived of my liberty in that manner by sheer physical force. I also warned him that he was making himself liable under the law by behaving in that manner. He said that he was protected because he was an officer acting under orders. I said that that fact could not save him from liability under the law. But my words had absolutely no effect to him. At about 4 P.M. he got up and said that I would have to accompany him to the Chandpur Mail steamer where I would be put on board and sent out of Dacca District. I said I would refuse to go because according to him I was not under arrest. Then he caught me by the hand and pulled me along for some distance. Finding that he was intent on using physical force for the purpose, I yielded and I said in the presence of several people that I was submitting not to a legal order but to sheer physical force."

They were used to simple people being terrified and willing to obey orders, and weren't used to reasoning.

................................................................................................

"Immediately before I left the thana for the steamer ghat I told Mr. Ellison that since he was forcing me physically to leave Dacca District, I wanted to leave instructions with my lawyers for taking any legal proceedings that they may think necessary against the illegal conduct of responsible Government officers. Sj. Narendra Narayan Chakravarty was with me at the time and I asked him to bring some lawyers. But Mr. Ellison said that he would not permit any lawyer to interview me and he asked Naren Babu to return. Later on Mr. Ellison said that he would permit Mr. J. C. Gupta only to interview me but he did not wait for Mr. Gupta to come and see me before I left the thana. However, Mr. Gupta saw me on board the steamer and I explained to him the circumstances under which I had been brought to the steamer by force and was being sent out of Dacca District."

Repeatedly, arbitrary and unreasonable, to say the least of the officer's behaviour.

................................................................................................

"Sjs. J. C. Gupta, Hemendranath Das Gupta and Narendra Narayan Chakravarti were near me during the great part of the time and they can bear personal testimony to what I have narrated above.

"When the steamer was about to leave Narayanganj, a large crowd had gathered at the ghat and they began to cheer me. This was too much for Mr. Ellison of Bandabilla fame and he got down from the steamer and along with the constables began to chase the crowd with lathis."

And the crowd had no lathis.

................................................................................................

"Mr. Ellison and the police escort remained aboard the steamer till Munshiganj was reached. At Munshiganj Ghat the police escort began to alight and I then told Mr. Ellison that since I was to follow him, I would also get down. This rather alarmed the acting S. P., who ordered all the planks forming the bridge to the ghat to be removed with the exception of only one. When the police party had all crossed over, he hurriedly passed over and the plank was immediately withdrawn so that I could not follow him ashore. The steamer at once began to move."

If it were not under those circumstances - colonial regime by brutes - it would be comical.

................................................................................................

"In these circumstances I have been forced to come to Chandpur. My luggage was sent to Dacca under the instructions of the S.P. and I sent for it when I found that they were bent on sending me out of Dacca. But the luggage did not arrive. The S. P. told me that he would arrange for some bedding for me, if my bedding did not arrive in time; but nothing was actually done. As for my ticket, I was given a pass only up to Gazaria, the next station beyond Munshiganj. I told the S. P. when he gave me the pass, that he was compelling me to break the law by travelling without ticket beyond Gazaria upto Chandpur—but that also had no effect on him."

One really wishes they could have a taste of their own medicine.

................................................................................................

"In the light of the facts stated above I think I am justified in repeating the statement I so often make that in. this unfortunate country we do not possess any right in the matter of our personal freedom. We are entirely at the mercy of local officials. I also feel that in Dacca there is much that the local officials will not permit to see the light of day. They are terribly afraid of being exposed and that seems to be the only reason why they have served the order under Section 144 on me. However, I hope that the Enquiry Committee will fearlessly start and pursue their enquiries. So far as I am concerned, it is hardly necessary to say that I shall make a further attempt to reach Dacca but what results I shall achieve, it is too early to say."

One has to wonder what we're they doing in Dhaka that needed hiding from Subhash Chandra Bose.

................................................................................................

"The public have already heard a lot about the alarming incidents going on in Dacca. I want them to realise that the only way they can prevent further oppression is to expose fearlessly the conduct of the local officials. If I am deprived of my liberty as appears almost certain, I earnestly hope that my comrades outside will carry on this work fearlessly and unflinchingly."

What alarming incidents, and why haven't generations post independence been told about any of this, keeping general information limited?

Were congress regime and other associates thereof protecting British, other than patting themselves on back fraudulently about independence?

................................................................................................

93. HIJLI AND CHITTAGONG OUTRAGES MUST BE REMEDIED

Speech at Harish Park, 26.11.1931

"Being accustomed to repression, we may not be able to gauge the gravity of the situation, but if we closely look into the matter, we shall see that it is for us a question of life and death. Outrages, as at Chittagong are not new, but its novelty lies in the fact that allegations have been brought by the non-official enquiry committee that the local officials could on no account be exonerated from the responsibility in those matters. As yet there is no reply to that serious charge and until we get a reply it is not illogical to conclude that there is truth underlying the charge. If the Government do not give any reply, the country will take the charge to be true, but if they have got something to say let them state it without any further delay.

................................................................................................

"The Chittagong affair is not a local grievance, for the same thing may happen anytime and anywhere in the country. So, if we remain indifferent to such outrages, the Government will think that we are absolutely powerless to remedy them, and such things, even of a more serious nature, will continue to happen."

India was not only powerless, but bound by policies of senior leaders of Congress beyond the necessary requirements as a strategy, bending over backwards.

And things of a more serious nature did continue to happen, not only until British were forced - due to effect of INA of Subhash Chandra Bose - to flee, but even beyond, using the influence of a boyhood and youth, on a first PM.

................................................................................................

"Lakhs of people, at a few hour’s notice, assembled to receive the dead bodies of Santosh and Tarakeswar and took them in procession through the streets of Calcutta. What impelled them to do so ? Because they realised that the Hijli outrage may be re-enacted anywhere and that they had the right to guarantee the safety of their lives. The Hijli atrocities is greater than that of the Jalianwallabagh, because here mere the lives and persons or people who are confined without trial and who, to our mind, are innocent, are in the custody of the Government and every one down to a constable was responsible for their safety. This incident showed our helplessness."

'Hijli atrocities is greater than that of the Jalianwallabagh'????

Much as one appreciates his emotions about the former, the comparison is inappropriate, and the judgement highly faulty here.

................................................................................................

"If we claim and really entertain the belief that we are men, then it is our duty to show that we are men and not sheep. Those who pose as our guardians of law and order are paying scant care to our life and property.

................................................................................................

"We are directly or indirectly responsible for this state of things. In the Congress sessions at Calcutta in 1920 and at Nagpur in the next year demands for redress of the Punjab and the Khilafat grievances were given precedence over the demand of Swaraj. I was at a loss to understand why it was done, but I now realise the cause. Our lives and property must be the primary consideration and swaraj a secondary one. We must first establish our rights as regards our lives and property. If we cannot establish it, we should have no right to settle the greater question of Swaraj. If Bengal had acquiesced in the policy of Partition, then she would not have been able to put up such glorious fights in her struggle for Swaraj. We are faced with a similar problem, a similar danger, this time too.

"The weak, starving Bengalee brought about the unsettling of a settled fact. They have tasted victory. It is time now to show their strength. They should organise themselves and put up a bold fight. If we tolerate these things now, the powers will think that we are ready to tolerate anything. Show by your action that on no account you are going to tolerate these things.

................................................................................................

"Those who tolerate repression are greater criminals than those who administer it. Let five crores of Bengalees demand in one voice, that they want the remedy. Let all other grievances be sacrificed to these issues. Small doses of repression commenced with the Ordinances and Special Tribunals. Chittagong and Hijli came in the wake and if we tolerate these, greater and heavier repression may be in store for us in Calcutta.

"The public demands regarding Hijli and Chittagong have already been formulated and these should be the bases of our campaign. If we keep silent we shall be the laughing stock of the whole civilised world. There is no time for rest. Hijli and Chittagong must be remedied."

................................................................................................

What else were Bhagat Singh and his group doing, having grown with a Jallianwala Bagh in their childhood memories, and having witnessed a beloved senior leader of Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai, being deliberately and brutally assaulted on head and body by British?

Lala Lajpat Rai dying soon subsequently, with British declaring that there was no relationship between the assaults and the death, and congress - including Subhash Chandra Bose - agreeing with that exculpatory statement conveniently for the British Government, what else could the young college students do but their best, in spirit of now Subhash Chandra Bose calling on Bengal to prove they were men, alive, not to be trampled?

Subhash Chandra Bose invites Bengal to prove her spirit post Chattagram and Hijli, but says those were worse than Jallianwala Bagh and Simon Commission protest assaults. That comparison was unfair and unwarranted, and at best, myopic.

With any fairness, congress, Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose ought to have supported the HRA group of Bhagat Singh and his comrades, at least for their lives, whether successfully or not, whether the boys liked it or not. In not doing so, they proved short.

................................................................................................

95. DESPITE TRUCE REPRESSION WENT ON

Text of Presidential address at the Maharashtra Youth Conference, 22.12.1931

" ... So far as our country is concerned I am constrained to say that even within the partake of the Indian National Congress the voice of youth cannot always make itself heard. As a result of this you sometimes notice a conflict between Congress organisation and Youth movement in some parts of this country. To those who are in charge of our Congress organisation, I would earnestly appeal to admit into the Congress fold all the radical elements in our society. These radical elements constitute the strength of a party or organisation and to my mind, it is neither safe nor desirable to exclude from our ranks any element that may be radical in outlook.

................................................................................................

"The debacle that has overtaken the Round Table Conference is in my humble opinion due largely to the fact that at the time of the ill-starred Truce, the voice of youth was more or less ignored. The Round Table Conference should really have been confined to the ‘belligerent’ parties. Unfortunately, even the loyalists, Communalists and Nondescripts were admitted to the Round Table Conference and their main object seemed to be not the promotion of the cause of India’s freedom but the creation of obstacles in the path of genuine nationalists. In these circumstances, is it surprising that the Conference should end in smoke ? The Round Table Conference of to-day reminds me of the Irish Convention which was meant to be a trap for SeinFeiners of Ireland. But while the Sein Feiners steered clear of this pitfall, we seem to have walked into it. The position would have been quite different today if at the time of the Truce, we had insisted that only belligerent parties should be represented at the Conference and if we had extracted from the British Government the promise that the fundamental demands of the Indian people as embodied in the Karachi Resolution would be conceded and the Conference would meet only for the purpose of discussing details. This was not done. Consequently, the Conference met not to discuss the exact form of Swaraj which India was to get—but whether India was to get Swaraj at all or any fractional dose of it. And all sorts of people were set up to oppose the demand for Swaraj made on behalf of Indian National Congress by its Sole Representative Mahatma Gandhi.

................................................................................................

"The responsibility for the mistake committed at the time of Truce should attach not merely to the supreme executives of the Congress but also to the Government of India. I should say that the responsibility of the Government was even greater in this matter. At a time when truce terms were being discussed two militant groups in this country represented by the Revolutionary prisoners and the Meerut Conspiracy case prisoners were altogether ignored. Lord Irwin was informed and advised that if peace was to be established, it would be neither safe nor advisable to ignore these two militant groups in the country but that advice was of no avail. The proclamation of Truce brought about the release of the Satyagraha prisoners but the Meerut Conspiracy case and the other Revolutionary Conspiracy cases in different parts of the country went on in full swing. And the revolutionary prisoners confined in different Jails all over India were either forgotten or ignored. In addition to these two groups the non-release of the detenus who had been imprisoned without trial was the most serious blunder."

Senior leaders of the Congress Party must have hated him for plain speaking, for saying exactly what everyone thought, instead of glossing it over - as congress party forever did, post independence - as a great victory and coronation for congress to be invited to London for a round table conference, and Gandhi appearing in his chosen attire of post South Africa years, not conventional western attire which he, incidentally, wore until his arrival from South Africa to India.

................................................................................................

"Then again, while there was nominally a truce between the Congress and the Government of India, repression went on merrily. The number of detenus in confinement without trial began to swell from day to day. The degree of repression also began to increase as also the variety. Then there was continued provocation offered by the Government, through their policy which the Congress was unable to stop or to prevent. When this provocation caused a feeling of exasperation among the full-blooded youths and led to unfortunate acts of terrorism—the Anglo-Indian press and agents of the bureaucracy whom we regard as responsible for official terrorism, began to throw all the blame on the Congress and the representatives of the Congress. The inability of the Congress to stop what I would call official terrorism is largely responsible for the weakening of the hold of the Congress on the youths in some parts of the country and particularly in Bengal. If the Congress had been able to checkmate the repressive policy of the Bureaucracy, the appeal of the Congress in terms of non-violence would have been simply irresistible. But as matters stand it has to be admitted that the repeated appeals made by us in. the press and on the platform for maintaining non-violence had not their desired effect."

'Particularly in Bengal'????????

Is he implying that the Maharashtra and Punjab revolutionary groups were different, just practicing target shootings and other games?

................................................................................................

" ... I do not understand why the Congress should cling to the shadow of the truce, the substance having vanished altogether."

................................................................................................

96. CONGRESS SHOULD ADOPT A BOLD POLICY

Speech at Maharashtra Youth Conference at Shivaji Mandir, 24 December 1931, 24.12.1931

" ... At the time of the “ill-starred” Delhi truce the voice of the youth was ignored with the result that many prisoners, along with the detenus remained unreleased, and while there was truce between the Congress and the Government, repression provoked feelings of exasperation among the youths, which led to unfortunate acts of terrorism.

"If the Congress had been able to checkmate the repressive policy of the Government, the appeal of the Congress in favour of non-violence would have been irresistible. But as matters stood, it had to be admitted that their appeal for non-violence have not had its desired effect."

Subhash Chandra Bose was still uncertain then, between an all-out war, action in righteousness without personal attachments as told to Arjuna by Krishna, versus the Congress Party umbrella wielded then by Gandhi, with its policy stretched into crusade, bending over backwards one-way non-violence promised to everyone - from Congress Party, on part of all Hindus.

Neither moplah massacre in Kerala, nor Direct Action Day massacres in Calcutta nor subsequent massacres at Noakhali et al, were denounced by Gandhi. But Hindu and Sikh refugees were denounced by him, for fleeing due to massacres, and pressure created on government of independent India to force them back to across the new border, even if their future was certainty of immediately being massacred.

................................................................................................

" ... When Government have shown by their action that they had ended the truce, I don’t understand why the Congress should cling to the shadow of the truce, while the substance has vanished.

"The Congress should adopt a bold policy as the country awaited to bold and prompt lead, and I warn the official Congress to consider the view point of prominent groups in the country, including the Left wing in the Congress, in arriving at a settlement with the Government."

................................................................................................

97. THE SOLE OBJECT CONSISTS IN WINNING INDEPENDENCE

Statement issued to the Press before leaving for Calcutta, 3.1.1932

"At a time when the Congress Working Committee was prepared for further negotiation, Lord Willingdon has come to our rescue by cutting “the Gordian Knot”. We shall soon come to grips now and the real issue will have to be fought once again. At the time the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was concluded we felt that the time for cessation of hostilities had not arrived and that the fight would have to be continued. But our voices were then drowned. To-day we stand vindicated.

................................................................................................

"As far as Bengal is concerned, we have not exactly what we wanted. It was only by resumption of the Satyagraha campaign without further delay that there lay the only hope of retrieving the situation in Bengal. It is also gratifying to note that the boycott of British goods and British concerns has once again been adopted as an All-India weapon."

Did it help the detenus?

................................................................................................

"In this connection, I would like to say that there is still a danger ahead of us. After the fight goes on for sometime, there might be another proposal for a pact like the last Delhi Pact. If that is to be prevented, opinion of the rank should be roused and mobilised from to-day and those joining the fight should make it clear that their sole object consists in winning Independence and will not tolerate fresh pacts and negotiations. If this is not done, we shall land ourselves in disaster once again."

How Gandhi must have hated the honest, intelligent, outspoken young leader, with his heart on his sleeves and common sense comprehensible to normal persons, his unselfish and selfless concern for others and his mind outspoken without reservations, endearing him to future generations!

................................................................................................

103. LUNGS TROUBLE DETECTED

Letter to a friend in Calcutta from Madras Penitentiary, 18.8.1932

"I have written to the Madras Government, C. P. Government, and Government of India urging my admission into hospital and pointing out that my transfer to Madras is meaningless if this is not done. After all, an elaborate examination becomes quite valueless and purposeless if it is not followed up by a scientific course of treatment in hospital. I am laying so much stress on hospital because Govt from their present attitude, do not appear to be in a mood in which they can permit me to be treated at home by my own doctors. And I am the last person in this world to ask for any favour from this Government and I ask only for what I consider honestly to be my right as a citizen in the first place, and then as a State-prisoner."

Did the British Government of India delay hispitalisation of Subhash Chandra Bose deliberately, intending it to be indefinitely postponed, hoping that they'd declare themselves free of guilt of consequences easily, as done in case of death of Lala Lajpat Rai due to injuries from deliberate and brutal assaults, explicitly ordered by police officers?

................................................................................................

"The examination is practically over now. The X-Ray examination took a lot of time. I have so far been examined by Lt. Col. Skinner and Dr. Guruswami Mudaliar, the senior physician of the Govt, hospital here. So far the blood sugar test has not been considered necessary, but the Von Pirquet’s test was taken. From what I have been able to gather from the doctors, they do not find any serious trouble with the gall-bladder. But the condition of the lungs is not normal or clear (I do not remember the medical terminology). It was because of this that the Von Pirquets’ test for tuberculosis was considered necessary. The reaction to the test inclines to the positive."

Again - how did he survive, with so delicate a state of health, the life he chose at every step to live?

It could only have been Divine Grace, for sake of the tremendous task only he could perform.

................................................................................................

"The net result of all this examination is that the outlook appears to be worse than I thought. Both at Seoni and at Jubbulpore, the theory was that the gall-bladder was the source of the trouble. But the source of the trouble appears to be shifted now to the lungs. As a layman, I do not understand how the theory of lung-trouble can explain all the Symptoms. Symptoms like stomach pain, sciatica, piles etc., can only be explained by some other theory like the gallbladder theory. However, what I have gained so far by the examination at Madras is that an important source of mischief which was overlooked both at Seoni and at Jubbulpore has been detected here."

Did Madras have better medical facilities at the time than Jabalpur, despite the armed forces cantonment at the latter?

................................................................................................

"There has not been any improvement in my physical condition. The daily temperature is persisting and all the old friends are constant viz., internal pain, sciatica, loss of weight, lack of appetite, indigestion, insomnia etc. Madras is still quite warm."

As if this wasn't enough to cause anxiety, there was also fragile state of health of Sharatchandra Bose, elder brother, who had been arrested simultaneously.

"I am anxious also for news about Mejdada. You must have seen in the papers about the talk in the Madras Council yesterday about my treatment. The Law Member, Sir Krishnan Nair, gave a sympathetic reply (though there was one inaccuracy in his statement) and said that they were corresponding with the Government of India about my treatment in hospital."

Now separated, after the brothers had been kept together for a while in various prisons as far away from home as the British Government could, so they had had anxiety already about the family members and their health, their survival, et al.

................................................................................................

"I had written to the Law Member (who is also in charge of jails) giving him all the facts of my case—how the Medical Board at Jubbulpore recommended my treatment in hospital, how Dr. Sunil Bose was refused permission to examine me on the ground that Government were making arrangements for my examination and treatment in hospital, how the transfer order said that I was to go to the Madras Penitentiary for examination and treatment in hospital etc. I had in the meantime stopped going to hospital as a protest but the Inspector General of Prison, who visited this jail, gave me a verbal assurance that after the examination was over, the question of admission into hospital would be formally considered and thereupon I resumed my visits to the hospital for examination."

................................................................................................

105. SICK OF EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT

Letter to S. Satyamurti, 19.11.1932

................................................................................................

"I was so happy to receive your letter of the 31st October. I have been following your movements and your health through the papers and I was glad to learn from the papers the other day that you had ultimately been discharged from the hospital. Your decision to go out for a change is a proper one, but I do hope that your recovery will be more speedy than your doctors anticipate. How do you propose to spend the period of enforced rest?"

Name of Mr. S. Satyamurti hasn't occurred in history commonly taught to later generations, but occurs here as a prominent leader of some stature, throughout this volume.

Perhaps his name was blanked out of official version of history generally taught, precisely because he associated with Subhash Chandra Bose?

................................................................................................

"The news about the improvement in my health was somewhat premature. What has actually happened so far is that after the change of climate and environment I have been feeling more happy and cheerful. The temperature is somewhat less than what is used to be at Madras, but the evening rise is nevertheless persisting. It now varies between 99.2 and 99.4. My bowel troubles are unfortunately still causing me great discomfort and both digestion and appetite are still poor. My weight, too, has not had a good record so far. After four weeks my weight is the same as on admission."

So this was written from Darjeeling, where bose family had a holiday home, and which was used in lieu of prison or hospital by British government at expense of Bose family, to keep Subhash Chandra Bose in jail?

................................................................................................

"I had hoped to be set at liberty during the period of my stay here, but that has not happened. I am still under restraint and under the usual restrictions contemplated by Regulation III of 1818. The Sanatorium will be closed on the 15th December, and will not reopen till March 1933. A friend wrote to say that I might be sent to Dehradun, but I have had no official information so far."

So Darjeeling came later.

................................................................................................

"Another difficulty has cropped up here. At Madras as you know, all the doctors was afraid that I was suffering from tubercular affection of both the lungs. In addition to this, Lt. Col. Skinner reported that there were tubercular glands in the intestines. Later on, the Medical Board also suspected some mischief in the lungs. They suspect something in the abdomen, but they are not able so far to make up their mind about the nature of the mischief.

"But the treatment I have been placed under is the usual treatment for tuberculosis. I was put in bed as soon as I arrived here, and the “rest in bed” treatment is still being continued. I am being given a colloidal calcium injection and several medicines are being administered which, I am told, are usual in a case of intestinal tuberculosis. But I have not been feeling happy about the present position.

................................................................................................

"I want to know definitely what the disease is and I am sick of experimental treatment. Even if doctors are unable to diagnose definitely, I would like to be told frankly to that effect. I have, therefore, written to Government asking for permission to be examined by my doctors once again."

Did they know?

................................................................................................

"This Sanatorium is meant for lung cases and if my lungs are really free from mischief there is no reason why I should be here. And if, mine is a case of intestinal tuberculosis, then what is to be done ? I do not know of any Sanatorium in India where there is adequate arrangement for treatment of intestinal tuberculosis. However, let us wait and see.

"Please write to me from time to time. I shall of course respond as far as it is possible under the present circumstances.

"Praying for your speedy recovery and with kindest regards.

"Yours affectionately,

"Subhas C. Bose"

................................................................................................

106. TIRED OF BEING EXPERIMENTED UPON

Letter to a friend in Madras from Bhowali Sanatorium in U.P., 19.11.1932

So he was kept at Bhowali sanatorium, near Nainital.

"I am exceedingly thankful to the Madras doctors for the pains they took over my examination and diagnosis though the result was alarming to me and to everybody else. But in the case of many disease a prompt and correct diagnosis is equal to half the cure.

................................................................................................

"Bhowali is a nice place on the whole and this is the best season of the year. The change of environment from a walled prison to a sanatorium on the hills was a source of mental relief to me. Personally I am very fond of the hills. There is a silent grandeur and dignity about them which lifts your mind above the affairs of the earth and makes you feel that you are essentially a spiritual being. And throughout the ages so much of our poetry, philosophy and romance has been bound up with the hills, and particularly with the Himalayas."

Himalaya, more than any other, of course. Sanskrit literature does mention Vindhya, which was ancient and familiar, to some extent, and Malay Parvat - 'Malay mountain' perhaps judt as much or more. Others aren't mentioned by modern known names such as Sahydri, Aravalli, etc; and some of the ancient names, such as Meru, are of mountains in another continent, but mentioned in context of events that could only have taken place in India. Himalaya has been loved, revered and source of much delight and wonder, since antiquity - since, in fact, its legendary rise from the ocean till date.

................................................................................................

"Unfortunately the body being a lump of clay, as they say, does not respond to the change of environment as promptly as the mind. And so far as physical improvement is concerned, I have been somewhat disappointed. The temperature is unfortunately persisting and for some time past it has been varying between 99.2 and 99.4. The bowel troubles are causing great discomfort and they are aggravated after meals as before. Digestion and appetite are still poor. The weighment record is also not satisfactory. After four weeks the weight is the same as on admission."

Why were both, Subhash Chandra and his brother, all right at home despite working incessantly, but promptly ill after arrest?

Were they deliberately poisoned or something at instructons of the British government?

................................................................................................

"I had expected that I would cease to be a State prisoner on my admission here. But unfortunately the usual restrictions are still being continued. The Sanatorium will be closed on the 15th December and I shall be a football once again."

Had they no plan, or hoped he wouldn't survive?

................................................................................................

"There is another matter which is causing some anxiety. You know that at Madras all the doctors who examined me were unanimous that I am suffering from tubercular affection of both the lungs. In addition to this Lt. Col. Skinner reported that there were tuberculous glands in the intestines. The Medical Board later on were of opinion that there was some seat of mischief in the abdomen as well. But they were not altogether definite about the nature of the mischief and they surmised that it might possibly be due to appendicitis. However, the doctors here say—I understand—that they cannot find any active mischief in the lungs. Regarding the mischief in the abdomen they are unable so far to make up their mind. But the treatment I am getting now is the usual treatment for tuberculosis. I was ordered “rest in bed” the moment I came here on the 11th October last and I am still a bed patient. The discipline for bed patients particularly—and for all patients in general—is very strict here and this is just as it should be. I am also being given Colloidal Calcium injections. I am taking a number of other medicines, which I understand are usually given to cases of intestinal tuberculosis.

................................................................................................

"Owing to the difficulty in diagnosis I wrote to Government again the other day asking for permission to be examined by my doctors—Sir Nilratan Sirkar, Dr. B. C. Roy, and Dr. Sunil Bose. I do not like the idea of being treated without a definite diagnosis and I am simply tired of being experimented upon. I want to know definitely what the diagnosis is and in case doctors are unable to diagnose they should say so frankly. Let us see what reply comes from Government. A friend of mine has written to say that I may be sent to DehraDun from here when the Sanatorium is closed but I have no official information so far.

................................................................................................

"If my lungs are really free from tubercular trouble there is no reason why I should be here at all. This Sanatorium is meant for lung cases and I do not know of any Sanatorium in India where there are adequate arrangements for the treatment and cure of intestinal tuberculosis. If it is ultimately declared by the doctors that I am suffering from intestinal tuberculosis (with or without lung trouble) then the position will become more serious. However, I am not prepared as matters stand at present to accept the opinion of the doctors here until it is confirmed by doctors in whom I have complete faith."

................................................................................................

110. PARTING MESSAGE TO BENGALEES , 2.3.1933

"From S.S. “Gange”, Sj. Subhas Chandra Bose sent the following message :

................................................................................................

"“For over a year I have been exiled from my own province. During this period owing to unhealthy conditions of confinement my health completely broke down. As my condition worsened, I was shifted from one province to another—but I was deliberately kept away from the hospitals and the physicians who were so anxious to take charge of my treatment. Even the prisons of Bengal, so hospitable to thousands of my countrymen—shut their doors on me.

................................................................................................

"“To my physical suffering was added mental torture. During my incarceration outside Bengal, I watched with a sense of increasing pain and helplessness the repression that was prevailing in the province. All that I could do in the circumstances was to silently pray in the seclusion of my cell that the Divine Mother may grant strength to our people and that a new Bengal may be born.

................................................................................................

"“Torn away from the realities of life, through those long and dark hours 1 sought refuge in contemplation. The vision of India conjured up and worshipped by our great seers from Bankim and Vivekananda to Dwijendralal and Deshbandhu—rose before my mind’s eye to give me solace, strength and inspiration. I felt—as I had never felt before that the vision of “Bharatmata” as she was destined to be—was the supreme Reality which transcended the shortcomings and imperfections of the present hour. That vision was a treasure of which no earthly power could deprive me—it was a shrine at which I worshipped from day to day.

................................................................................................

"“One of the dreams that have inspired me and given a purpose to my life is that of a great and undivided Bengal devoted to the service of India and of humanity—a Bengal that is above all sects and groups and is the home alike of the Moslem, the Hindu, the Christian and the Buddhist. It is this Bengal—the Bengal of my dreams—the Bengal of the future still in embryo—that I worship and strive to serve in my daily life.

................................................................................................

"“To interpret this dream and endeavour to translate in into reality—is one of the passions of my life. It is a task to which we must give our very best if success is to be ours. No sacrifice is too dear—no suffering too great—if we are to fulfil this mission. Friends, will you not rise to that noble height where the vision of a great and undivided Bengal will be the only reality before? Remember the legacy bequeathed by our great men. Forget not that you are the heirs of their dreams—the hopes of the country’s future. If you are great yourselves in thought and deed—then alone will you be able to make your country great. Therefore I say with all the sincerity that I can command, “Forget your petty quarrels, sink your personal differences—strive to make Bengal united and great—so that in her greatness may be our highest happiness and glory. After all, who dies if Bengal lives; who lives if Bengal dies ?”

"SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE

"S.S. “Gange”,

"2.3.33."

................................................................................................

34. PARALLEL GOVERNMENT AND TOTAL BOYCOTT

"Counter Resolution at a Subjects Committee meeting, 31.12.1929

This speech truly had Subhash Chandra Bose make hus mark in congress and in history.

"I express my thanks and gratitude to Mahatma Gandhi for coming forward with the resolution declaring complete Independence. But I stand before you because I feel that this programme is not such programme as would carry us to the goal of complete independence. My amendment is a complete, whole and workable programme. My programme has two distinct parts, constructive as well as destructive. I cannot see how we can reach our goal except by setting up a parallel Government based on the good will of the people. The example of the Sinn Feiners of Ireland is a craze in point. It is not that I want the people to emulate Ireland in their campaign. But it is to show that the scheme of a parallel government is only a scheme to achieve the object."

One has to wonder he was allowed not only to survive this criticism but raised to be president of the Congress Party, when he was elected the first time.

Or was that only to secure his loyalty and subsequent bringing down a rap on knuckles a way to have him brought to knees?

................................................................................................

"If boycott is to be made useful, intelligible and effective, a wholesale boycott programme will have to be taken up before we achieve our object. I cannot see the utility of partial boycott. To practise in courts is consistent with the creed of Independence and so is the taking of the oath of allegiance when entering bodies like the Calcutta Corporation. We have to concentrate all our energies to the work and achieve Independence. All or none is my principle. Therefore, if boycott is to be restored it must be complete or there is no good in entering the courts and the local bodies and boycotting the councils. In politics some times it is necessary to bow down to exigencies of circumstances as the Sinn Feiners did and entered parliament after taking the oath of allegiance. And so was the case of the Communists sitting there. From a practical point of view I believe, it is not inconsistent to go to the local bodies with the creed of independence. But I want to say that I am of opinion that complete boycott is essential at this stage.

"Before I conclude I wish to say a few words with regard to the resolution of Mahatma Gandhi as it is moved. I want to say that I did not subscribe to the Delhi Manifesto and I do not want any body to endorse it standing as we do to-day on the 31st day of December. Are you prepared to endorse the Delhi Manifesto ? Would you like to go in for the appreciation of the Viceroy of India ? The Round Table Conference is a sham. Can you conscientiously approve of the preamble ? Mahatma Gandhi was kind enough to give an assurance in the Subjects Committee that so far as he was concerned there was no intention of his going into the Conference. It is now for the House to consider whether it is necessary to retain this clause."

But, having given 'an assurance in the Subjects Committee that so far as he was concerned there was no intention of his going into the Conference', not only Gandhi went, but returned with nothing, and this was taught in school texts as if it had been a victory - he went to round table conference in London and wore only the same attire, even in winter, being the gist.

................................................................................................

"Let me now refer to the phrase, the Round Table Conference. I do not know why our countrymen are keen on calling it Round Table Conference. Certainly it is not “Round Table”. To my mind it is a Square Table Conference. The Round Table Conference is a Conference between the belligerent forces fighting one another through plenipotentiaries and the decision arrived in the Conference are binding on both. I ask you—are you prepared to believe that the people of India will be allowed to send in their own representatives to negotiate with the British Government on equal terms ? Are you sure that the conclusions arrived at the Conference will be ratified by Parliament ? You all know that when treaties are drawn up and even when it was arrived at between South Africa and the British Government the conclusion arrived at the conference are regarded as sacred by both the parties. I know in case of South Africa the constitution drawn up in the Conference, inspite of a grammatical error, was ratified in Parliament. The British statesmen could not even correct the grammatical errors. This is truly a Round Table Conference. But, what are the paraphernalia here ? I hear that the Ruling Chiefs and the European Chambers of Commerce will send in their representatives. Is there any war going on between the Ruling Chiefs and the Britishers or between the European Chambers of Commerce ? The English nation is there. Is there any fight going on between the loyalists and the British Government ? Why should then these parties send their delegates to the Round Table Conference ?

"But since the people of this country call it a Round Table Conference, let us see what the Britishers call it.

"The speeches of the British statesmen, for valid reasons, avoid to call it a Round Table Conference. President, I have finished. I ask if the constructive programme of the Congress since some years past are sufficient to bring about Independence. In my mind it is not. No doubt, there is reference to civil disobedience in the programme. But at the same time I say civil disobedience can never be organised by this programme. I fully believe unless we organise the youths, peasants, workers and other oppressed people civil disobedience will ever remain a mirage. Therefore, if you want to make the resolution effective I would request you to chalk out an effective programme. It is necessary to lay down a programme which will be in keeping with the times and will be welcomed by the students, youth, peasants and workers."

................................................................................................

"Last year at the Calcutta Congress we wanted the creed to be changed to that of Independence. It was put off. I think we have waited one year. I would beg of you to consider what you have gained by not changing the creed. One year is wasted. If this amendment is not accepted, God willing, it will be accepted in the near future, probably next year.

"Mahatma Gandhi’s resolution will not find favour with the youth of the country. I, therefore, beg of Mahatma Gandhi and our revered leaders to take stock of the country and also to the sentiments which move the hearts of the younger generation. Once before I resume my seat I thank Mahatma Gandhi for bringing forward this goal before the country."

................................................................................................

"35. PROGRAMME OF ALL-ROUND BOYCOTT

"Speech at the Lahore Session of the Congress 31.12.1929

This speech seems to be on the same date as the earlier one, but at a different venue, a Congress session rather than a committee meeting within the party. The subject matter and do forth aren't different.

"Before I proceed to lay my case I take this opportunity of conveying my cordial and hearty thanks to Mahatma Gandhi for coming forward to move a resolution which declares Swaraj to mean complete independence. But I move this amendment because I believe that the programme laid down by his resolution is not such as to carry us towards the goal of complete independence. My amendment is consistent with the goal, and in keeping with the spirit of the times. I have no doubt it will find favour with the younger generation in this country, if not now at least in the next Congress.

................................................................................................

"Mine is a programme of all-round boycott. I do not think it will be of any use taking up one item in the programme of boycott and leaving out others. It will not be consistent with our creed of independence to go and practise in the law courts. It will not be consistent either to enter local bodies, some of which, like the Calcutta Corporation, require the oath of allegiance to be taken. There is another reason why you should give them all up. The task before us is so arduous, and the responsibility on our shoulders is so great, that we shall have to concentrate our whole time and energy on the programme of work. I should like to submit, at this stage, that if you are not prepared to go in for complete boycott, it will be no use your boycotting the Councils only.

"Let us be consistent. Let us be for complete boycott or none at all. I am an extremist and my principle is— all or none. If I am to advocate a policy of the capture of public bodies, I would like to capture every public body. If we are to boycott at all, why not boycott completely and concentrate our attention and energy on some other programme ? Therefore I would earnestly plead for the acceptance of my amendment. I know public opinion in India today requires it.

................................................................................................

"Now a word or two on Mahatmaji’s resolution. In the preamble, you are asked to endorse the action of the Working Committee in subscribing to the Delhi manifesto. I am not prepared to advise anyone to do it. Again, are you prepared to accept the reference to the Round Table Conference ? I would not call it a round table. It is certainly not round. I would call it square. A round table conference is a conference between two belligerent parties, between plenipotentiaries representing opposite side. I ask you whether the people of India are invited to send any of their representatives with full powers to negotiate with the representatives of the British Government. Are we assured that the conclusions reached at this conference are to be ratified by both parties ? Are we sure that the conclusions of the conference are not to go for reconsideration before the British Parliament?

"You know that when the treaty was drawn up between Britain and South Africa, the conclusions reached at the conference of both the parties were regarded as sacred by both. I know for a fact that in the case of the South African constitution drawn up at the conference, in spite of its grammatical errors, it had to be ratified by the British Government, and the British Parliament could not even correct those grammatical errors. That is what a round table conference means. What is the character of the conference that has been offered to India ? The Simon Commission and its paraphernalia are to be there, and the conclusions of the conference are to go before the Parliament. It is not merely the people of India that should send representatives to the conference but the European Chambers of Commerce and the Ruling Chiefs. Is there a fight between the British Government, on the one hand, and the European Chambers and Ruling Chiefs on the other ? Is there any fight proceeding between Government and the loyalists ? I know of no such fight. When there are these bodies to send in their representatives to the conference, I say it is not a round table conference. But, unfortunately, people in this country insist on calling it so and the Britishers are equally insistent on not calling it a round table conference.

................................................................................................

Here, a veiled reference to HRA, Bhagat Singh and his group and the impact they had on India - but without naming them!

"One argument more and I have done. The resolution refers to the constructive programme as the method whereby we have to achieve the political emancipation of India. I would like the House to consider whether the constructive programme, which the Congress has been pursuing for the last few years, is something which is sufficient to enable us to reach the goal of complete independence. No doubt there is a reference to civil disobedience in the resolution. But I submit that the civil disobedience will never come until we can organize the workers and peasants and depressed classes on their specific grievances. If my programme is adopted, it will be sufficiently effective for us to march on the road to independence. I appeal to the supporters of the resolution to note the altered circumstances and feelings of the people, particularly the younger generation, and accept my motion."

Those 'altered circumstances and feelings of the people' were, precisely, that impact of personalities, revolutionary theory and actions of HRA, of Bhagat Singh and his group.

................................................................................................

"36. TOTAL BOYCOTT

"Statement in an interview, 2.1.1930

"As the result of yesterday’s proceedings in the Indian National Congress we stand vindicated. At Calcutta last year we pressed for the adoption of the creed of Independence. We were defeated no doubt. But we felt even then that moral victory was ours. What was rejected at Calcutta owing to the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Motilal Nehru and other leaders has now been adopted by the Lahore Congress and the most significant fact is that Gandhiji himself moved the resolution on Independence and Pandit Motilal seconded it.

................................................................................................

"It would not be irrelevant to ask what we have gained by shelving for nearly twelve months the question of Independence. I believe that if we had adopted that creed at the Calcutta Congress we would have been able to make much greater progress during the past twelve months than we have actually done.

"While conveying my gratitude to Mahatma Gandhi for moving this resolution I had to point out that the programme which he laid down in that resolution was not in keeping with the spirit of times and with altered mentality and ideas of the younger generation to-day neither was the programme, in my opinion effective for the purpose of achieving Independence. I am not sorry that my amendment was lost as I was not sorry that my amendment at the Calcutta Congress was defeated. The country will have in another twelve months to consider the merits of my amendment and I have not the shadow of doubt that my proposition, on something very much like it, will be adopted by the next Congress. My only regret, however, is that meanwhile much valuable time will be lost. But this cannot be helped, for political education is sometimes a slow process particularly when the influence of practically all prominent leaders is acting on the opposite side.

................................................................................................

"With regard to the question of boycott I would like to make my position clear once again. As I stated in my speech in the open Congress yesterday a mere boycott of Legislatures will be altogether useless. I may pander to vanity of those who felt hurt when the Congress adopted the Swarajist programme but that is about all. It was surprising to find that the erstwhile supporters of the triple boycott were not prepared for the adoption of the wholesale boycott as I had advocated. The boycott of Legislatures and other public bodies can be supported on two grounds. Firstly, it becomes inconsistent from a strictly moral point of view to adopt the creed of Independence and at the same time take the oath of allegiance. Secondly, the boycott of these bodies enables us to concentrate our whole time and energy on some other programme with a view to setting up a parallel Government.

"From this point of view it appeared to me advisable either to go in for wholesale boycott of these bodies or in the alternative to leave them alone as they are. It is wrong to help in law-making inside the Legislatures. It is equally wrong to help administering law inside the law courts and if it is wrong to take oath of allegiance inside the Legislatures it is equally wrong to take that oath in other public bodies. However, since the Congress resolution has been passed it is no use going further into its merits at this stage."

................................................................................................

" ... The day will soon come when the Congress will rid itself of imperialistic and capitalistic influence and adopt a fighting and an effective programme and if the Congress fails to do so, I have no doubt that other organisations will come into the field and become the spokesman of the people of this country."

Almost prophetic there.

................................................................................................

"37. Unconstitutional Ruling

"Statement in an interview with Free Press 7.1.1930

"The first day (i.e., on the 27th December) when the A.I.C.C. met, I wanted to appeal to the All India Congress Committee against the decision of the Working Committee whereby the newly elected members from Bengal were barred from functioning. My point was that the B.P.C.C., had elected members to the A.I.C.C., according to rules. Every other action of the B.P.C.C., including filling up vacancies in the list of the A.I.C.C. members, had been accepted as valid by the higher authorities and I saw no reason why the members elected by the B.P.C.C., to the A.I.C.C., should not similarly be held to be valid members. As the custodian of the rights and dignity of the B.P.C.C., I had to fight for the newly elected members. When the President of the A.I.C.C., Pandit Motilal Nehru ruled out of order every resolution and every motion (including the motion for the adjournment of the House) that our party moved with the object of pressing our claim, we had no option but to walk out in protest. Anybody in my position with any sense of honour would have done exactly the same thing. It is altogether inconceivable that we should have taken part in the Subjects Committee leaving out the newly elected valid members. Our walk out had its effect and the next day—thanks to the efforts of Dr. B. C. Roy there was a compromise and in spite of the reluctance of Mr. J. M. Sen Gupta, members of the Working Committee and the Subjects Committee agreed to admit the newly elected members. Thereupon, we entered the house in a body.

"On the last day (i.e., the 1st January, 1930), we had again to walk out from the A.I.C.C., as a protest. This time, it was a protest against the new President of the A.I.C.C., Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the members of the Working Committee and against the decision of the majority in the A. I.C.C. When we came to the meeting none of us knew that within half an hour we should be forced to go out once again. Mr. J. M. Sen Gupta, I understand, has been pleased to insinuate that we walked out as a pretext for forming a new party. I am sorry that he has done so and all that I can say is that by attributing motives to others he has only demeaned himself in the eyes of all right thinking and impartial men. The fact is that the incidents in the A.I.C.C. meeting of the 1st January proved to be the proverbial last straw. Throughout the session of the Congress, members of our party had been shabbily treated by the President and the Working Committee far from helping us had virtually supported the President. On the 1st January we were all in an aggrieved state of mind. The climax was reached when we found that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and some other leaders had decided to form what they regarded as a homogenous party and had resolved to exclude old and tried members of the Working Committee on the ground of incompatibility of temperament. This extraordinary procedure was against the Congress Constitution and was contrary to prevailing practice. The services of Mahatma Gandhi were requisitioned for moving enbloc a list of ten names for the Working Committee. This list excluded names of Mr. Srinivasa Iyengar, Mr. Prakasam and myself among others and included Dr. Pattabhi against whom there was a strong feeling in the House and Mr. Jairamdas Doulatram, who till recently was a great champion of communalism. We felt that the leaders were taking an unfair advantage of Mahatma Gandhi’s influence in having the list moved by him. What annoyed us all the more was the fact that our ex-colleagues in the Working Committee did not have the courtesy to consult us before taking such an unusual step. If they had done so in all probability we would have agreed to step aside."

This behaviour on part of the leaders does seem manipulative and more. They did repeat this when they maneuvered Subhash Chandra Bose out after he was elected by majority to position on president of the Congress Party, for a second time, against instruction of Gandhi that he should not be a candidate.

................................................................................................

"When the original list was proposed by Mahatma Gandhi, Mr Satyamurthi proposed some other names as an amendment. At this stage the leaders made a frantic effort to avoid putting all the names to the vote, least the amendment be carried. Mr. Jamnalal Bajaj moved that before voting on the additional names, the sense of the House should be first taken with regard to Mahatma Gandhi’s list. This was a clever move with the object of shutting out amendments and using Gandhiji’s name and influence to carry the original list enbloc. Mr Satyamurthi protested against the procedure and suggested ... (that it) was undemocratic and unconstitutional. Pandit Motilal Nehru then got up and said that the vote of the House should be taken as to whether they wanted the procedure suggested by Mr. Bajaj or the procedure suggested by Mr. Satyamurthi. Mr. Satyamurthi protested against Panditji’s proposal saying that it was unconstitutional and undemocratic and the question of procedure should not be submitted to the vote of the House—as it was something above majority and minority. The President, thereupon, ruled that there was nothing undemocratic or unconstitutional in what had been suggested and he proceeded to take the vote of the House on the question of procedure. The President’s ruling was obviously unfair and wrong and we should have walked out in protest at that stage. But we thought that the House should be first given a chance of doing us justice as it was just possible that the House would declare in our favour. But unfortunately by 48 votes to 62, the House declared in favour of a procedure which forcibly shut out all amendments."

This was probably the last time democracy and proper legitimacy was attempted in congress; then on, most understood that they had to kowtow to a Nehru and Gandhi, and those who did not, were maneuvered out - or kicked out, as post Shastri era.

................................................................................................

"When the result was declared there was no hope of any further appeal and we walked out in order to record our protest against the action of the President and the leader and against the tyranny of the majority. After that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru declared that he would allow further nomination and ballot. This declaration was another wrong perpetrated by the President. His first mistake was to submit to the vote of the House a procedure which was universal. His second mistake was to override the decision of the House after he had taken the vote and declared the result. This evidently was an after thought meant to retrieve a mistake he had committed. Unfortunately, it was too late for him to retrieve his mistake for we had then gone out."

Must have been tough for the new president who'd received the position due to his elders, the ex-president and the factual leader, and might have wished instead to be amongst young brigade but couldn't, or follow legitimate procedure but couldn't - his dad having done opposite, it would look like son correcting dad publicly!

This, presuming he so wished.

................................................................................................

"I strongly protest against the statement of the President, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that we walked out in haste without waiting for his ruling. On the contrary we stuck to our seats as long as there was any hope of getting justice. When we found that there was absolutely no hope of getting justice either from the Working Committee or from the A.I.C.C., we had no other option but to walk out. After the walk-out the question of forming a party was broached. And after considering all the circumstances and particularly the fact that the leaders had banded themselves into a homogenous party we felt that the only method whereby we could maintain our existence was to band ourselves into a party. This is in brief our version of the matter. I shall soon issue a fuller statement in connection with what I have said above."

................................................................................................

"38. TYRANNY OF MAJORITY

"Statement as President, B.P.C.C., at Lahore, 8.1.1930

"In view of the misleading reports that appeared in papers about our walk-out from the meeting of the All-India Congress Committee on the 1st January, and in view of the remarks made by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the same meeting after we went out, which were repeated by him in a press statement, we feel it necessary to issue a full statement giving all the facts for the purpose of explaining the steps we took.

................................................................................................

"The action of the President which forced us to withdraw from the house was not the first of its kind. It was the culmination of a series of unconstitutional and undemocratic acts which could no longer be tolerated. From the very beginning the President had taken up an attitude against certain members of the House which was not only unfair but also vindictive. The climax came when some prominent members of the Working Committee including the President took the unprecedented step of recommending the exclusion of some prominent members of the out-going Working Committee without even caring to consult them. The services of Mahatmaji had to be commandeered in order to carry the prepared list of the names as had to be done in the case of practically all the important resolutions in the All-India Congress Committee as well as in the open session of the Congress.

"Mahatmaji put his proposition as tactfully as possible but the reasons he advanced were not convincing. Mr. Satyamurthi proposed an amendment to the effect that Messrs. Srinivasa Iyengar, Prakasam and Subhas Bose be included as members of the Working Committee. Another member proposed the name of Sj. Govindanand. Seth Jamnalal Bajaj thereupon proposed that the sense of the whole House be first taken on the entire list as moved by Mahatmaji. The object of this proposal was to shut out the amendments moved by Mr. Satyamurthi who protested against this proposal of Mr. Bajaj and said it was against parliamentary procedure and it involved tyranny of majority over minority."

Actually, wasn't it the opposite? Weren't Motilal Nehru and Gandhi et al attempting to impose wish of a few over majority, by having general vote on Gandhi's proposal? Instead of putting to vote both proposals simultaneously, which would have made it clear which one was preferred by majority?

................................................................................................

"Pandit Motilalji thereupon said that the House had the right to lay down its own procedure and that the proposition of Mr. Bajaj to shut out further nomination and ballot was not out of order. Panditji suggested that the sense of the House should first be taken as to which of the two procedures should be adopted viz., that proposed by Mr. Bajaj or that proposed by Mr. Satyamurthi. Mr. Satyamurthi protested against Pandit Motilal’s proposition as it was undemocratic and unconstitutional.

"The President then ruled that there was nothing undemocratic and unconstitutional in the procedure suggested and overruling the objection of Mr. Satyamurthi put the proposition to vote. On taking votes it was found that 72 were for the proposition of Mr. Bajaj and 62 for further nominations and ballot. Mr. Satyamurthi thereupon walked out of the meeting to signify his protest against this procedure being adopted and 54 others went out with him. It has been asked why we went out after voting. The reply to that is that we wanted to give the House a chance of turning down the undemocratic and unconstitutional procedure suggested. The House, unfortunately upheld the procedure which we regarded as unconstitutional and undemocratic. Consequently we had no other option but to signify our protest by walking out.

................................................................................................

"We understand that after the walk out the President went back upon the decision of the House which was clearly indicated as being against further nomination and ballot and that overriding this decision of the whole House, he held ballot and declared the result as announced. After the above mentioned decision of the House additional names which were proposed as amendments were not before the House and the President had thus no authority either to allow the ballot or to include therein additional names. Thus the President committed wrong in shutting out amendments by taking the vote of the House and having done so he committed another wrong in going back upon the decision of the House. The procedure adopted after our supporters had left by the President was contrary to section 84 of the constitution which requires the Working Committee to be elected by the members of the AICC from among themselves.

"The statement of the President that there had grown up a convention for the President to nominate his Cabinet and for the A.I.C.C. members to endorse it is wholly untrue. At Gauhati names for the new Working Committee were proposed not only by the retiring Working Committee but also by members present, and all the names thus proposed were voted upon. At Madras the suggestion of Dr. Ansari that he should have a Cabinet of his own choice was turned down and voting took place on the names poposed by him as well as by others. At Calcutta the list was agreed to between parties and minority party was given a substantial representation through the inclusion of Messrs. Srinivasa Iyengar, Subhas Bose, Sardar Sardul Singh, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Satyamurthi and the agreed list was carried without a division.

................................................................................................

"Pandit Motilal Nehru urged that the House had a right to lay down its own procedure and that the proposition of Seth Jamnalal Bajaj to shut out further nomination was not out of order. Mahatmaji put his proposition as tactfully as possible and the reason he advanced for proposing a packed list was anything but convincing. Gandhiji made a surprising assertion that the Working Committee was like a cabinet and that no one could thrust any member on the President. A Cabinet system presupposes party Government because members of the Cabinet must have same views and same outlook viz., they must be of one mind and therefore belong to the same party. By the introduction of cabinet system Mahatmaji automatically invited party system and those who were deliberately left out from Gandhiji’s party owing to difference in outlook or incompatibility of temper had either to become politically inactive or had to bind themselves into party.

"The A.I.C.C. has, in our opinion, been acting ever since 1921 on the principle that we are in a state of war and hence the Working Committee, like a wartime Cabinet, should be coalition. This is the reason why leaders like Pandit Malaviya have been given a place in the Working Committee in the past though they were entirely opposed to the policy and programme of the Congress at the time. And this is the reason why at Calcutta last year two schools in the Congress were represented on the Working Committee. Mahatmaji also said that the Working Committee should be of one mind. It will be surprising to many that Mahatmaji and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru are not of one mind and there is no incompatibility of temper between them. We do not know how the younger generation in India will receive this news. It will be news to many. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has now more in common with his erstwhile friends of Dominion Status school than with his erstwhile colleagues of the Independence League.

................................................................................................

"Mahatmaji also said that the Working Committee was so selected as to enable them to push as far as possible the work of Civil Disobedience. At present Civil Disobedience is going on only in one place in India, viz., at Bandabilla in Jessore in Bengal where villagers have stopped paying Union Board taxes at great risk and sacrifice. But the President of the Provincial Congress Committee which had undertaken this Civil Disobedience was not regarded as a fit candidate for the Working Committee. We shall now leave it to the public to judge how far we were justified in walking out from the meeting of A.I.C.C. as a protest.

................................................................................................

Here, Subhash Chandra Bose gives a complete program within framework permissible from congress but obviously damaging to colonial rule, and worse.

"Many friends and co-workers have been asking me what positive work they should do, while carrying on the Independence campaign in the villages. I suggest to them that they should endeavour to start a Congress Committee in every village and place before the Committee this threefold programme :—

"(1) The Village Congress Committee should organise a village militia which will undertake the work of defence and will thereby make the villagers quite independent of the police as the village chowkidars.

"(2) The village Congress Committee should urge upon the villagers to keep away from the law-courts and settle their disputes by arbitration through the Congress Committee.

"(3) The Village Congress Committee should carry on an effective boycott of British goods and should at the same time promote Swadeshi enterprise, help Swadeshi industries and thereby help the villagers to become economically self-reliant."

................................................................................................

In hindsight, it's easy to see why Clement Attlee said impact of Gandhi and others of congress was "m-i-n-i-m-a-l", when asked in India, post independence, and clearly said that British withdrawal had been due solely to the impact of Subhash Chandra Bose and his INA on India.

As complete as that program sounds, British squashed it almost immediately when Gandhi did, finally, do it in 1942.

................................................................................................

39. INDEPENDENCE RESOLUTION

"Speech at the meeting at Harish Park, Calcutta, 10.1.1930

He begins by stating the Congress attitude of imposing party discipline regarding differences of opinion, of which he increasingly became a victim.

"Differences of opinion inside the Congress are inevitable, but once a decision over any measure is arrived at, it must be obeyed and carried out by one and all."

In his case, it amounted to Gandhi maneuvering him not only out of his legally elected position of president of the Congress Party, but having him barred from holding any position whatsoever in the future for a number of years. It was then even suggested to him, as a way of being reinstated out of disgrace, that he should apologize to Gandhi for having become president of the Congress Party by democratic election, instead of obeying wishes expressed by Gandhi that someone else be elected.

But that was a few years to come.

................................................................................................

Here, he states the party position, and goes straight to the issue at hand, supporting his own stance with reason, logic, and facts of relevant history.

"The resolution setting forth Complete Independence as our ideal, has been passed but it will have to be probed as to how far the same will prove useful. As regards its utility, the history of Ireland provides a very pertinent example. The Irish Nationalists not only passed a resolution setting forth independence as their goal but also declared complete independence. Some of them who were instrumental in making that declaration have stated in their memoirs that though only a handful of men supported that declaration yet it was essential at that time because the nation could not be roused unless such an ideal was placed before it. After that the whole national outlook of Ireland underwent a complete change."

Does this amount to a certain maturity coming to Subhash Chandra Bose? About how to maneuver with honesty, reason, intellectual weapons, against the arbitrary diktats he had faced?

................................................................................................

"The declaration that has been made at Lahore is particularly significant. It requires a survey of the history of the Congress, since its inception 44 years ago, to realise the manner in which the national mind has given itself out by this declaration. During the early fifteen years one of the chief characteristics of the Congress proceedings was the passing of the loyalty resolution. Towards the close of the last century and at the commencement of the present a change came over the national outlook.

"Distinguished Indians like Keshab Chandra, Swami Vivekananda and Mr. Jagadish Chandra Bose came in contact with the Western Culture, and preached that the Indians were in no way inferior to any free nation of the West and could hold their own in the field of international competition. Especially Swami Vivekananda emphasised the essential need of inculcating self-reliance."

Interesting how he uses diverse names together on a context usually not associated with them, although his putting those names together - someone as eternal and universal as Vivekananda mentioned along with someone as temporary, local and now all but completely forgotten as the first one he mentions, Keshab Chandra - looks so very inappropriate, even atrocious, now.

And, too, he's thrown in this mix the highly respected scientist Jagdish Chandra Bose, who - among other works of his - combined Indian eternal knowledge and sensibilities with modern science, to establish that plants are living entities, against the Western thinking of nature being inanimate.

................................................................................................

"This ideal first found its way in literature and, then, spread on to politics. Our youths, then began to ask why a nation, ... should be in a state of utter degradation. They were anxious to solve this problem and this spurred them on to read the histories of Japan, Ireland and other countries. A change came over the mentality of the people and gradually they felt disinclined to support the usual “loyalty resolution”.

"As a result, a cleavage presented itself in the ranks of the congress politicians, leading to the formation of parties known as Extremists and Moderates. The victory of the Extremists, who were in a minority at Surat, became complete at Nagpur, when the creed of the Congress was changed."

He refrains from mentioning why and how the so-called extremists, who ought to be called patriots, were victors at Surat, despite all prior planning and maneuverings of the so-called moderates, in reality crafty loyalists or people shrewd but lacking courage to resolve for independence.

................................................................................................

"At Lahore the Independence resolution was accepted without any opposition. Two reasons may be assigned for its unanimous acceptance; firstly, that it did not involve any change of creed and secondly, because the attitude of the Government did not warrant any hope of settlement."

He mentions the two senior leaders who were against it to begin with, by name, seemingly giving them credit.

"Mahatma Gandhi ushered it and Pandit Motilal supported it, which showed that they were converted to this ideal, and that, surely, was the greatest triumph of the youths."

This 'seemingly' nature of the credit given couldn't have escaped the senior leader who, despite his seemingly extraordinary saintliness, in reality was as much a dictator as the extreme opposite figures of his era on international scene.

................................................................................................

He mentions the program as within intended limits by congress, subtly making its inadequacy felt, somehow -

"The only problem that may now arise in about the programme that would lead us on to the goal of Independence. A raging and tearing campaign can, however, be always conducted on a general scale. Propaganda for infusing the idea of independence and of launching civil disobedience as in Bandabilla, are, perhaps, the easiest things that we can do in the next twelve months."

................................................................................................

Next, again a subtle and elusive view of his wit - of not only his intelligence but his humour -

"As regards propaganda, we all know the attitude of the bureaucracy towards it. Already a number of prosecutions have been launched against the Magic Lantern lectures. The Government is so much frightened that not only the lecturers have been arrested and prosecuted but the lanterns have also been confiscated."

................................................................................................

And then, it's tables turned on Britain, although so smoothly, so suddenly and so factually, they couldn't have quoted it in court against him, but must have seethed silently - if they noticed his speeches!

Which explains his being repeatedly imprisoned, seemingly for no reason whatsoever.

"Britain is a past master in the art of propaganda. During the last war they carried both intensive and extensive propaganda in neutral countries against Germany, accusing her of committing barbarous atrocities. The German War veterans like Von Ludendorff and others subsequently wrote that they had at first ignored this aspect but when they discovered their mistake and arranged for propaganda in neutral countries they found that the field had already been captured by the British—Russia, now, is carrying on this art very effectively and that is why Britain so much dislikes—I shan’t say detests—Russia, who, neither in armament, nor in any other material resources can be compared to Britain."

................................................................................................

47. PRISON DIARY,

"Alipore Central Jail, 7-15.2.1930

"7.2.30 Last night a new trouble began. Prem Singh of our group started saying that since the political prisoners of Lahore jail have started a fast he too, in sympathy, would go on hunger strike. At night, before the final lock-up, we discussed the matter with him at length. But he evidently had stuck to his resolution. For in the morning when we went for tea we found Prem Singh missing. On enquiry we found him still in bed. Then we decided that it was best to persuade him and pre-empt this step because once he continued with his fast his grit would grow and he would himself perhaps hesitate and feel ashamed to abandon his vow. All of us went to his room together and argued the matter with him. Dr. Dasgupta was made our principal spokesman and after a lot of persuasion he agreed to give up the fast. After he had eaten we went out for a round."

Is this carefully written, avoiding any word of sympathy or solidarity with 'political prisoners of Lahore jail', as he carefully writes of them, not even naming them - Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Batukeswar Dutta et al - and nor writing a word about why, much less anything that might be contrary to general public sympathy and more with them?

This, despite the grief he expressed about Jatin Das, his martyrdom, and this too in Punjab at speeches!

Was this his own cautious conduct, or was this due to official Congress Party line that had to be followed, 'or else'?

................................................................................................

"9.2.30 Today is Sunday and a holiday. ... I found that a whole lot of books have arrived from home. I had written to the Government about the treatment of political prisoners. The Deputy Jailor informed me that the Inspector General has told him to tell me that the matter is receiving consideration. ... "

Did they not know what Lahore political prisoners were fighting for, what they went through? Did Subhash Chandra Bose not realise that his letter about treatment of political prisoners is exactly about issues the Lahore political prisoners fought, where the struggle began? Specfic points could be different, at most.

................................................................................................

"10.2.30 Today is Monday and the day for general inspection. ... The prisoners get an opportunity to lodge complaints if there are any. ... "

Lahore political prisoners were bring tortured and assaulted for complaining about unhygienic food and conditions in general. Didn't Subhash Chandra Bose know?

"For the past few days lengthy discussions have been taking place on almost anything under the sun. Fight for freedom in different countries, Bengal’s cultural, educational and other pursuits, modern histories of China, Russia and Ireland, sociology, anthropology and modern psychology are all being discussed—even Mahatma Gandhi has not been spared. One day Nripen Babu vehemently argued with a number of youths over Mahatma Gandhi. On one side was Nripen Babu alone and on the other a number of argumentative youths. After several hours of debate adjournment took place. Nripen Babu arguing all alone suddenly found himself uncomfortably placed against such youthful opposition. Their ultimatum was that if a leader of today does not pay any heed to his followers he is bound to forfeit his right to leadership. And if Nripen Babu does not change his opinion about the matter, his followers might become rebellious. As a result, what was adjourned was finally given up."

Discussed 'Bengal’s cultural, educational and other pursuits, modern histories of China, Russia and Ireland, sociology, anthropology and modern psychology are all being discussed—even Mahatma Gandhi has not been spared.' Only, not the Lahore political prisoners?

Was this the version of 'national unity' envisioned by congress? Or only by Gandhi? Obliterating all who did not worship Gandhi?

How was nazi Germany different, other than using technology instead of propaganda?

................................................................................................

"11.2.30 Tuesday. Today when Major Dutta came to our yard, some trouble took place. On the ground floor some cells had blankets as curtains. On seeing this the Superintendent called for the reason (it must be against the rule— it did not seem wrong to us). Though the occupier of the cell was standing in front nothing was said to him. Instead the sergeant was fired and this must have angered the occupier, Mr. Bhupendra Rakshit. Needless to say, political prisoners like us are generally very sensitive and touchy about insulting situations. On such occasions we get worked up and this finds expression. Anyway, Bhupen Babu started irritatedly talking to the Superintendent. Mr. Dutta asked for the reason behind using blankets as curtains. Bhupen Babu said, it was done for fear of catching cold. (At this stage I should record that each cell has one door and one window. The doors are made of iron bars. And through these the inside can be seen. Opposite the door and very close to the ceiling beams is the window. The windows in like manner are made of iron bars). Mr. Dutta on leaving said that the use of such curtains is bad for health. His children sleep outside in the verandah, the whole night. To this Bhupen Babu retorted by saying that the cell is a different proposition altogether and Dutta Sahib should stay in one to find out what it is like. Such talk in front of a junior officer infuriated Mr. Dutta and he walked off without saying anything. And we did not meet him that day."

All quite normal on part of the prisoners.

Lahore political prisoners were being tortured for demands far more basic and vital.

................................................................................................

"In a state of anger he went to his office and ordered— (1) No one is permitted to hang his blanket or use any curtain (2) everyone staying upstairs should come down so that he can meet him. We were informed about all this very hesitatingly by the sergeant. But the orders were not officially communicated to us that day.

"We had a discussion on the Superintendent’s attitude towards us.

"The following morning when he came he still had his grudge. We decided that we would not go down so that he would have to come up. The curtains were still there, their number had only increased. First he went to the next yard where Nripen Babu and other friends were. He had an altercation with Nripen Babu regarding his newspaper. When he was an undertrial prisoner Nripen Babu was given his newspaper. After conviction and through confusion he was getting his newspaper all right—though from the point of view of law he should not have got it. When the matter came to the notice of the Major he stopped the supply Regarding this an altercation took place between Nripen Babu and the Major."

Presumably food hygiene situation wasn't comparable with that in Lahore, or he'd have mentioned it.

................................................................................................

"After this Dutta Sahib came to our yard and there was discussion for almost one and a half hours. The first point he made sorrowfully was that he had practically been insulted and in order to defy him curtains had been hung in the next yard etc. etc. We realised that it would be stupid to continue to be bitter about trivial issues. And if one has to fight, one should fight over major ones. So we explained to him that the whole trouble was born of a misunderstanding between both the parties and curtains were not hung to insult him. Many of us have been hanging curtains for quite some time and he should not take notice of such trivial matters. All this cooled his frayed temper and we were happy and at ease."

Sounds like a family feast, compared to Lahore political prisoners being assaulted and tortured, to force them to stop complaining about unhygienic food.

................................................................................................

"Towards the afternoon I was summoned—the boss wanted to speak to me. At first I was worried as to whether this call was for personal reasons or for something relating to transfer. I suddenly remembered that in a similar Way I was transferred from Behrampur jail, where I was a political prisoner in 1925, to Mandalay jail. Anyway, on reaching office I realised that there was no reason for apprehension. Dutta Sahib had called me for a chat. For over an hour we had a chat on various subjects—classification of prisoners and hunger-strike specially featured. After a long time when I had almost tired myself out by talking the meetting ended. The boss went back to his residence and I repaired to my cell."

One guesses, although Subhash Chandra Bose gives no clues other than the prison authorities had a chat with him about conditions in general and hunger-strike in particular, the Lahore political prisoners were on mind of British government, who were probably trying to avoid another similar situation desperately, so as to make the situation of the Lahore political prisoners seem singular and in public perception make them, rather than the prison authorities and the British Government, take the blame thereof,

................................................................................................

"Today two more important incidents took place inside the jail. First, Shri Nikhil Nath Bandyopadhyay, who was convicted for Dakshineswar Bomb Case, was released after five years of imprisonment. Second, the hearing of Mechuabazar Bomb Case has commenced before a Special Tribunal. Twelve or thirteen undertrial young prisoners connected with this case are in this jail. A word must be said here about Nikhil Babu. He was transferred from a Bengal jail to a Delhi jail. There he was in solitary confinement and suffered endless pain. Then things slightly improved. Sometime back he was again transferred to a Calcutta jail."

Still, no sympathy, much less solidarity, with Bhagat Singh and his group, their struggles and their sufferings?

................................................................................................

51. CONGRESS PROGRAMME AND THE YOUTH

"Speech as Mayor and leader of the Congress Party in the Province, 11.12.1930

"I sincerely deplore the tragic incidents of Monday last and I do so because I feel that they are a confession of the temporary failure of the Congress programme and also the temporary failure of the Congress leaders to influence hundred percent of the younger generation in the country.

"I do hope that when our feelings calm down, we shall take the earliest opportunity to explore the deeper causes of the incidents that have given a rude shock to all of us. It will not do simply to brand as “Misguided” the youths who are responsible for these incidents. The fact stares us in the face that India today wants freedom and wants freedom very soon. The fact also stares us in the face that there are people in this country, whatever their number may be, who want freedom not merely by following the Congress programme, but if need be they want freedom at any price and by any means."

It'd have helped if the editors had inserted a note explaining what Subhash Chandra Bose was referring to, since the readership of this collection shouldn't be limited to those with professional level knowledge of the history of the region.

It certainly wasn't Chattagram.

................................................................................................

" ... Indian National Congress stands pledged to non-violence; but why is it that in spite of the best efforts of the Congress leaders and inspite of the best efforts of Congress workers all over the country, beginning from Mahatma Gandhi down to the ordinary village worker, we have so far failed to influence the minds and the judgement of the entire younger generation in this country? We have failed, because, so far, the Congress programme has not achieved freedom for India. I firmly believe that we shall achieve freedom in the long run, but until we can prove by our success that the Congress programme is the only programme that the country should adopt and follow, I do not see how it is possible to convert to our creed hundred per cent of the population."

" ... I had occasion when I was in prison to talk frankly to several responsible members of the Government and I made it perfectly clear to them that if these ordinances were promulgated one after another, if public meetings and processions were banned,—if ordinance like the Press Ordinance were thrust upon us and if thereby every avenue of open activity was stopped, the Congress leaders would fail to prove that their programme was the only effective programme; the only effect of these ordinances would be not to crush the spirit of freedom because that was impossible, —but to drive the movement underground. I am sorry that my worst anticipations seem somewhat justified to-day. ... I do hope that we shall not be content simply by passing resolution, making condemnation or by branding youths as “misguided”, but we shall at the same time explore the deeper psychological causes which account for those tragic incidents."

................................................................................................

52. FIRST LINKS OF MANY A FRIENDSHIP

"Speech at the Scottish Church College, Calcutta, 12.12.1930

"Twenty two centuries have gone by since Asoka, the greatest missionary-monarch known to history, sent forth to the Western World India’s inspiring message of Dharma. In the days that followed, the flow of ideas changed their channel. Then, when missionaries of an oriental religion brought from the west, along with the message of Christ, the message of Intellectual Emancipation, an era of Renaissance dawned on our ancient land, a spirit of enquiry permeated our intellect and vitalised our minds. The centenary of that Awakening we are happy to celebrate today."

Nice, double twist there, telling them off!

................................................................................................

54. PARTIAL AMNESTY WORSE THAN USELESS

"Statement as President, B.P.C.C. and Mayor of Calcutta on the Vicerory’s decision to release Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders, 25.1.1931

"I shall be failing in my duty if I do not express my appreciation of the generous motive which has inspired His Excellency the Governor General in ordering the release of other members of the Working Committee. But I do hope that he will have the courage to follow to its logical conclusion the course that he has taken.

"I take it that the Working Committee will avail themselves of the earliest opportunity of meeting and discussing the premier’s offer soon after their release. If they decide to consider the offer and enter into negotiations for the purpose, it will then be necessary for His Excellency to proclaim a general amnesty.

"Of course, if the Working Committee decide to reject the offer summarily, I would not expect the Government to go any further in the matter of granting amnesty. The Working Committee is a small body of 15 members and cannot finally decide an important question like the present one without reference to the All India Congress Committee which is a much larger body consisting of about 350 members.

"The All India Congress Committee may, in turn, have to convene a special session of the Congress for finally deciding the question. So many important Congressmen are now in jail who are not members of the Working Committee that unless they are all released, I am afraid it will be impossible for the Congress to come to a decision."

So far, it's only about congress.

................................................................................................

"Further, while the negotiations are in progress, a peaceful atmosphere should prevail in the country and for this purpose a general amnesty should be proclaimed simultaneously with the opening of negotiations. This should be accompanied by withdrawal of all repressive measures—for if repression continues throughout the country, all negotiations or attempts at compromise are bound to be fruitless.

"I have purposely refrained from stating my views on the merits of the Premier’s offer as well as my conception of a real amnesty. I have already issued a statement on these two points which has appeared in yesterday morning’s Calcutta papers and I need not repeat what I have said therein. I shall only add that if His Excellency the Governor General is serious about attempting a settlement— he should take courage in both hands to carry to its logical conclusion the course he has adopted and proclaim a wholesale amnesty of the sort that I suggested. I have no doubt that a partial amnesty will in any case be worse than useless."

Did this concept include the HRA group of Bhagat Singh and his group, which elsewhere were referred to by Subhash Chandra Bose as Lahore political prisoners?

At this point they were still alive, albeit ignored by congress.

................................................................................................

55. THE QUESTION OF AMNESTY

"Statement on Mr. Ramsay Macdonald’s offer after his release from Alipore Central Jail, 25.1.1931

"The offer recently made by the Prime Minister on behalf of the British Cabinet is not such as to evoke enthusiasm on the part of the Indian People. The offer, as it stands, does not give us freedom. It does not even give us the freedom to achieve that ultimate freedom which India, in common with other subject nations in different parts of the world, desires and aspires to. If I understand the mind of Bengal alright, I shall say that an offer so inadequate and unsatisfactory as the present, will be unacceptable to Bengal. And I believe that what appears to me to be the feeling of Bengal in this matter is also the feeling in other parts of the country."

Was this only a sop, albeit cautious?

Why did British government offer it, or anything, at all, at this stage?

It had to be the consequence of revolutionaries' actions, from Chandrashekhar Azad and HRA, Bhagat Singh and his group now in prison and still quite untamed despite all possible tortures, and then Surya Kumar Sen and his group in Chattagram.

................................................................................................

" ... When I moved my amendment in favour of the ideal of Independence at the Calcutta Congress in the year 1928 I did so with a full sense of responsibility and in the belief that I was representing the mind of Bengal. No doubt the amendment was defeated at the Calcutta Congress but only a year later, the Lahore Congress accepted the same ideal and it was in fact adopted by those who had voted against its acceptance at Calcutta. I do not see how the Indian National Congress can at this stage be asked to treat the present offer as the starting point of negotiations for an honourable settlement."

No doubt the senior leaders of the Congress Party hated to be reminded they were wrong, and he'd been correct. They couldn't have forgotten, anyway!

................................................................................................

"I am not against an honourable settlement; on the contrary, I deem it fit and proper to explore to the utmost the possibilities of such a settlement. But all talk of settlement must be preceded by a real change of heart; and nothing can evidence it in a more striking manner than a declaration of wholesale amnesty simultaneously with the opening of negotiations. The amnesty should include detenus confined under the Bengal Ordinance and similar regulations and all political prisoners whether they have been convicted for violent or non-violent offences. ... "

Electrifying!

Was he the only leader of the Congress Party to pronounce the opinion that India held, including - very likely - more than just this one member of the Congress Party?

And he's not asking for forgiveness or charity, either - merely for equal treatment without racism!

" ... With regard to the question of amnesty for revolutionary prisoners convicted for violence, I may say that however much we may condemn violence and deplore violent methods, one cannot ignore the fact that those who have unfortunately followed the path of violence have done it in the belief that they were serving their country according to the best of their lights. Consequently following the Irish precedent of 1921 and amongst others, the case of Commandant Seon McKeon who had been sentenced to death, amnesty be extended to them as well. I desire to add that amnesty should be accompanied by a withdrawal of all conspiracy cases now going on in different parts of the country."

Sukhdev had written an open letter to Gandhi, pointing out that his obtaining amnesty for detenus of only his own party was not only no good, but highly inappropriate, when hundreds of freedom struggle warriors were languishing in prisons and suffering various tortures. After all, he'd reminded him, they all looked up to him as the leader, the Bapu as he'd been termed.

Gandhi hadn't responded, at least not that it's known in general.

Subhash Chandra Bose seems to have been the only man with courage enough to do so, to call for amnesty for all India, regardless of party membership credentials. .

................................................................................................

He isn't mentioning 'Lahore political prisoners' by even this epithet he used for them, though.

"I have no apprehension that workers in the field of labour who are now in jail may be overlooked when the time comes for a declaration of amnesty. I shall therefore draw pointed attention to their case; for, labour has had its share in the movement for Indian liberation. Consequently there should be a withdrawal of the Meerut Conspiracy case as well. If the question of amnesty is not dealt with in the proper spirit, I am afraid that attempts towards a compromise may fail."

He mentions Meerut Conspiracy case, but not Bhagat Singh and his group, not by name.

Congress Party certainly underestimated the impact they, especially Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, had on the nation. As they later, beginning soon enough, did about Subhash Chandra Bose, as well - in his case, the impact being across a huge swath of the known world then, and important parts at that.

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57. DEMAND FOR A GENERAL AMNESTY

"Statement on his arrival in Delhi with Mahatmaji, 20.3.1931

"I have had long talks with Mahatma Gandhi, both at Bombay and during our journey to Delhi lasting for several hours at a stretch. It is not possible for me to say just at present what attitude I shall take up with regard to the truce terms, until I reach Calcutta. But I would like to bring to the notice of the general public one of the main grievances under which Bengal is now smarting. The amnesty that has been granted to Congress party, has left untouched the very large number of political prisoners numbering about 800 who have suffered and sacrificed, not for any selfish or ignoble cause, but for the liberation of their country. One cannot ignore the fact that there is among the general public in Bengal a very great sympathy for their sufferings and sacrifice even where their methods are not approved. Consequently, until there is a general amnesty embracing in its scope all classes of political prisoners, the public opinion in Bengal cannot be reconciled to the truce terms. This amnesty should be given effect to, at least before the Round Table Conference if not immediately."

Repeatedly, Subhash Chandra Bose makes the same small mistake of saying 'Bengal' in a context where saying India would be correct, even though saying Bengal isn't wrong or incorrect - it's merely showing limitations of a focus.

Here, too, he talks of sympathies and those were with all freedom struggle warriors, not only of Bengal but of all of India, regardless of their methods and approval or disapproval thereof by those who nevertheless did not wish them rotting in prisons, much less tortured - or worse - by British government.

................................................................................................

"Bengal is not the only province which is smarting under this grievance. There are many other provinces, particularly the Punjab and the United Provinces, where amnesty has been of a partial kind. What has added to public discontent and resentment is the fact that in many provinces the local Governments in releasing prisoners, are not giving effect to the terms in the spirit underlying the Gandhi-Irwin pact, and as a result of this several Civil Disobedience and sedition case prisoners are still in jails. Arrests under the Bengal Ordinance have been made under the truce. In Bengal prominent Congressmen like Sj. Satin Sen have not been released yet. In Central Provinces Mr. Avari of Nagpur and the forest Satyagrahis of Betul and Mandla Districts have not been released. In Bombay Presidency sedition prisoners like Mr. Rajah and Mr. Jani have not been released, and the Sholapur and Chirnor Prisoners are still in prison. The Punjab has probably a long list to furnish, and in the United Provinces we cannot forget the Kokori conspiracy prisoners.

"In Bengal the political prisoners who have not been released so far numbers 800 and detenus incarcerated without trial number about 450. The undertrial prisoners in the Chittagong Armoury Raid Case, the Meerut Conspiracy Case, The Mymensingh Case, the Dacca Wire Cutting Case, the Munshiganj Postoffice Looting Case, the Rajshahi Mail Robbery Case, the Barisal Dacoity Case and similar Conspiracy cases number over 100. Then there are Convicted Civil Disobedience and Sedition Prisoners numbering about 100 who have not been released so far. The convicted revolutionaries among whom is the Councillor of the Calcutta Corporation, Dr. Narayan Rai, number about 100. Those convicted to technical violence in connection with the Civil Disobedience movement as in the Mymensingh Ware House Case and in the Bhownipore Rioting Case number about 50, and among them is Baba Gurdit Singh. The labour workers convicted in connection with the Lilooah Strike and similar strikes number about 25 and among them are Sj. Shantiram Mondal of Lilooah and Sj. Madan Mohan Barman, Councillor of Calcutta Corporation. The last but not the least are Dinesh Gupta and Ramkrishna Biswas who have been sentenced to death. In Bengal, therefore, the total number of political prisoners who have not been released so far number 800. Consequently, one can easily understand the state of public feeling in Bengal to-day.

................................................................................................

"I hope whatever provisions are contained in the truce terms, the Government will see their way to declaring a general amnesty embracing all political prisoners including labour prisoners, so that a proper atmosphere may be created in the country, prior to the Round Table Conference."

They would, if Gandhi had held out, instead of signing on dotted line after a meek or pretended query in an " ... if you could?" tone, merely so that he could thereafter claim that he tried.

................................................................................................

Subhash Chandra Bose writes about another hunger-strike in prison, this one in Barisal in Bengal -

" ... We have to tell the Government quite plainly by our attitude and conduct that human life is not cheaper in this country than elsewhere and that the people of Bengal are not prepared to see a repetition of the Lahore tragedy at Baris al."

So this was after death of Jatin Das, which was due not only to the hunger-strike, but also - and, perhaps, far more so - to the tortures inflicted.

Was there no statement by congress about the hunger-strike by Bhagat Singh and his group in prison in Lahore? Not even about the death of Jatin Das due to hunger-strike compounded by torture?

Was Subhash Chandra Bose not permitted by congress bosses to make any statement?

Or was it a personal disinclination? Did he, too, think that they were merely 'hot-headed', 'misguided', youth, and in this matter concurring with judgement pronounced by Gandhi against them?

Subhash Chandra Bose surely couldn't have concurred with Gandhi in the judgment pronounced by the latter against all the great figures of past revered by India - including those India revers as Gods? From Shivaji to God Rama, they were pronounced 'misguided' by Gandhi. In view of the later life and career of Subhash Chandra Bose, it's discordant if he did do so, without at some point dealing with the change.

And one thing hard to imagine about this earnestly passionate man, is hypocrisy. He had integrity, which was foundation of the loyalty he earned from his followers - and admiration from strangers including those from Germany, Italy and far more so from Japan.

................................................................................................

And then, the opportunity he availed himself, of speaking on a topic he must have been affected naturally by, unlike his bosses in party -

"Only a few days ago, you made great preparations to show your love and respect to the memory of a great Bengalee hero, the very embodiment of valour and prowess and self-sacrifice of the highest order, near this very maidan. And thousands and thousands of men and women irrespective of their age or caste and creed, came to offer their tributes of love and respect to the hero throughout the night. The young worker Jatindra Nath, unknown to name and fame laid down his life with calm deliberation for the sake of his country’s freedom, never swerving an inch from his iron resolve. And to-day I can only hope and fervently pray that his courage, his self-sacrifice, his prowess, his resolution, his patriotism and his marvellous power of action might continue to inspire us all until we have reached our common goal."

Presumably the party had not issued a blanket ban on the topic, only disallowed a statement about them as such, specifically.

................................................................................................

"Inspite of our miserable plight and loss of independence and want of opportunities all along the line, India has produced any number of great men in the different walks of life during the last hundred and fifty years—a fact which has proclaimed to the world that this nation cannot die, does not mean to die. ... "

It's unclear whether it's the Congress official view, or the Bengal centric thinking of Subhash Chandra Bose, that has his vision myopic in saying 'last hundred and fifty years', when in fact he could very well have said - in fact, should have said - fifteen centuries.

................................................................................................

Here's a short-sighted, likely common or even official, congress view of Bhagat Singh and his group, perhaps of all of revolutionaries of Punjab and of Ghadar parry of NRI of Canada and US.

"I am not aware if there are still people in our country who believe that a few bombs or pistols would help us to achieve our freedom. But unfortunately the salvation of India is not such a simple thing. ... "

Nobody ever looks at the first hesitating steps by a baby standing up, and ridicules the baby asking if it thinks its going to climb Himalaya or has already done so.

That's equally true of the attempts by a convalescent adult victim of severe life-threatening assaults by barbarians and other criminals.

Trust congress to change that understanding view common sense has in exalting at those first steps whether of a beginning toddler or an adult convalescent from assaults against life.

................................................................................................

And while it's true that Subhash Chandra Bose did manage a far more humongous assault against colonial rule, did in fact have an impact that forced them to immediately fleeing in a hurry, it hardly implies that all previous attempts of other at protest, or at being heard, as Bhagat Singh put it eloquently in his defense in court, were as stupid as to expect that a colonial regime of a few thousand, supported by a military consisting of over a million Indians, would be gotten rid of by one pistol or bomb.

Why did they - Congress in general, Subhash Chandra Bose specifically, Jawaharlal Nehru et al in particular - never have a thought about having a conversation with Bhagat Singh and his group? Surely they were not difficult to find? Surely prison authorities would have allowed Gandhi - or his English friend, the priest, to visit?

Or were they aware that Bhagat Singh and his group were not illiterate, thoughtless 'hot-headed' despite youth, but well read, educated college students, who simply disagreed with congress, especially with Gandhi and more so with his whims and about turns that left the young bereft - and, even more to the point, that HRA was far more adherent of Lenin than of Gandhi?

Surely this wouldn't have kept Subhash Chandra Bose from being sympathetic, if not in agreement in toto, and at least having a discussion? He was of far less of an ego when it was a question of national or higher consideration.

................................................................................................

" ... A bomb or a pistol here and there may succeed in creating terrorism but can never bring about a revolution, which is an entirely different thing. While terrorism is a purely physical phenomenon and can be brought about even by a handful of people, revolution is born in the larger world of our thought and literature. ... "

And yet, it was impact of Bhagat Singh and his group that woke up and energised the nation, so much so, Gandhi undertook salt natch to wipe out that impact and reestablish himself as the martyr leader; what's more, Jawaharlal Nehru persuaded Gandhi to allow Congress to adopt some of the thinking, philosophy and so on, of Bhagat Singh and his group, if congress were not to lose followers in younger generations - so that, subsequently congress not only adopted the slogan given by HRA, that is, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad, et al, -Inquilab Zindabad - but thereafter tried wiping out the memory of them and pretending the slogan was their own!

................................................................................................

"The very first and foremost means of building up a non-violent mass organization by way of making a success of the basic idea of non-co-operation, is, of course, propaganda and more propaganda. By means of an extensive and incessant propaganda, we shall have to bring about a revolution in the mental world of our countrymen. Even thoughtful English writers, after visualizing such a contingency, have declared that when we shall learn to combine as a result of propaganda like this, British rule in India will come to an end forthwith."

As Clement Attlee responded to queries in India, none of that had or were likely to have any effect on British rule other than minimal; US has enclaves or reservations for natives, and South Africa continued nearly half a century longer with apartheid.

The only thing that made British take to flight was, by admission of the then ex-PM of Britain Clement Attlee, the impact on India of INA of Subhash Chandra Bose.

And this was not created by sitting at home peacefully during house arrest, or speeches or propaganda alone. Or being imprisoned in 1942 and coming out to be greeted by British tired of India. No, the impact on India was of the flag of Free India planted in India by Subhash Chandra Bose, having marched and fought through, from Singapore to Imphal.

................................................................................................

"Just another word and I have finished. Looking at the present condition of the country, I feel that we shall be in a position to create a tremendous agitation throughout the length and breadth of our Motherland by next year. And the policy of repression, at present being pursued by the Government, won’t be able to stop that movement. But we all perhaps need thousands of devoted workers during this terribly trying time. And should that contingency materialize, the students of Bengal would be called upon to come out of their schools and colleges once again. This time, however, for a year and not for ever. They will have to join the national movement in their thousands and hundreds of thousands. Perhaps the guardians would get angry at my words. But my reply is—“If you want freedom, there is no other way.”"

They were already electrified, by the HRA group. Was this Congress attempt to take them over, and was Subhash Chandra Bose nudged by them, because they knew he could take over those who followed Bhagat Singh? That older leaders of congress didn't stand a chance?

"Gentlemen, I have finished. Perhaps, I have not been able to say anything new. But what I have said is all to the point—things of my heart and of innermost experience. I firmly believe that India shall be free again. Sons of Mother India shall once more walk upon the ample surface of this globe with their heads and shoulders erect, and their art and literature shall once again be appreciated at the parliament of nations ! The fight is on. Brothers and sisters, come let us forget our petty personal squabbles at this auspicious moment and plunge headlong into the fray !

"“BANDE-MATARAM”"

................................................................................................

"Being a member of the Congress Working Committee I am bound by its decision, but personally I am of the opinion that it has not been proper for it to issue the mandate regarding hunger-strike. ... "

Why the mandate?

Was congress afraid that Gandhi would thereby lose rights to official sainthood reserved for him by congress?

................................................................................................

" ... It is but natural that our rulers, like despots elsewhere, should become more and more relentless as they find power gradually slipping out of there hands. And one should not be surprised if by and by they cast off all pretensions to civilization and rid themselves of the mask of decency in order that the nailed fist may be used freely and without hesitation. Punjab and Bengal are at the present moment enjoying the largest doses of repression. This is indeed a matter for congratulation for we are thereby qualifying for swaraj in an effective manner. The spirits of heroes like Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta cannot be cowed down by repression. ... "

Was there any other acknowledgement of the younger revolutionary group, executed soon after in a furtive manner by the British Government?

................................................................................................

" ... Bookworms, gold-medalists and office-clerks are not what universities should endeavour to produce—but men of character who will become great by achieving greatness for their country in different spheres of life. ... "

Subhash Chandra Bose did opine thus, repeatedly. But then, did he see how close to his ideal were the HRA group?

................................................................................................

"The students’ movement of today is not a movement of responsible, thoroughgoing men and women who are inspired with one ideal—viz., to develop their character and personality and thereby render the most effective and useful service to the cause of their country. This movement has, or should have, two lines of activity. In the first place it should deal with the problems which relate exclusively to the student population of the day and endeavour to bring about their physical, intellectual and moral regeneration. In the second place, looking upon the subject as the future citizen, it should endeavour to equip him for the battle of life and for this purpose, it should give him a foretaste of what problems and activities are likely to confront him when he enters the arena of life."

Who could predict those?

Very little of what transpired during the twentieth century could have been predicted ahead of time, even the good things from flight to internet, much less the horrors of wars and other killings.

................................................................................................

"In this connection there is one suggestion I have to offer to which I should like to draw your attention. I wish our students’ associations could start cooperative Swadeshi stores within their respective jurisdiction for the exclusive benefit of the student population. If these stores are run efficiently by the students themselves, they will serve a dual purpose. On the one hand Swadeshi goods will be made available to the students at a cheap price and thereby home industries would be encouraged. On the other hand, students could acquire experience in running cooperative stores and could utilise the profits for advancing the welfare of the student community. For advancing the cause of student welfare, other items in your programme would be physical culture societies, gymnasium, study circles, debating societies, magazines, music clubs, libraries and reading rooms, social service leagues, etc."

All very laudable constructive suggestions, except he's talking to a generation of a province traumatised by not only Jallianwala Bagh, but the more recent brutal assault against Lala Lajpat Rai leading to his death, and the subsequent imprisonment of the young revolutionaries - Bhagat Singh and his group, one of them dead not too long ago in prison due to assaults by prison authorities at behest of - or by orders of - British government.

This audience must have been polite enough, patient enough to hear advice from a young leader, Subhash Chandra Bose, about running a store, but were they satisfied?

They presumably did not hoot, but were they not disappointed, and if so, was it only because they expected nothing better of congress?

................................................................................................

" ... Europe today may be the top-dog but time was when Asia was the top-dog. History tells us how in the days of old Asia conquered and held away over a large portion of Europe and in those days Europe was mightily afraid of Asia. The tables are turned now but the wheel of fortune is still moving and there is no cause for despair. Asia is at the present moment busy throwing off the yoke of thraldom and the time is not far off when rejuvenated Asia will rise resplendent in power and glory out of the darkness of the past and take her legitimate place in the comity of free nations."

"Indian civilization has just emerged out of the dark ages and is now entering on a new lease of life. At one time there was a genuine danger as to whether that civilization would die a normal death like the civilization of Phoenicia and Babylon. But it has once again survived the onslaught of time. ... "

Even if one were to concede the dark ages bit, which is unclear, one has to notice he mentions only 'Phoenicia and Babylon', but neither Persia nor Egypt, the far more obvious examples of butchered civilisations; nor does he mention barbaric assaults destroying universities, libraries and temples of India, nor the loot and massacres carried out on humongous scale for nearly a millennium and a half, either, but settles instead for 'onslaught of time', as if India was slumbering and left alone!

................................................................................................

Here's a good example of how the young man that Subhash Chandra Bose was, floundering between his glorious realisations and muddled thinking, and very twisted perception of reality sometimes!

"Friends, I have tried to tell you something about what I feel, think and dream about my life’s goal and what is at present the motive power behind all my activities. Whether this will attract you or not, I do not know. But one thing is to me perfectly clear—life has but one purpose, viz., freedom from bondage of every kind. Hunger after freedom is the song of the soul—and the very first cry of the newborn baby is a cry of revolt against the bondage in which it finds itself. Rouse this intense desire for freedom within yourselves and in your countrymen and I am sure India will be free in no time."

Goodness, in a large clan that his family was, how could anybody, even male, imagine that 'the very first cry of the newborn baby is a cry of revolt against the bondage in which it finds itself'?

Babies aren't crying to be born, only after - and, if the umbilical cord isn't severed, not immediately so, either!

Moreover it takes only a minimal observation to know that apart from hunger and other physical needs, babies cry for attention and are pacified when picked up!

Besides which, India being a baby was long, long before Vedic era, which predates Ramayana era, which has been estimated at no more recent than 14,500 - 11,000 BCE, but more likely earlier, when Vega had dipped below horizon and was no longer a pole star, modulo 26,000 years cycles, up to about a million years ago.

When Subhash Chandra Bose was speaking, India was not a crying baby but a battered ancient civilisation seeking to throw off fetters.

................................................................................................

"Let this army send out not only soldiers to fight the battle of freedom but also missionaries to propagate the new cult of freedom. It is from amongst you that these missionaries and these soldiers will have to be created. In our programme of action we must have intensive and extensive propaganda on the one hand and a country-wide volunteer organisation on the other. Our missionaries will have to go amongst the peasants and factory workers and preach the new message. They will have to inspire the youths and organise youth leagues all over the country. ... "

How did he not know that Bhagat Singh and his group, HRA, had been doing exactly that, for years? Ever since they escaped from Lahore, especially, which means not just in Punjab either but across the nation.

"BANDE MATARAM"

................................................................................................

"While I am in Lahore, I would earnestly appeal to my young friends of the Punjab to think of their duty when so many of their fellow-countrymen and patriots are rotting in prisons. If they suffer, they do so in order that we may prosper, if they die, they do so in order that we may live as free men. If, therefore, we really love them and honour them for their sacrifice and suffering, it is our solemn duty to devote ourselves whole-heartedly to the cause of the country.

"The Government have set their repressive policy in full motion and they will succeed in fulfilling their object if the youths of the Punjab do not immediately rise to the occasion. The Only fitting reply to this repressive policy would be for the youth to demonstrate that for every worker sent to jail, a thousand others are coming forward to take up his work. The students have a very great responsibility in the matter for they are the most advanced section of the youth."

................................................................................................

So far, so good. But he's speaking for congress!

" ... There is no doubt that the success of the congress session depends largely on the efficiency and discipline of the volunteer corps. With such a glorious martial tradition behind them, it should not be at all difficult for the Punjab youth to organise an efficient volunteer corps if only the effort is forthcoming. ... "

Then on, it's recruitment invitation, but a short one.

................................................................................................

" ... Sometimes I feel like asking myself if the people of Bengal are as moved as those of the Punjab. Jatin Das joined the non-cooperation movement in 1921 about the time that we did. I remember, in 1921 he was with us while we were picketing the cloth shops on Russa Road just before the Pujah. Like many he was sent to jail but unlike a large number of them, he remained in the field of active national work even after his release because his burning love for his country was not extinguished. He was again clamped into jail under the Ordinance in 1925. While in Burma, we were having a talk with a senior C.I.D. Officer who in course of conversation spoke of Jatindranath in his eulogistic terms, which his subsequent career has amply justified."

So far so good. But then he goes a bit off.

"There are some people who say that Jatin sacrificed himself in order to improve the condition of political sufferers. This may be partly true but not wholly true. No doubt when Jatindanath commenced the hunger-strike, better treatment of political prisoners was the specific issue before him. But I do not think that; one can lay down his life for a small and narrow issue like this. What happens when one goes on hunger-strike is that the mind undergoes a radical transformation after sometime, when no redress is forthcoming. The issue becomes broader and there comes a stage when the entire soul revolts against the bondage and the oppression, one of the manifestations of which is the ihhuman treatment meted out to political prisoners. When the soul rises in revolt against all bondage and oppression resulting from the rule of the foreign bureaucracy, one gets ready to lay down his life as a protest against bondage, tyranny and servitude. It was when Jatindranath attained this inner transformation that he could die so cheerfully. Others who did not reach this mental stage but remained confined to the narrow issue till the last—could not pay the ultimate price."

This was seriously blasphemous, in that for one, they were all freedom struggle warriors long before imprisonment; and two, that others lasted longer than Jatin and saw their demands met, does not imply that they compromised.

As for the quibble regarding whether it was for nation or for state of prisoners, that is silly. They would not be in prison in the first place but for the cause of the nation. But the hunger-strike then was for rights of freedom struggle warriors in prison, against colonial racism, which again is no different from cause of national independence.

................................................................................................

"When the viceregal pronouncement was first made the Liberals and the Conservatives in England made an exhibition of their wrath and resentment. This drove some of our countrymen to the conclusion that they should strengthen the hands of the Labour Government by extending the hand of co-operation. But the storm of resentment has blown over so soon that one is led to suspect that the whole incident was ingeniously stage-managed. Lord Parmoor’s speech in the House of Lords must have come as a rude shock to those who wanted to read in the Viceregal pronouncement more than was actually meant.

"The speech has been very useful in clearing the atmosphere of unwarranted hopes. It has been definitely stated by His Lordship that there is no certainty as to when Dominion Status will be granted. Further, it has been made clear that the conditions contained in the Declaration of 1917 and the Preamble to this Government of India Act 1919 are to remain in full force and these reservations are to be retained without alteration of exception. It has also been affirmed that there is absolutely no difference between the views stated by Lord Reading and those held by the Labour Government and the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal parties.

"Last but not least there is a tacit admission that the Conference proposed is not a genuine Round Table Conference. The entire procedure laid down in connection with the work of the Simon Commission and followed at the time of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms is to remain untouched. The conference has been introduced as a sort of wedge between two successive stages of the above procedure. Its decision will not be binding on both parties because it has been stated that after the Conference has met, the matter will have to be decided by the Parliament."

................................................................................................

"The practical effect of a statement like the one made by Lord Irwin is simply to induce us to slacken our efforts in preparing the country for a bold move. Frail human beings as we are, we are led to hope and to believe that there is a short cut to freedom which does not entail a long and bitter struggle and protracted suffering and sacrifice. But we need not any longer live in a paradise of hope—Lord Parmoor has acquainted us with the stern realities of the situation.

"Let us, therefore, get ready to hold aloft the banner of independence at Lahore and let us carry on with redoubled energy the work of preparing the country for the coming crisis."

................................................................................................

"India is an epitome of the world. India’s problems are world problems in miniature. The solution of India’s problems is therefore a solution of world-problems. India lives today in spite of untold suffering and misery and in spite of numerous invasions—because she has a mission to fulfil. India has to save herself because by saving herself she will save the world. India has to attain freedom because a free India will be able to make a suitable contribution to the culture and civilization of the world. The world is anxiously awaiting India’s gift. Without that, the world will be all the poorer."

................................................................................................

Here's the purpose of the whole series of talks to youth, fleetingly and elusively mentioned.

"India today is in the midst of a ferment. Numerous currents and undercurrents of ideas are at work—and various movements, some of them reformist in character and others radical, are busy transforming her life. In the midst of this confusion it is not always easy to look ahead and determine the future lines of progress. But they alone can do this who are young, who are imbued with idealism, who have the historic consciousness and who can attune their spirit to that of the nation. It will take more than one discourse if I were to analyse the different movements that are visible today and give my own opinion as to their respective values. I shall not therefore attempt that. But one thing I would like to say most definitely, namely that if we are to rejuvenate India and make an A 1 nation of her—we shall have to alter our erstwhile notions of good and bad. To put it in philosophical language, we shall have to revalue our existing social and moral values."

That last but is more of an official British tactic adopted at this point by congress, turning attention away from freedom struggle to social reforms, painting Hindu society rather than British colonial regime as villains.

Subhash Chandra Bose, of course, saw through the tactic - and opined exactly opposite, in speech and writing, in more than one instance, seen even within this volume of the collection.

................................................................................................

Here's a rare instance of someone, then still within congress fold, admitting facts of history, in however veiled a manner.

" ... Ours is an ancient land; our civilization, though it has not lost its dynamic character, is an ancient one, as a people we have gone through innumerable vicissitudes in our career and we have braved several onslaughts which at times threatened to overwhelm us. It is not surprising, therefore, if we are occasionally overcome with fatigue, lassitude and lethargy, for even in nature’s economy rest and sleep are necessary at times in order to preserve life. But even if we have become lethargic, we are not dead as a nation. The test of life is originally of thought and creative activity and of these symptoms we, as a nation and as individuals, can still boast. If we had not been alive, all hopes of a national awakening would have been altogether futile. ... "

But - to be fair - this painting of India as dead or lethargic is fraudulent, and deliberately so, as per Macaulay policy; that congress adopted it for convenience is unfortunate.

Subhash Chandra Bose was still young and had been educated in school and college meant for either European students or intended to impress Indian students according to Macaulay policy, and had still not quite come out of the shadow.

Fact is, India survived the barbaric onslaught foe nearlya millennium and a half, unlike other great civilisations of antiquity that fell and were wiped out within a century - including Egypt and Persia, in fact a swath of old continents from Morocco to Persia, and too, Spain, had fallen.

India not only survived, but fought back too, and if the history taught officially depicts only invaders, it's as per Macaulay policy, of fracturing India across her spine.

................................................................................................

Here one sees congress attempting to expropriation-and soften - the impact by the HRA and other revolutionary warriors of the Freedom struggle of India.

"What is wanted is a transfiguration of our whole life—a complete revolution, if you will. Do not fight shy of the word ‘revolution’. We may differ in our conception of ‘revolution’, but I have yet to see a living human being who does not believe in revolution. There is no inherent difference between “evolution” and “revolution”. Revolution is evolution compressed into a shorter period; evolution is revolution spread out over a longer period. Both evolution and revolution imply changes and progress and in nature there is room for both. In fact, nature cannot do without either."

................................................................................................

Subhash Chandra Bose counters the softening soon enough.

" ... The French philosopher, Bergson, has talked of the “elan vital”—the vital impetus—which moves the whole world to activity and progress. What is the “elan vital” of our national life ? It is the desire for freedom, for expansion, for self-expression. The counterpart of this desire is revolt against bondage. If you want to be free, you must revolt against the bondage that surrounds you—and if you revolt against bondage and revolt successfully, you are bound to win your freedom."

................................................................................................

"Once the desire for freedom is enkindled in our hearts, it will need an adequate instrument in order to fulfil itself. For this purpose all our faculties physical, intellectual and moral will have to be requisitioned. We shall have to unlearn much of what we have learnt and learn for the first time what we never were taught. The body and the mind will have to undergo a new course of training and discipline in order to be fit for the task of achieving freedom. The external aspect of our life will also change. Luxury, ease and comfort will have to be abandoned, new modes of life will have to be adopted and old habits shunned. Thus will our whole life become a purified instrument for the purpose of attaining freedom."

" ... Freedom for the whole of society will mean freedom for woman as well as for man ... "

" ... The dream that I love is that of a free India—India resplendent in all her power and glory. I want India to be the mistress of her own household and the queen of her own destiny—I want her to be a free republic with her own army, navy, and air-force and her own ambassadors in the capitals of free countries. I want her to stand out before the world as a perfect synthesis of all that is good in the East and in the West. I want her to go out to the world with a new gospel of freedom, the gospel of full, all-round emancipation."

Was Martin Luther King, Jr. familiar with this speech?

................................................................................................

" ... The life that I have suggested for you may be full of suffering, but believe me, it is full of joy. The path to which I have invited you may be a thorny one but is it not a path leading to glory imperishable ? Therefore come, let us form a happy band and march shoulder to shoulder along this noble path. We shall then justify our human life and through darkness and through sorrow, through pain and through suffering, we shall ultimately reach the supreme goal of life—bliss and immortality.

"BANDE MATARAM"

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33. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE YOUTH MOVEMENT

"Speech at Midnapore Youth Conference 21.12.1929

Did they ever realise what was wrong with this -

" ... There is no dearth, at home or abroad, of institutions and movements. Why, then, has the youth movement organised ? The reason is not far to seek. The young men of all countries are getting impatient and discontented. What they want they do not get. They do not find their cherished ideal immanent in the realities of life. Therefore they are in revolt and are determined to sweep away all men and systems that stand in their way."

Subhash Chandra Bose does not specify that the justification of the impatience and revolt depends on the object of desire he speaks of; he imagines that it's ideal, but subsequently movements were to begin for far lesser, even unhealthy, objectives - and discussing the desirability or healthiness thereof became branded guilt! Very youth he encourages became the only state to be, and age synonymous falsely with decrepit lack of health. Wisdom of experience was ignored or ridiculed.

This was, none of it, his fault, of course. Youth in fashion was a phenomenon that began as a result of the two world wars, and was at its peak in nineteen sixties for various reasons, not always kosher. Centre shifted from Europe to US, and then aping West was fashion in India.

But Subhash Chandra Bose could not have discussed the aims of the youth movements or objects of desire of youth, in the atmosphere he spoke in, when Punjab and rest of India were full of impact from Bhagat Singh and his group, and Subhash Chandra Bose was depuyedby senior congress leaders to wean them away towards congress. Former were not to be mentioned, whether due to British restrictions or those from congress.

................................................................................................

" ... Youth Association is not an adjunct to the Congress or to the Social Service League. The object of the youth movement is to search for the new; to establish a new society, a new state and a new political philosophy ; to inspire men with a new and nobler ideal and lead them on to a higher place. He who cherishes this burning desire for achieving a new and nobler life cannot but revolt against the present order of things."

" ... I want a state rid of all foreign domination, a state which will work in union with our society. Above all, I want a society and a state which will not only remove all the needs of the Indian people, but serve as a model to the world at large. I dream of this Society and State. My young friends, I have nothing to impart to you except this dream, which has supplied me with unlimited energy and joy and in which my life has obtained its self-fulfilment. I present you with this dream.

"The new Society will have to be built on the basis of equality. The caste system will have to be blown away. The woman will have to be freed from all shackles and endowed with rights and responsibilities equal to man. The inequalities of wealth will have to be swept away, and everyone irrespective of creed, caste or colour will have to be given equal opportunities for education and self-realisation.

"In short, we want complete independence for India. ... "

Weren't these precisely the ideals preached by HRA, now adopted seemingly by congress and severed from roots, that is, never once mentioning that those preaching revolution were not only in prison awaiting execution, but meanwhile tortured by prison authorities at behest of the British government, unlike the Congress senior leaders who were kept in comfort, whether at Aga Khan Palace or at hill station at government expense?

Subhash Chandra Bose was in the former category, although not physically assaulted; so had been Savarkar, but not unassaulted. Nehru, Gandhi and other privileged ones were a different category.

It was a matter of whether British thought they were likely to lose India as a result of the words and activities of a prisoner or a freedom struggle warrior.

................................................................................................

" ... Those who will be born in this free India will be respected as men in the Comity of nations. In philosophy and science, in religion and action, in education and culture India will again rise superior to all other nations. We need not further dilate upon our duties. We are the creators of the New India. Let us all join our hands for the performance of this sacred and stupendous task."

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Cover

Having been compiled by Bose clan members, this collection has an advantage - that of old photographs of Subhash Chandra Bose that can be seen here by readers.

Cover of this volume, too, has such a photograph, of a young Subhash Chandra Bose, in traditional attire then of Bengal, standing it seems in the front portico of the residence of family where he lived with his relatives, in Calcutta.

On Google maps, 38 Elgin Road is marked as Netaji Bhawan, and photographs show an entrance very similar to that in this cover photograph, but Netaji Bhawan seems to have the father's nameplate.

Subhash Chandra Bose had later shifted to live with his elder brother Sharat Chandra Bose, on the same street, very close.

This cover photograph must have been after he shifted, so it's unclear whether it's from that house, and the Teo houses had similar porticos.

Seeing photographs on Google maps clears it - Netaji Bhawan is, in fact, the house where he lived with the elder brother Sharatchandra Bose and family of the latter, and the house which he escaped from British house arrest.

That, of course, doesn't clear whether the photograph on cover of the book is from that, or the parents' house.

But confusingly, there's another photograph of a board saying this was the house built by his father, and that is where he escaped from, when he left.

There's confusion, certainly - because according to reliable biographies of Subhash Chandra Bose, he was living in the other residence of the Bose family, where the elder brother lived with his family.

................................................................................................

The photograph used on cover is inside, too, and titled

"Subhas at 1, Woodburn Park, 1929"

That address, 1, Woodbum Park Road, is close enough to the other address of the Bose family, on Elgin Road, which is now preserved as Netaji Bhawan.

So it is at his other home, that of the brother, the photograph used for cover.

................................................................................................

Foreword

"The present volume takes us from the beginning of 1929 to the beginning of 1933 when he left for Europe. ... "

................................................................................................

" ... The opening months of 1929 saw an outburst of revolutionary activity in North India climaxed by the Bhagat Singh episode and self-immolation of Jatin Das. ... "

Episode? Self immolation?

Are the compilers here attempting to minimise Bhagat Singh and his tremendous impact, which was in fact humongous - so much so Jawaharlal Nehru was forced to persuade Gandhi to accommodate at least part of that movement, lest they lose youth of the nation?

Wasn't the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad' given by Bhagat Singh group, and subsequently appropriated by congress but without giving due credit?

Didn't Gandhi admit, albeit privately, to having done salt march only so he could wipe off the impact made by Bhagat Singh and his group?

Was death of Jatin Das by self-immolation, not due to tortures inflicted by British government on these (- and other, but not Nehru or Gandhi -) prisoners, which included physical assaults, apart from the degrading state they were kept in and extremely unhygienic food they were given, leading them to protest by going on a fast for several weeks, well over a month?

Are the compilers so much 'in' with the power coterie, and that includes the congress and associated regimes, that they exonerate British government by fabricating lies and minimising the tortures leading to deaths?

How truthful would one, then, expect them to be to legacy and spirit of freedom struggle in general, and Subhash Chandra Bose in particular? Or did they compromise on this, too, so as to remain in favour with the various regimes against them?

................................................................................................

From Wikipedia:-

" ... Singh gained public sympathy after he joined fellow defendant Jatin Das in a hunger strike, demanding better prison conditions for Indian prisoners, the strike ending in Das's death from starvation in September 1929."

................................................................................................

" ... Netaji’s adherents demonstrated remarkable resourcefulness when faced with the sudden closure of their party organ ‘Forward’. They were able to bring out its alternative ‘Liberty’ almost overnight. The All Parties Conference held towards the end of the year in response to the British Viceroy’s announcement of a Round Table Conference based on the report of the Simon Commission revealed an interesting alignment among nationalist ranks. While most Congress leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru offered cooperation to the British in their mainfesto and were prepared to negotiate on the basis of Dominion Status, Subhas Chandra Bose, Saifuddin Kitchlu and Abdul Bari issued a separate manifesto opposing Dominion Status and a Round Table Conference on British terms."

The compilers aren't mentioning, much less discussing, the fact that Gandhi could have easily made British government stop the executions of freedom struggle warriors, in particular of the very young Bhagat Singh and his group - but didn't try, except in letter, not spirit; he merely went "how about ... if you please ... " rather than making it conditional to his signature, signed where asked on the dotted line, and proceeded to the conference in London, coming back empty handed, handing over a total victory to British all round!

Did Subhash Chandra Bose agree with any of it? Not with the farcical round table conference facade, apparently; what about the not even trying to save, much less free, the young group of Bhagat Singh, who were executed shortly thereafter, secretly, and then the bodies chopped and cremation attempted in secrecy?

................................................................................................

"The Lahore Congress saw the fulfilment of Subhas Chandra Bose’s dream of an unequivocal declaration of the national goal as complete independence. But what Netaji demanded at Lahore was a complete programme of action based on the organisation of the peasantry, working classes and the youth in one solid phalanx to enforce the national demand. According to him the national struggle could not be a halfway house. It had to be a “total boycott” of British rule and administration leading to a parallel government. It is of historical interest to record that Congress always lacked a positive and revolutionary programme of action to be carried out by a fighting coalition of militant sections of the Indian people apart from passive mass demonstrations and symbolic violation of the law. This was never so well demonstrated as during the final struggle launched by Gandhiji in 1942 when the people of India were left entirely to their own resources to face the organised onslaught of British imperialism. Netaji was also of the opinion that the social programme of the Congress should be in hands of Congressmen and not in charge of other organisations not directly under the control of the party.

"Subhas Chandra Bose was placed under arrest soon after his return to Calcutta from the Lahore Congress and sentenced to an year’s imprisonment.

"When Mahatmaji launched his Dandi March in 1930 Netaji was in jail and he followed the development of the national resistance movement from behind prison walls with great interest. ... "

Didn't Gandhi do the Dandi March, March 12, 1930 - April 06, 1930, to divert attention of the nation from the low act by the British Government in torturing the Bhagat Singh group who were fasting in protest against the treatment meted out, including unhygienic food, resulting in death of young Jatin Das in September 1929?

................................................................................................

" ... The Chittagong Armoury Raid took place in April 1930 and a see-saw battle raged between the nationalist and government forces on all fronts for months. ... "

This work would be far more valuable if, in this specific context, thinking - and more - of Subhash Chandra Bose were to be made known via publications of his words.

................................................................................................

"For Netaji 1931 opened with a head-on clash with the ruling power. While leading a procession as Mayor of Calcutta on Independence Day, 26 January 1931, he and his comrades were brutally attacked by British mounted police and taken into custody. While he was languishing in prison came the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931. The terms of the Pact were a great disappointment to him. Even so. he chose not to divide the party. On his release he hurried to Bombay to meet the Mahatma, then travelled with him to Delhi and held prolonged discussions with him. The Karachi Congress was held under the shadow of a great tragedy—the execution of Bhagat Singh and his comrades in total disregard of public opinion in India. ... "

Bhagat Singh and his group were executed in secret, March 23, 1931, their bodies chopped up and a ghastly mixed cremation attempted by prison authorities, found out by the alerted relatives gathered outside the prison who had been hearing patriotic songs from within.

Which Gandhi ignored, attempted to admonish, divert, anything but try saving the youths, or even sympathies with the nation!

................................................................................................

" ... It is significant that despite the fact of Jawaharlal Nehru being chosen President for the Lahore session at Gandhiji’s instance, Subhas Chandra Bose and others like him with leftist leanings were excluded from the Congress Working Committee both at Lahore and Karachi."

Are the compilers trying to give the impression that this was, too, when Subhash Chandra Bose was sidelined?

This was in fact when Sardar Patel was to be elected president, having proven his capabilities via work of organisation, especially in Bardoli, but was sidelined by Gandhi because Motilal Nehru, the outgoing president of the Congress Party, wished his son to be taking over from him as the party president.

................................................................................................

"At the same time as the Karachi Congress Netaji was called upon to preside over the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a militant youth organisation founded by Bhagat Singh. Netaji was clearly more at home in such company and was able to spell out his radical socio-economic views and ideas of national reconstruction in a forthright manner. He did not hesitate to offer an alternative programme on socialist lines to that of the Congress which he thought was based on adjustments and compromises with vested interests and not on radicalism. He also underlined the historic and creative role that India had to play in fashioning a new world order by destroying imperialism throughout the world."

Whose idea is or was it to label, brand, them 'militant'? One could in equal fairness brand the constant willingness to compromise shown by Gandhi with a soubriquet not so laudatory. Certainly his current namesake leaders of the party are not holding on to limits he set against those of his own era, or even those of all possible past eras, whether national heros or Gods of India, branding them 'misguided ', freely, but only as long as they were Hindu, of course!

................................................................................................

"When the Congress Working Committee selected Mahatma Gandhi as the sole representative of the Congress to the Second Round Table Conference, Netaji was clearly of the opinion that this was a tactical error. Even so, Subhas Chandra Bose sent the following generous and nobly worded telegraphic message ... "

The editors quote the fulsome message here.

"As anticipated by Netaji, at the conference itself the British Government set up an array of non-descripts, self-appointed leaders and sectarian elements against Gandhiji and sought to turn the tables on him by bringing into focus the problem of minorities and that of the future federal structure of India, thus conveniently sidetracking the main issue of national independence. It was Netaji’s view that Gandhiji’s London visit was badly planned from all points of view. And at the end of it all Mahatmaji’s disillusionment was complete. Further, Netaji regretted that no attempt was made to put Gandhiji in touch with people and circles who counted in European politics outside England."

But Gandhi giving any importance to Europe beyond UK is far from obvious, or even known, even in case of Ireland which had a history of exploitation by British that was copied to India.

................................................................................................

" ... When Gandhiji wrote to the new Viceroy Willingdon upon his return from England, he only got a negative and unfriendly reply. ... "

And yet the name of Willingdon has been maintained for a hospital and a road in Delhi, that too glamorous ones, long past independence.

................................................................................................

"During the first civil disobedience movement the British Government was taken by surprise by Gandhiji’s novel method of resistance. But by 1932 they had perfected their machinery to deal effectively with civil disobedience. And they went on the offensive. They had replaced Irwin by the notorious Lord Willingdon as Viceroy who unleashed a veritable reign of terror throughout the country. No time was lost in rounding up all the leaders namely, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Bose, Pandit Jawaharlal and others."

Subhash Chandra Bose was not yet called Netaji, not until he organised Indian prisoners of war in Germany - they thought of this epithet for him. That, too, was when he fashioned the Jai Hind slogan, greeting and more, all in one, since his army wasn't divided as British arranged regiments of India into separate communal divisions. And he was the one who selected the song by Tagore to become the national anthem, eventually adopted by India,

" ... Regardless of the fact that the question of communal electorates was a very important question Netaji was bewildered that the great and over-riding question of Indian independence should be side-tracked and drowned by the emotional upsurge over Gandhiji’s fast. He was of the opinion that even though the British Government had but to accept the Poona Pact, they had definitely got the better of the Congress by successfully side-tracking the main issue of national independence. Civil disobedience and mass satyagraha gave way to anti-untouchability campaigns and debates on temple entry bills. The anti-climax could not but cause resentment to Subhas Chandra Bose and the radical elements."

................................................................................................

Introduction

In the introduction to the paperback edition, the second editor goes a bit more into HRA and events related.

"It was in 1929 that Jatindranath Das—a young associate of Bhagat Singh—died in Lahore Jail after a two-month-long hunger strike. Huge crowds came to pay their last respects at railway stations as his body was taken from Lahore to Calcutta. Jatin Das had served in the Congress volunteer corps in 1928 under Subhas Chandra Bose, who took charge of the funeral rites. After the rites were completed, Subhas returned home with a small packet and stood sombre-faced like a marble statue on the marble stairs of 1, Woodbum Park. “I have brought a little bit of the remains of Jatindranath Das,” he said to his sister-in-law Bivabati, “please preserve them with care.”1"

No, they aren't going more into the HRA group that was still living on and carrying on the struggle inside the prison - Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and several others.

"In October 1929 Subhas made the journey from Calcutta to Lahore and delivered his message of complete emancipation to the Punjabi students’ conference. He lauded the sacrifice of Jatin Das in the cause of freedom. “Jatin today is not dead,” he insisted. “He lives up in the heavens as a star ‘of purest ray serene’ to serve as a beacon light to posterity.” ... "

................................................................................................

"On 31 October 1929, the viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced that he had been authorized by the Labour government in London to state that dominion status was the logical culmination of India’s constitutional progress and that a round table conference would be convened after the Simon commission’s report was published. ... "

Wasn't this a deliberate second slap, after the death of elderly freedom struggle leader Lala Lajpat Rai, due to being assaults with wooden sticks by police, deliberately, as he led the nonviolent protest in Lahore against Simon Commission?

" ... A majority of the Congress leaders signed a manifesto in response to this overture, looking forward to the framing of a dominion constitution for India. ... "

Was this due to cowardice, stupidity, or lack of integrity? After all, protests were led by congress against Simon Commission, and there was nothing new.

" ... Jawaharlal Nehru initially hesitated to do so, but eventually fell in line as he had been selected by Gandhi to preside over the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress in December. ... "

Usually did! About Kashmir, about giving up over a million square miles in East, about throwing refugees out of the shelters in the severe cold of January in Delhi in 1947-48, about giving Rs 550,000,000 to the country attacking India when it was obviously going to be used for weapons and ammunition to kill soldiers of India, ....

" ... Subhas Chandra Bose and two others, Saifuddin Kitchlew of Lahore and Abdul Bari of Patna, issued a separate manifesto calling for complete independence and rejecting the round table conference. They saw it as a ploy similar to Lloyd George’s constitutional convention for Ireland, which Sinn Fein had rightly spumed."

They were proved right. Did Congress acknowledge that? No. Did Gandhi admit it, with all that talk about truth? No. Was Subhash Chandra Bose sidelined? Safe bet.

" ... Subhas Chandra Bose moved a resolution stating that the Congress’ aim should be the establishment of a parallel government in the country with the help of workers, peasants, and youth organizations. His resolution did not pass but it was a sign that he was, as always, a step ahead of his contemporaries. He was satisfied that the Congress had accurately described India as a country that was under an alien army of occupation."

................................................................................................

"In Bengal the civil disobedience movement escalated greatly and became intertwined with revolutionary terrorism. On Easter weekend in 1930 revolutionaries led by Surya Kumar Sen raided the armoury in Chittagong in commemoration of the 1916 uprising in Ireland and fought a running battle with British forces in the district for several weeks. Sarat Chandra Bose led the legal defence of several revolutionaries accused in the Chittagong armoury raid case. In December 1930 three young men—Benoy Bose, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta—stormed the Writers’ Building, the seat of the British government in Calcutta, and shot dead the inspector general of prisons. They then engaged Calcutta’s police force in combat along the verandahs of the building until their ammunition ran out. Benoy Bose and Badal Gupta succumbed to their injuries, while Dinesh Gupta was tried and executed. In Midnapur district the British district magistrate, James Peddie, who had ordered the police to shoot down peasants refusing to pay taxes, was himself assassinated by revolutionaries. Two of his successors suffered the same fate. A new, more radical, phase of the independence movement had begun."

Another biography, of the two brothers, claimed that the then British government of India saw the Bose brothers as in cahoots with revolutionary youth and helping them actively, but the author provided no evidence of this.

................................................................................................

"As emotions ran high, Subhas Chandra Bose was elected mayor of Calcutta while in prison, defeating the incumbent Jatindra Mohan Sengupta. Both belonged to the Congress Party and this was, therefore, something of an internecine conflict. More than just a factional fight within the Bengal Congress, the tension between Bose and Sengupta reflected the complex relationship between the province and the central leadership of the Congress. Sengupta had been appointed to his posts by Gandhi after C.R. Das’ death and was generally inclined to obey the dictates of the Congress high command. Bose represented the rebellious tendency in Bengal, not just against the British but the all-India leadership of the Congress as well. ... "

Wait a second there, why is that last inference automatic? It was Gandhi in conflict with Subhash Chandra Bose, and yes, most others did give in before Gandhi despite disagreements - Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, ..., but Subhash Chandra Bose was not the only person on national scene to stand up to him, was he?

Jinnah had left congress due to Gandhi, whose arrival and differences of political strategy had put him off; but more significantly, Bhagat Singh and his group did stand up to Gandhi, even if only in open letters; so did Savarkar, but then, of course, he got smeared too, as everyone in any disagreements with Gandhi did, by congress, for ever.

................................................................................................

" ... During the brief period that he was able to serve as mayor upon his release from prison, Subhas tried to keep alive his mentor’s legacy in municipal affairs. On 26 January 1931, as he was leading a peaceful independence day procession, he was brutally attacked by mounted police and hauled away to Calcutta’s police headquarters at Lalbazaar. The next day Calcutta’s mayor was presented in his blood-soaked clothes at a local court. He was charged with rioting and sent once more to prison. The colonial government recognized the threat to their rule that Bose represented and was determined to stifle him."

One has to like this subtle style of this editor! Here's an obvious implication, that those so treated were recognised by the then colonial regime as threat, while those not seen in that light - Gandhi, Nehru - were precisely those that had comfortable prisons, such as Aga Khan Palace!

................................................................................................

"Subhas was disappointed by the terms of the Gandhi-Irwin pact of March 1931. Upon his release he rushed to Bombay to meet Gandhi and was satisfied that the leader had not diluted his stand on independence. Subhas continued his talks as he travelled by train with the Mahatma from Bombay to Delhi and saw for himself from the ovation at wayside stations that Gandhi was at the zenith of his popularity. Upon their arrival in Delhi Subhas was shocked to hear that the government had decided to execute the Punjabi revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his comrades."

Gandhi did not tell him about not trying to stop it, beyond an "if you please", withdrawn when refused, without even threatening to not sign on the line they had dotted?

................................................................................................

"The annual session of the Congress met at Karachi under the dark shadow of this tragedy. Subhas Chandra Bose found that the twenty-three-year-old revolutionary had upon his death become the symbol of the new awakening among India’s youth. The people were not prepared to consider whether he was really guilty of the murder charge brought against him; it was his fearless demeanour as a prisoner and his ability to rise above Punjab’s religious conflicts that impressed them. While in Karachi for the Congress meeting, Subhas Chandra Bose was invited to preside over the second annual session of the All India Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a militant youth organization taking inspiration from Bhagat Singh. Bose clearly felt more at home in this radical company than among the Congress stalwarts and enunciated his political philosophy in a forthright manner. He articulated the meanings of five principles—justice, equality, freedom, discipline, and love—which ought to “form the basis of our collective life”. Bolshevism, he felt had “many useful lessons for humanity” but he did “not believe that abstract principles could be applied in the same manner, form or degree to different nations and countries.” He wanted the Indian variant to be “a new form or type of socialism.” And, “While seeking light and inspiration from abroad,” he told the radical youth, “we cannot afford to forget that we should not blindly imitate any other people and that we should assimilate what we learn elsewhere with a view to finding out what will suit our national requirements as well as our national genius.”"

" ... He also tried to carve out a middle ground between “a reformist programme” of the “Right Wing” of the trade union congress and “Communist friends” who were “adherents and followers of Moscow.” He reiterated his belief in “full-blooded socialism” but wanted India to “evolve her own form of socialism as well as her own methods.”

"Subhas Chandra Bose believed that the Indian National Congress had made a grave tactical error by deciding to send Mahatma Gandhi as its sole representative to the second round table conference in London. As one among a hundred invitees, mostly “non-descripts, flunkeys and self-appointed leaders” in Bose’s view, he would find it difficult to keep the focus on national issues with the British keen to highlight myriad sectional interests. Nevertheless, Bose wished Gandhi well and sent him a warm message on his departure for London, expressing confidence that India’s honour would be safe in the Mahatma’s hands.3"

................................................................................................

"On returning empty-handed from Europe, Gandhi and the Congress leadership had little option but to announce the resumption of civil disobedience in January 1932. The Congress organization was declared unlawful and its leaders put under arrest. Subhas was naturally among the Congress leaders to be arrested and he was sent to a rather remote sub-jail in a place called Seoni in the Central Provinces. The only saving grace on this occasion was that he soon had his brother Sarat as his companion in prison. Sarat had suspended his legal practice to join the civil disobedience movement and now paid the price by being put away for four long years in British jails.

"In prison Subhas kept himself busy reading Henri Bergson’s Creative Evolution and other philosophical works. He asked a friend to send him recent biographies of Lenin and Trotsky, the four-volume memoirs of Alexander Herzen, and literature on Thoreau. From late February 1932 he began to experience severe abdominal pain and by mid-May had suffered a weight loss of twenty-eight pounds. As both brothers’ health deteriorated—Sarat had early diabetes—they were transferred to Jubbulpore central jail. Subhas was subsequently shifted to the Madras penitentiary, the Bhowali sanatorium, and Lucknow jail in quick succession, keeping him far-removed from Bengal. Stringent bureaucratic instructions were issued by the government to the superintendents of the Bhowali sanatorium, the Balrampur hospital in Lucknow, and the Madras penitentiary regarding the treatment of “state prisoner” Subhas Chandra Bose. These included minute details about the furniture, clothing, and quantity of food that he would be permitted, as well as conditions under which family members could visit him, the scrutiny of letters that he could receive and write, and the newspapers and books he might be allowed to read.4 With Sarat languishing in jail as well, it fell upon Bivabati to express concerns to the authorities about her brother-in-law’s illness in detention. Eventually, the government agreed to allow him to travel at his own expense to Europe for treatment.

"There was no question of the British setting Subhas free on Indian soil or allowing him to go to Bengal to see his parents before his departure for Europe. He would not see his father again. The government permitted him some time to be spent together with Sarat in Jubbulpore central jail where the brothers had a visit from Basanti Devi, Bivabati, and her children.5 On 13 February 1933, Subhas was carried in an ambulance to the port in Bombay and released from detention only after he was put on board the Italian ship S. S. Gange sailing for Europe."

................................................................................................

1. BENGAL’S MESSAGE OF UNIVERSALISM AND SOCIALISM

"Presidential Address at the Rangpur Political Conference, 30.3.1929

"BENGAL has a message of her own to deliver to the world. The message is the sum total of the life and history of Bengal as a whole; and as she tried in the past to make that message heard, she is doing it even now. That message is ingrained in the character of Bengal. The heart of Bengal is always for diversity, harmony and fraternity. Bengal is always for novelty. Bengal’s innate nature is always dynamic and not static. She might well be called ‘revolutionary’. From the Vedic age down to the present, history abounds with instances which show that she is always moving and assimilating."

Was he aware that he contradicted - flatly, and without giving it any importance whatsoever either - the British dictum that Vedas had everything to do with migrants arriving from North-West and nothing whatsoever to do with anyone living in India? He just killed the Aryan invasion or migration theory, and merely by pronouncing truth in a completely different context, too!

................................................................................................

"Truth alone is our ideal and that explains why in spite of many inroads on Bengal in culture, civilization, literature and religion, she always assimilated the truth of the newcomers, keeping her individuality intact all the while. As a result of this thorough ‘revolution’ Vaishnavism has flourished in Bengal. ... "

But Bengal isn't unique or different in this respect! From aiyangars of tamilnadu, Madhavas of Karnataka and Vitthala devotees of Maharashtra, to the Gujarat everyday greeting 'Jai Shri Krishna', Hindi belt's 'Jai Ramji Ki', or temples galore of Rama and Krishna everywhere, Vaishnavism isn't even separate from mainstream!

If he meant Bauls, it's a tad unfair to equate them with Vaishnavism or Vaishnava.

................................................................................................

"As in religion so in literature, Bengal has manifested herself in diverse ways. Her Vidyapati and Chandidas, Mukundaram and Bharatchandra, Kasiram, Krittibas and Ram Prasad stand as monumental examples of her new discoveries in the domain of thought and culture. ... "

" ... The birth of the Brahmo cult saved Bengal from the attack made on her by the Christian missionaries. The unfinished work of the Raja found an impetus when Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Swami Vivekananda came into the field towards the end of the 19th century. The renaissance of religion was reflected in her literature, philosophy and in all spheres of life ... "

"It was Swami Vivekananda who gave a new turn to the history of Bengal. As he repeatedly said, man-making was his mission in life. In the work of man-making, Swami Vivekananda did not confine his attention to any particular sect but embraced the whole of society. His fiery words—“Let a new India emerge through the workshop and from the huts and bazaars”—are still ringing in every Bengali home."

Funny, why wouldn't he realise he's quoting Vivekananda speaking of India, not restricted to Bengal! Nor were followers of his restricted to Bengal.

................................................................................................

2. CASE FOR A SYMPATHETIC STRIKE

"Statement on Tinplate Workers’ Strike Jamshedpur, 6.7.1929

"“Several friends in Bombay have enquired of me as to why I held the Tata Iron and Steel Co., responsible for not bringing about a settlement of the strike in the Tinplate Company and why I advocate in case of necessity a sympathetic strike in the Tata Iron and Steel Company. My reasons are very clear. As far as my information goes, the Tatas own one-third of the shares of the Tinplate Company, the rest being owned by the Burmah Oil Company. Moreover, Tatas have two directors on the board of the Tinplate Company who can easily make their presence felt there. The Tinplate Company are dependent for their very existence on the Tata Iron and Steel Company and the latter can easily bring sufficient pressure to bear on the former in order to bring about a settlement of the strike. The Tinplate Company have taken land on lease from Tatas. Tatas supply the Tinplate Company with electricity and filtered water. Repairs in the electrical department of the Tinplate Company are done by the Tata Iron and Steel Company."

With exactly that logic, Gandhi could be blamed for executions of Bhagat Singh and his group, and what's more, for plight of refugees of partition.

Perhaps he couldn't be blamed for Noakhali, Calcutta or Lahore et al. But if he hadn't imposed or accepted moplah killings of Kerala, if he'd denounced them for the demoniac behaviour that they were, it'd have given a clue that ideals were not to be limited to subjects of erstwhile colonial regimes only.

................................................................................................

3. RUINOUS LABOUR POLICY

"Statement on Labour Policy, Jamshedpur, 7.7.1929

" ... In order to explain the present position it will be necessary to give a brief history of the events since September 1928, when the strike was ended. It will be clear therefrom that the Company and the management have not followed a consistent policy with regard to Labour. As a result of that the industry has been suffering very badly. ... "

Exactly what several Indians - including Bhagat - who looked up to, and followed, Gandhi until a point, said of his leadership of India.

................................................................................................

"We had decided to remain absolutely peaceful inspite of grave provocation and we had no other course but to look on helplessly at the sufferings of the members of our Association. We were in this dangerous plight for a long time and our men had to fight an unscrupulous enemy at the risk of their lives by means of peaceful propaganda. When we were well-nigh successful and the Labour Federation was on the verge of collapse, the company suddenly went of its way to accord recognition to Mr. Homi and his Labour Federation and thereby helped to revive the Labour Federation. ... "

That's the story of partition, with slight variation. In that case, 'provocations' were massacres, to the tune of ten thousand in Calcutta and 150,000 in Noakhali; 'sudden recognition' was that of partition by British, but it was a pretense - in reality partition having all along been the intention, and subsequently favoring the separated parts, to the detriment of India, policy carried out surreptitiously by Mountbatten and his British military chiefs, still retained by India, who regularly provided intelligence over phone calls to their counterparts across the new border.

" ... The company’s object, however, was probably to divide and rule."

Consistent British policy, whether Ireland or India, Israel or elsewhere.

................................................................................................

Next three paragraphs, where he proceeds to detail out the labour and company situation, are pretty much exactly what transpired about partition, where it wasn't the wishes of people or their representatives, but of those that were unwilling to live on equal footing in a democracy in India, whose interests prevailed as far as British were concerned - in reality, of course, it was far more interests of UK and US and their needs regarding The Big Game.

He begins the next, fourth, paragraph with -

"I had some responsibility for controlling labour till the end of January 1929 but since then the responsibility has passed into the hands of Mr. Homi who is now hand-in-glove with the management. ... "

Replace that with Gandhi in context of India, citizens across North-West India, Jinnah and his cohorts of landlords from UP etc., and UK, respectively - and it fits the state of people of North-West India and their travails after 1947.

Subhash Chandra Bose gives production figures for comparison - which, again, fits the post-partition comparison of India with its separated piece North-West, in all but one areas. What UK achieved by partition is creation of a jihadist factory, and blackmail of West by them, chiefly of US.

................................................................................................

4. THE QUESTION OF ABSTENTION FROM LEGISLATURES

"Statement to the representatives of the Associated Press, 11.7.1929

" ... Our withdrawal would mean the virtual extinction of the opposition in the legislatures at a time when that opposition was greatly needed. Important problems like the formation of Ministry and the Simon Commission, besides other important provincial problems, were still before us. On these major issues we had fought the election and had won. We had received encouragement and inspiration from Pandit Motilal in our election campaign. The ideal and programme adopted by Calcutta Congress was still unchanged and people would have to consider very carefully before they adopted any revolutionary change in the Council programme without waiting for the Lahore Congress.

"While saying all this, I also stated that personally I had. absolutely no fascination for the legislatures and if the A.I.C.C. declared against abstention from the legislatures I would still be prepared to resign if that would satisfy Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru. I could say the same thing of the other whole-time workers in the Council also. It is because I had no fascination for the legislatures that I felt that I had considered the matter coolly and was putting the case before the House as impartially as possible. The opinion in the province as a whole, as far as I could judge, was against abstention or resignation before the end of the year. We shall shortly summon a meeting of the Provincial Congress Committee and take the verdict of that body before we proceed to Allahabad."

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5. THE INDIVIDUAL, THE NATION AND THE IDEAL

"Speech at the Hooghly District Students’ Conference in Chinsurah, 22.7.1929

"The ideal that used to enthuse the student community of Bengal, say, fifteen years ago, was the ideal of Swami Vivekananda. Under the hypnotic spell of that glorious ideal, the Bengalee youth went in with grim determination for a life of purity and spiritual powers freed from all taint of selfishness and shabbiness. At the root of the construction of the society and the nation lies the unfoldment of individuality. That is why Swami Vivekananda was never tired of repeating that “man-making” was his mission."

" ... and when Lin, the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth, the soul- stirring message of Swami Vivekananda—“Freedom, freedom is the song of the soul,”—burst the locked gates of the Swadeshi’s heart and came forth in a flood of irresistible might, the whole country caught it up and nearly went mad."

" ... But the image of freedom, whole and entire that we come across in Vivekananda, had not yet been reflected in the realm of politics in his age. It was in the mouth of Aurobindo that we heard the message of political freedom for the first time. And when Aurobindo wrote in the columns of his “Bandemataram”—“we want complete autonomy free from British control”—the freedom-loving Bengalee youth could feel that he had at last got the man of his heart."

................................................................................................

" ... Our people want to live, grow and have their being in a free country and in the midst of a free atmosphere. We need not take fright at the idea of independence. Our claim to independence is nothing but the right to make mistakes. So let us not get upset by a night-mare vision of chaos which may or may not follow the attainment of political salvation by us. Let us have an abiding faith in ourselves and go forward to snatch our birthright from unwilling hands."

................................................................................................

6. LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF ‘LIBERTY ’, 23.7.1929

"To

"The Editor,

"Liberty

"Sir,

"In to-day’s “Liberty” some questions sent by me as member of the Bengal Legislative Council have been published. From one of these questions an inference has been drawn to the effect that I desire that there should be a separate jail for political prisoners. But no such inference should be drawn from my question. My object in publishing the question was simply to elicit information as to the intention of Government.

"Yours etc.

"SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE

"Calcutta,

"23.7.29"

................................................................................................

7. NOMINATION AS A CONGRESS CANDIDATE

"Statement as President, B.P.C.C., 23.7.1929

" ... when Mr Banerjee got the Congress nomination in 1926, he did so with the greatest difficulty because his nomination was strongly opposed by many prominent members of our Party. To those who have not entirely forgotten Mr Banerjee’s past record, it would not be a matter of surprise that he was refused Congress nomination this year or that his nomination was opposed in 1926 by many prominent members of our party. ... His opposition to the Council entry programme of Deshbandhu at the Special Session of the Congress at Delhi in 1923 and his thundering eloquence at Karachi condemning the Swarajists’ policy and programme are yet green in the minds of many. Inspite of his bad record, Mr Banerjee was given a final opportunity in 1926 to turn over a new leaf and utilise his skill as a speaker and a debater for furthering the public cause. That opportunity he has not availed himself of. Members of the Congress Council Party in Bengal know how he has worked and behaved. His speeches have sometimes embarrassed his party; his intrigues with Ministers and Executive Councillors have often compromised them. When the Congress Party withdrew from the Council in 1928 during the visit of the Simon Commission, in obedience to the decision of the Madras Congress, Mr Banerjee attended the Council, though implored by us not to do so and delivered a speech ridiculing the action of the Congress Party. He was on the point of being expelled from the Party but he avoided expulsion by apologising for his conduct. But unfortunately, Mr Banerjee did not mend his ways thereafter.

"Outside the Council, Mr Banerjee’s activities have not been such as to inspire public confidence. Members of the public living in the moffusil may not be fully conversant with Mr Banerjee’s record in this connection; but I can say without the slightest hesitation that Mr Banerjee has been refused nomination solely in the public interest and if one is to judge him by his past record, no reasonable man can recommend his candidature. ... "

................................................................................................

8. WITHDRAWAL OF PROTECTIVE DUTY ON IMPORTED TIN PLATES

"Statement to the Press regarding the strike in Tinplate Works, 3.8.1929

" ... Though the Burmah Oil Company are one of the richest capitalist concerns in this country the condition of the workers in the Tinplate Company is far worse than that of the workers in the adjoining concern of Tatas. The demand of the workers of the Tinplate Company are very moderate. In fact they are working for much less than what Tata’s employees have been enjoying for years past. But the Tinplate Company appears to be absolutely unbending and they have sternly refused to open negotiations for a settlement. They are probably attempting to break the strike by holding out as long as possible inspite of the heavy losses they have been incurring and they are hoping that by virtue of the untold resources of the Burmah Oil Company they will ultimately win. The Tinplate Company are, however, oblivious to the fact that it is because of the “protection” that has been granted them that they are able to carry on their business in this country. The time has, therefore, come for the representatives of the Indian people in the Assembly to take early steps to remove the protective duty on imported tinplates, if the Tinplate Company continue their present arrogant attitude. There is absolutely no reason why a foreign company, utterly unsympathetic and callous to Indian labour, should enjoy protection at the cost of the Indian people. I, therefore, appeal to members of the Assembly to pass a resolution in the ensuing session asking the Government of India to take early steps to withdraw the protective duty on imported tin plates. I am glad to say that I have already been assured by several friends that they will take up this matter in the ensuing session of the Legislative Assembly."

................................................................................................

Was it any use?

The whole structure - assembly et al - was a charade, as far as any Indian members thereof were involved in decisions, or whatever, as far as British government of India went. It was only a way to keep India down and quiet with some sops, along with tortures - and executions - of those who were not fooled.

Not that different from nannies and moms of that era keeping babies quiet with rubber toys, opium, and if and when needed, a spanking or a hard shake.

That shake only got a bad name it deserved when a child of a white US mother and an M.D. Indian father was shaken ti death by a teenager nanny who was British.

The court reverted its decision and let her go, with media reversing it's stance, seemingly because the oarents were well off due to the father being in the medical profession.

Reality was, punishing a White British teenager for shaking a baby to death was, when the baby was only half white and the other part was father being an Indian educated professional - successful - man, simply unacceptable.

So it was somehow nuanced reportage after the first judgement had convicted the nanny, to the effect that the vouple was guilty of being successful enough to employ nanny.

In reality, it was racist, that summary reversal.

................................................................................................

9. POLITICAL SUFFERERS’ DAY

"Statement as President, B.P.C.C. 4.8.1929

"Pandit Motilal Nehru, President, All India Congress Committee, has requested the Provincial Congress Committee to celebrate an All-India Political Sufferers’ Day and has suggested that following the U.P. Provincial Congress Committee, the celebration may be held on the 4th August. He has also said that if the 4th August is too early for any Provincial Congress Committee they can fix a later date. ... In case any Provincial Congress Committees are unable to have the celebration on the 4th August, I would appeal to them to celebrate the Political Sufferers’ Day on Sunday, the 11th August."

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'Celebrate' seems an inappropriate choice of term; 'observe' would be better.

Perhaps they did celebrate, which is why question of preparations? Even more inappropriate, considering what various 'political sufferers' - from Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Queen Laxmibai of Jhansi and Chapekar brothers, to Savarkar to Bhagat Singh and his group, and scores more, went through.

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10. THE TRUE NATURE OF FREEDOM

"Speech delivered at Rajshahi District Students’ Conference, 17.8.1929

One can see here the young Subhash Chandra Bose attempting to find his own way, having gone through a good education with excellence and read much more besides, but not following any of the stalwarts of either Europe or India, or even the great ones from Bengal, even though he's somewhat familiar with the last mentioned.

"Some nations have totally disappeared from the face of the globe and their traces can be found only on mountain tops or in the pages of history. And there are others who still exist and make their existence felt. ... The real cause that China, Japan and India have survived the onslaughts of this law of civilization is that there were thought-revolutions towards the end of the Dark-Ages. ... "

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"It may be asked what is the true ideal and ‘Sadhana’ of man ? What should be the code of conduct in student life which may lead to the attainment of that ideal ? To this, Nietzche’s theory of Superman, which he prescribed for the German nation to make it great and an ideal one, might be a pertinent suggestion. Nietzche prescribed a code of conduct as also some changes in the prevailing mode of thought. He believed that Christian morality led men astray from his true ideals and if a new class of men were to be created, Christian morality had to be scorned and cast aside. His theory holds the ground till today. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Thomas Moore and our own ancient Rishis tried to find out a way whereby man could be elevated to a higher level of humanity which would be the ideal for all."

Alfred Hitchcock dealt with it in Rope, but that perhaps having been shot post WWII had benefit of hindsight and the horror that came over the world when realities of Germany following nazism were revealed at Nuremberg and ever since then.

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There is an innocence here, a naivete, that belongs to pre-Noakhali, pre-Direct Action Day era.

"So long we had been labouring under the impression that only religious or economic or political freedom in itself would serve our purpose. There is partial truth in it. But it is a greater truth that the life of an individual is an absolute truth and for a living man, all round freedom has to be attained. This ideal is very lofty, difficult to cherish and still more diffcult to realise. It is an ideal which involves equal rights for all without any discrimination whatsoever. The students and youths of Bengal will have to aspire after that ideal and therefore all hopes and aspirations of the future centre round them."

Lot of things were said then that sounded idyllic, but keeping a preying beast in stable with cattle would sound idiotic to most sensible keepers of cattle, as would keeping sheep in a pen with a pet wolf. And yet it's assumed that abrahmic creeds allowed freedom won't hurt democratic structure, political or that of faith.

But moplah killings had taken place before this. Was Bengal unaware so thoroughly, or did people buy the blaming-the-victims theories, somehow? Or was the emphasis on Bengal precisely due to this, much needed comfort of assuming Bengal was safe, people were different, ..., that Kerala wouldn't happen in Bengal?

Fact is, it's not possible to assume that a Rottweiler wouldn't attack your own baby just because you feed it. Jews, too, had felt safe in Germany, assimilated, and felt superior to their Eastern European brethren, who were seen as less sophisticated due to strong adherence to communal identity.

But for this, perhaps they could have escaped earlier.

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"Think of brutal violence on our women, being perpetrated from day to day. Is there no remedy ? A handful of Englishmen live in this country but “their” women are not molested in any way. You remember the incident on the frontiers a few years back, when an English woman was kidnapped by some tribesmen, Englishmen throughout the world rose up like one man to effect her rescue."

Wonder if he ever found out about atrocities perpetrated in Noakhali or in North-West, around partition - and Gandhi's reaction, advice, et al in the context. Not a word of even most gentle recriminations, if victims were Hindu (or Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist or Jain, as far as most younger generations can find out!), but plenty of righteous admonition if the victims or refugees fleeing perpetrators found shelter in an empty structure that belonged to 'other'!

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11. ON THE NEED FOR DISCIPLINE

"Speech at Rajshahi Students’ Conference 20.8.1929

Here one begins to see his thinking on need of physical fitness and more for youth.

" ... In matters of physical exercise and military training, Bengal is undoubtedly behind hand, but the growing repressions adopted by Government are gradually enabling us to realize the utility of such a movement and organisation.

"It is said that the movement will prove a failure since it does not provide for practical training in arms. But then, here the fact is overlooked that in military training the Drill Course is followed by Musketry Course. We have to learn to walk first. We have yet to learn the proper positions of the hands or legs while walking. Look to the people of a free country, see how they stand or walk, or make their behaviour while in procession or standing in queues before the booking window of a Theatre, Cinema or a play ground. We lack these qualities. A proper sense of discipline has to be brought in.

"In other countries, the Government itself undertake to impart military training to the people but here in India, obviously, we ourselves have to do it.

"During the last Calcutta Congress, by organising the volunteer corps, we were able to show to the world that in this subject country, too, such a thing could be done."

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"Justification regarding the huge expenditure on behalf of the volunteer corps in the last Congress, was questioned from various quarters. But then the fact was ignored that like the jag, the uniform of the soldier was a symbol of Nationalism. According to military rules, it is obligatory on the part of an officer to salute one of his superior grade. In personal qualities the later may be inferior to the former, but then the “King’s Uniform must be saluted”—the salute, in fact, is not to the person but to the uniform he wears. We want to teach our boys similar respect to the uniform. We want “Esprit de corps”.

Instead of camouflage and salute, it's white khadi pajama and similar as far as uniform goes, but uniform it is; instead of saluting at attention, it's conformity with certain people and their pronouncements, but code of conduct it is, including strict obedience.

Funny, this spirit of obeying the leader was and has been always strongest in congress since Gandhi took over, but it's not seen as such or admitted as such, and not due to lack of uniform and code of conduct either but more of a need of shift in vision in some few cases, of the truly earnest and honest - and a sheer hypocrisy, even outright lying, in others.

Subhash Chandra Bose certainly belonged to the former.

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"Loin cloth cannot bring about such obedience or discipline. That is why, I assert that it is impossible to go back to the days of the bullock cart."

This is where amongst other examples is one where Subhash Chandra Bose was naive, while Gandhi was shrewd. The latter knew how India felt and thought, and how his adopting the attire he did had the result of an automatic obeisance from most of India, with an aura of beginning sainthood that he adhered to in speech, writing and more. It took a very clear, disinterested firmly rooted sense and thinking to see the discrepancies and more of the person, as Bhagat Singh and various others did.

As for bullock carts, perhaps those are the need of the hour, century, future, for earth's survival - environment cannot take the fumes and the year of covid has shown the difference positively.

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12. UNCOMPROMISING ATTITUDE AND FIGHT

"Statement in support of the workers at the Tinplate Company, Jamshedpur, 28.8.1929

" ... The Management appear to be unbending. But while they refuse to deal with the Union, they are doing all they can to cajole and tempt individual workmen. The big officers of the Company including the General Manager do not even hesitate to go from door to door in order to humour the workmen.

"The demands of the workmen are so moderate and the attitude of the local management so unreasonable and uncompromising that we, who have espoused the cause of the workers, have no alternative but to fight to a finish. For this purpose we intend to have the support of the local Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. The Tinplate Company are holding out a threat that if protection is withdrawn they may close down for good and the Burmah Oil Company will then import tinplate from abroad. If the threat is carried out the present fight will then develop into a fight between the Burmah Oil Company and ourselves. In pursuance of that fight we shall approach every factory in India owned by the Burmah Oil Company and shall create a situation such as we have created at Budge-Budge. Steps have been taken in that connection. The unbending attitude of the local management has converted an issue into an all-India question. We, who are not Tinplate workers but are helping them, have been dragged into this fight by the workers themselves. We waited for several months before we intervened but when we found that the poor workers were engaged in a fight against heavy odds and the management were too obstinate, we had to step in. Once we have intervened, we have to fight till the bitter end."

When he speaks of 'the bitter end', he's being not literal, but speaking idiomatically, of course. Else one may ask, what exactly is the 'bitter end' envisioned?

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13. THE ‘ENTENTE CORDIAL’ BETWEEN POLITICAL REPRESSION AND ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION

"Statement as President, B.P.C.C. in an interview with the “Free Press”, 5.9.1929

" ... The Bengal Government is acting up to the pronouncement made in the last session of the Council to the effect that the repressive policy would remain unchanged till the end of the year. I welcome this repression with all my heart. It will only help to rouse our countrymen from their political torpor and thereby prepare the country for a new advance on the 1st of January next.

"What is significant in the present repressive policy of the Government both in Bengal and elsewhere is that the Government has resorted to repression not only for suppressing the political activities, but also for checking the industrial activities of labour, particularly where such activities are calculated to hurt the interests of the foreign capitalists.

"The Government and the foreign capitalists seem to be marching arm-in-arm towards their common goal, viz., the suppression of the movement for freedom—both political and economic. In response to this “entente cordial” we should establish an alliance—offensive and defensive—between the Indian National Congress and the Labour Movement in India. ... If the Government expect that repression will kill or scotch the freedom movement in this country then I say I challenge you to do your worst."

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14. GOVERNMENT BREACH OF FAITH : ON THE REASON FOR THE HUNGER-STRIKE BY POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BARISAL

"Statement, 24.9.1929

"Our countrymen do not probably know exactly why Sj Satindra Nath Sen and some of his co-workers are on hungerstrike. ...

"In July, 1928 in order to end the Patuakhali Satyagraha movement, a compromise was arrived at between all the parties concerned at the instance of the District Magistrate of Barisal. As a part of this compromise all the cases against the Satyagrahis, including proceedings under sec. 110 Cr. P. C were withdrawn.

"About the middle of March, 1929, Sj Satindra Nath Sen and some of his colleagues were suddenly arrested under Sec. 110 Cr. P. C. It soon transpired that the evidence to be tendered in this case referred almost wholly to the period prior to the settlement of the Patuakhali dispute. ... "

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"The assault cases arose out of altercation between the police and jail authorities on the one side and the prisoners on the other regarding conveyance arrangements which should be made for them or they should not be taken to court at all. The prisoners allege that though adequate conveyance arrangements were not made for them, they were forced to go to court under unsatisfactory conditions and even the sick were not exempted. On their refusing to do so, they were assaulted. These assault cases are believed to have been started for the purpose of penalising Sj. Sen and his comrades on the event of the failure of the proceedings under Section 110 Cr. P. C.

"But Sj. Sen did not act hastily though he felt indignant at the attitude of the Government. He waited till the end of May to see if redress through judicial methods would be forthcoming or if his friends outside would be able to bring about his release. When no result was achieved he fell back on himself and resorted to hunger-strike.

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"I visited Barisal in July last in connection with the District Conference and on that occasion I interviewed Sj. Sen in jail. With great difficulty I succeeded in persuading him to give up hunger-strike. I was able to do this only by assuring him on my behalf and on behalf of the Barisal public that his cause would be espoused by his friends outside jail without his resorting to hunger-strike.

"On my return from Barisal I wrote to Government about the grievances which had forced Sj. Sen to go on hunger-strike and I asked for early redress. I was informed in reply that Government were considering that matter but no redress has been forthcoming up till now.

"After waiting for some time and finding that our efforts had failed, Sj. Sen and some of his comrades again resorted to hunger-strike. That hunger-strike is continuing till to-day so far as Sj Satindra Nath Sen is concerned ... It is absolutely certain that if the hunger-strike continues for some time longer it can have only one end, viz., death. Sj. Satindra Nath Sen is persisting in his hunger-strike as a protest against the mean and vindictive attitude of the Government and particularly against their breach of faith in reviving proceedings which they had dropped once for all at the time of the settlement of the Patuakhali dispute. ... We have to tell the Government quite plainly by our attitude and conduct that human life is not cheaper in this country than elsewhere and that the people of Bengal are not prepared to see a repetition of the Lahore tragedy at Baris al."

So this was after death of Jatin Das, which was due not only to the hunger-strike, but also - and, perhaps, far more so - to the tortures inflicted.

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Was there no statement by congress about the hunger-strike by Bhagat Singh and his group in prison in Lahore? Not even about the death of Jatin Das due to hunger-strike compounded by torture?

Was Subhash Chandra Bose not permitted by congress bosses to make any statement?

Or was it a personal disinclination? Did he, too, think that they were merely 'hot-headed', 'misguided', youth, and in this matter concurring with judgement pronounced by Gandhi against them?

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15. THE INDISPENSABILITY OF MASS ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL REVOLUTION

"Speech at Howrah District Political Conference, 28.9.1929

Here one has a glimpse of his inner hidden poet -

" ... Harder and harder problems are presenting themselves before the country every day and as a result of the policy of repression the political horizon of India has been overcast with dark clouds. And as a sort of prelude to the impending storm, sudden gusts of wind are blowing from time to time and flashes of forked lightning are playing at quick intervals. In weather like this, we passengers have been travelling along the path of freedom with our eyes fixed upon the distant goal and with hopes and fears, aspirations and anxieties beating in our breasts!"