Big Bose

What did Jawaharlal Nehru fear when he continued IB snooping?

- M J Akbar

Subhash Chandra bose and Jawaharlal nehru were too similar to cooperate beyond a point, for there was only one place at the top and Gandhi had reserved it for Nehru.

Both came from privileged families. Both harvested an excellent education into intellectually stimulating public discourse and books: While Nehru was descriptive, perceptive and sometimes lyrical, Bose was analytical and strategic. Both could have been glamorous pillars of the Raj but chose a lifetime of sacrifice and struggle in the cause of freedom. Both leaned to the Left without toppling into communism. Both were heroes, whose private lives were also a testimony to their extraordinary charisma. Both were nationalists as well as internationalists.

It is not widely known that when Bose chose to enter World War-II as an ally of the Axis powers, he told Japan that he had no desire to replace the British empire with a Japanese one. Both were fiercely independent.

Gandhi took an early, and still unexplained, dislike to Bose. Perhaps the Mahatma saw in Bose the one national hero who could interfere with his plans for Nehru. When Bose once welcomed Gandhi in Bengal with a parade by volunteers, Gandhi mocked Bose with uncharacteristic venom.