25. Sugata Bose, A Hundred Horizons (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press: 2006), 177 26. Ibid., 175 27. Bose, Horizons, 181 28. Stephen P. Cohen, “Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army,” Pacific Affairs 36, No. 4 (winter, 1963-1964) 416, http://www.jstor. org/stable/2754686 29. Ibid., 428 30. Sugata Bose, Horizons, 179 31. Gordon, Brothers, 545-546 32. Ibid., 542
BOSE AS NETAJI In order to better examine the tactics of Subhas Bose it is necessary to address the period after the 1939 conflict. After Bose was forced from the presidency of the Congress in 1939 he left the party and was able to form his own independent movement replete with his own political rituals and symbols. Subhas Bose recognized the political genius of Gandhi’s complete political statement through rituals and symbols and he attempted to employ the same tactics in order to reify his status as the Netaji. His attempts at compromise left him without a political party and forced him from his own country. Subhas Bose left India as a fugitive and sought to return on the strength of an invading army made of expatriate Indians living in Southeast Asia. On 2 July, 1943 Bose arrived in Singapore and quickly worked to organize both an army and a provisional government; a government that Bose believed would govern India after a military defeat of the British.
Much of his language began to hearken to the violent rebellion of 1857. While aboard the Japanese submarine en route to Singapore, Subhas wrote a speech calling for the women of India to militarize. He named the woman’s division of the army, Rani of Jhansi, after a revolutionary of 1857.25 He also adopted the slogan “On to Delhi” in another reference to the violence of 1857. His reference to India’s past indicates his attempt to tie India’s violent, progressive future to India’s past. Bose had not invented violent revolution; it was a part of India’s cultural legacy. The time for satyagraha had passed and Bose’s appeal for “total mobilization for a total war” appealed to many including thousands of Tamils who felt underappreciated as a martial race by the British.26
In addition to a change in diction, Bose’s freedom movement was replete with the symbols of his nationalism. For instance, the chosen name for the provincial government Azad Hind doubled as the battle cry “Free India.” The chosen flag for Azad Hind, a leaping tiger, symbolized Indian power, strength, and action. Additionally, the leaping tiger was reminiscent of the rebel sultan of Mysore who resisted the British in the 18th century.27 There was no ambivalence in the message Subhas Bose was making and its effects were noticed more than his politics. As Gandhi epitomized satyagraha symbolically, Bose epitomized Azad Hind. After World War II ended the officers of the Indian National Army (I.N.A.), were courtmartialed for deserting the British Army. In their testimonies they list several reasons for joining the I.N.A., but according to the British, the most threatening reason was the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose.28 The British preferred the mass non-cooperation of Gandhi to a military assault by a Bose led army.
A major criticism of Subhas Bose the political theorist is that he lacked an organized ideology or political structure. Military historian Stephen R. Cohen observes: “Bose demonstrated that doctrinal purity is not a precondition for popularity in Indian politics (and may become a handicap) when a leader has a clear-cut popular goal and demonstrates a willingness to act.”29 At this juncture, the British appeared weak and distracted by the war with Germany and Italy; the nationalist tide had turned opportunistic and violent. Bose harnessed that sentimentality to organize his army and government; policies were secondary to action. This fervor helped Bose raise large amounts of money from expatriated Indians.30 However, Bose’s army failed in reaching Delhi and he would never set foot in India again. His mystique as Netaji grew when he was pronounced dead on 18 August after his plane crashed en route to Japan. Many in India refused to believe Bose would surrender life so young and so abruptly.31 In life he attempted to reproduce classic Indian leadership in a modern guise and died a self-proclaimed martyr for Indian freedom.32 The legacy of Bose was his ability to give voice to the growing mass who were tired of Gandhian idealism. 32
DUJSAS: DUKE UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES