Following the leader

In his lifetime, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was on the list of ‘most dangerous men’ in pre-independent India. He was watched round the clock, when he was not in jail, his speeches were recorded, for the fear that they might incite his numerous followers, admirers to act against the British empire.  

Even after his death, the enigma around Bose exists, in fact, it has grown. Many still believe that Bose gave death a slip in the airplane crash that was reported to have killed him and he was still alive, till recently, as ‘gumnami baba’. 

It was, therefore an insurmountable task to write an objective account of the ‘much-storied man’. But Vishwas Patil’s Mahanayak — Subhas Chandra Bose — gives an exhaustive and objective account of Bose, his ideals, beliefs and the circumstances that shaped his ascent into public life and the differences with Mahatma Gandhi and his followers. The book, originally written in Marathi, has been translated into English by Keerti Ramachandra for Westland’s Eka imprint. 

Talking about his best-selling book and its several translations into Indian languages, the retired IAS officer says, “My novel comes under the tag of historical fiction, but it is based on the solid research and investigation of documents and correspondence. My projection of the triumvirate that is Subhas, Gandhiji and Nehru, is based on the letters that they exchanged, documents and accounts of various sessions of the Indian National Congress. It was a huge, gigantic work that took five years of my life. And today I feel that it has solidly paid me. Even after 20 years of its publication in the original Marathi, Mahanayak is still being read. So far in Marathi, 20 editions, in Hindi, nine editions and in Kannada four editions, even in English the third large edition through Westland, is available. It was published originally by Rajhans Prakashan and later on all major publishers in various languages took it up — Ananda publishers in Bengali, D C books in Malayalam, R R Seth in Gujarati, Sapna Book House in Kannada and so on.” 

Patil, who has won Sahitya Akademi award for Zadazadti, says that the war time life of Netaji in Burma campaign was not known. “I wrote about 200 pages on these important episodes in Netaji’s life. I have also written about Japaneses characters like Mutaguchi and Sato. I have also written about Netaji’s love story with Emilie Schenkl, which is based on their love letters,” he adds.

With more and more writers going back to pre-independent India and digging up material, the readers are now more aware of their interpersonal equations. A case in point is Bose’s strained relations with Gandhi and Nehru. Nehru and Bose were once hailed as rising suns of the country and the Congress party, but their personalities and circumstances surrounding them, drove them apart. Despite their disagreements, they held each other in high regard. Patil has sketched in detail their closeness and disenchantment with each other. He says, “The egos of Gandhiji, Nehru, Subhas and Barrister Jinnah were an unavoidable part of their career. Once Mr Jinnah was a die-hard follower of Lokmanya Tilak, but he got shabby treatment from Gandhiji after Tilak’s death. Slowly, he drifted away from the nationalist leaders and eventually, there was no way left for him to return.” 

Besides the Gandhi-Nehru episode in Bose’s life, which is still raked up, one issue that still hasn’t found closure is that of the Forward Bloc’s leader’s association with axis powers — Germany, Italy — during the Second World War. Mahanayak gives us a clear picture of why Bose took that decision and how he didn’t align to Hitler’s dictatorial policies and hounding of his people. When asked if it was wise for Bose to do this, to bring down Imperialist Britain, Patil explains, “During the Second World War, Britishers claimed they were following the rule of God, then they should have simply wrapped up their rule and gone back to England. Why did they wait for riots to erupt and the killing of thousands of innocent people? We should not forget that when the Britishers sensed that they couldn’t control India militarily, only then they took the decision of leaving this land. In those days, Subhas accepted the principle that ‘Enemy’s enemy is my friend’. I don’t think that approach was unwise. Moreover, we should not forget that though Netaji travelled through the dens of dictators, he never compromised the destiny of India. We should appreciate the gigantic help — three divisions that is 60,000 soldiers of Japan — offered by the Japanese Government to Azad Hind Fauj. Eighty per cent of the soldiers perished on the route to Imphal and Kohima.” 

When asked how should the present generation of Indians perceive the leaders of freedom struggle and their contribution, the author says, “We have to remember that Indian leaders like Gandhiji, Nehru, Savarkar and Netaji are stars and they rose at the time of freedom movement and shone with their roles, whatever was gifted to them by God and destiny. India achieved freedom both through violent means and non-violent struggle. However, we can’t ignore the remark of war time British Prime Minister Attlee, ‘We left India due to the pressure of Mr Bose more’. India’s ex-High Commissioner in London N G Gore had told me this point many times during our meetings.”

Excerpts from a letter Anita Bose Pfaff wrote to Vishwas Patil 
Dear Vishwas ji,
With great pleasure I have learned that your book on my father’s life and his role in India’s struggle for independence is still a great success — that indeed it has reached a greater readership in several languages since the time when I had the pleasure of releasing the Gujarati translation many years ago.
As I also told you at the time of our last meeting, I am convinced that the life history of a historic person, written in the form of a novel, based, however, closely on historic facts is likely to reach a wider audience than a drily written academic treatise. 
By choosing to present a lively history of a person like Netaji who has certainly led a life which did not lack drama, suspense and romanticism you certainly pay him a true homage. Your treatment of history is in favourable contrast to some so-called factual “analyses” of authors who pedal outrageous non-sense about Netaji’s life after death.
With my good wishes and blessings, Jai Hind
— Anita B Pfaff