Sunday, April 14, 2013

Culcutta Chromosome synthesised

The ghost of Subhash Chandra Bose (Bose) has greatly haunted Nehru-Gandhi legacy during Indian freedom struggle in India. The British, or may be Europeans in general, who see M K Gandhi as epitome of non-violence, give full credit to Indian National Congress (INC) for Indian independence. Furthermore, apart from M K Gandhi (Gandhi) and J L Nehru (Nehru), all other important leaders of INC hardly get any mention in western historical narrative. This selective approach builds an impression of INC as 2 men army, who fought for freedom without arms i.e. using non-violent methods.

Is it true narrative adopted by officially appointed historians? Or is it the case that historians were hired to perpetuate 2 men army model of the INC? The article, "Culcutta Chromosome" by Patrick French (P French), is another such article to emphasis 2 men army model of INC, who led India to Independence undermining important contributions of others, Bose in particular.

P French argues, that "it was Gandhi and Nehru's policy of patience that secured Indian independence". This statement is lack of substance and long perpetuated myth by colonial rulers and historians of Marxist flavor in Independent India. 

This blog is to break this myth using most available information in the public domain and hence not making any new revelations. It is known that Bose was advocating armed fight against British. Therefore, British were keen to arrest him. Bose, as P French mentioned, "escaped" from prison in "Calcutta and travelled abroad disguised as a Pathan pilgrim". Bose also went into negotiations with world leaders, during WWII including Hitler, for his cause - armed Indian freedom struggle.

Hitler is a most polarizing figure in world. Someone, who is not vehemently criticizing Hitler, is often dubbed as Nazi supporter and Holocaust denier (From my personal experience in Australia). Horrors of Holocaust hits first mention whenever Hitler is quoted. This information is nicely used by P French when he pose question "Why should Bose be a hero after his embrace of Hitler?" This question has to be answered. 

It is true that Hitler had no positive opinion for Indians. P French rightly mentions, Hitler saying to Lord Halifax, "Gandhi ought to be shot and the Congress leadership executed in batches of 200 at a time". However, Bose had never expressed slightest consent to Hitler's thoughts. In fact, his opinions for Indians were so negative, Hitler declined to meet Bose and ignored his cause.

Bose was planning to build army using Indian soldiers. He saw opportunity, of building army, in Indian prisoners of war (PoWs) kept in enemy camp. Probably P French forgot to mention that Indian PoWs were used as shooting targets by Japanese army. Following Picture (taken from Wikipedia) should refresh these memories.


Bose, talking to Hitler and Japanese for his cause of Indian independence, really saved many lives of Indian PoWs. This, in my opinion, is sufficient to make him a hero. As a hero, a leader, he made Indian National Army (INA) and fought against British for his cause. He nurtured a sense of Indian nationalism in demoralized Indian PoWs. This sense of Indian Nationalism in British Indian Forces, made British government of that time grant India independence.

P French may be ignoring the conversation of the then prime minister of UK C Attlee and Bengal governer B P Chakravarti that states among several reasons, "the most important were the activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which weakened the very foundation of the attachment of the Indian land and naval forces to the British Government." Furthermore, on questioning contribution of nonviolent movements of Gandhi and Nehru in granting India independence, C Attlee replied "'mi-ni-mal' (Emphasis added)." (from http://folks.co.in/blog/2012/01/23/who-brought-freedom-gandhi-or-netaji/)


N S Rajaraman argues that the fall of British empire began with fall of Singapore.  Therefore, independence of India is more closely linked with freedom of South-East Asia. Furthermore, post-war trials of INA members lead to mutiny in British Indian forces. This new development is generally ignored by historians of Marxist flavor. From impeccable British sources, it can be said that Bose made a great contribution in cultivating Indian nationalism. INC, on the other hand, miserably failed to do the same despite enjoying massive popular support. Sometimes, I ask myself, what exactly was the purpose of A O Hume to establish Congress in India.

In article published in The Week, P French makes a subtle and weak attempt to undermine contributions of Bose and therefore fails to decode Calcutta chromosome.