Sunday, August 23, 2015

How India would have evolved if Subhash Chandra Bose would have been the first Prime Minister of India instead of Pundit Nehru?


"Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!" -- Bose on 4 July 1944.

Even though Bose and Mohandas K. Gandhi had differing ideologies, the latter called Bose the "Prince among the Patriots" in 1942.

Bose is self reliant; Nehru's achievements in academics were rather pale compared to Bose. Nehru was always propped up by his father Motilal.

  • He secured the second position in the matriculation examination of Calcutta province in 1911.
  • He came 4th in the ICS examination and was selected but he did not want to work under an alien government which would mean serving the British. He resigned from the civil service job and returned to India in 1919.

Bose was ELECTED the President of All India Youth Congress and also the Secretary of Bengal State Congress. In contrast Nehru was always NOMINATED - backed by Gandhi because of the monetary support to the Congress by Motilal Nehru.

 
 
Bose stood for unqualified Swaraj (self-governance), including the use of force against the British. This meant a confrontation with Mohandas Gandhi, who in fact opposed Bose's presidency, splitting the Indian National Congress party. Bose attempted to maintain unity, but Gandhi advised Bose to form his own cabinet. The rift also divided Bose and Nehru. Bose appeared at the 1939 Congress meeting on a stretcher. He was elected president again over Gandhi's preferred candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Due to the maneuverings of the Gandhi-led clique in the Congress Working Committee,Bose found himself forced to resign from the Congress presidency.

But for this India would have got independence prior to World war II i.e. 1939.  On the outbreak of war, Bose advocated a campaign of mass civil disobedience to protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's decision to declare war on India's behalf without consulting the Congress leadership. Having failed to persuade Gandhi of the necessity of this, Bose organised mass protests in Calcutta calling for the 'Holwell Monument' commemorating the Black Hole of Calcutta, which then stood at the corner of Dalhousie Square, to be removed

Bose saw industrialization as the only route to making India strong and self-sufficient.

Bose's achievement in integrating women and men from all the regions and religions of India in the Indian National Army. 

Since a true nationalists Bose - Patel combination would have not budged to anything either internal or external would have made a formidable independent India.

Bose expressed admiration for the authoritarian methods (though not the racial ideologies) which he saw in Italy and Germany during the 1930's, and thought they could be used in building an independent India. Nevertheless, Bose's tenure as Congress Party President (1938–39) did not reflect any particular anti-democratic or authoritarian attributes.

Beyond doubt we can say -- India would have been a merit-o-democratic, and India would not have so much divided on lines of regions and religions
 
(Narayana Rallabandi, Solution Architect @ Oracle India)

No comments:

Post a Comment