Freedom Struggle

KEY POINTS

·        Today’s India may have looked very different in that case.

Partition could have been avoided

·        The main reason is that Bose’s popularity among the Muslim elites surpassed that of Gandhi and Nehru.

·        At least one-third of the INA was composed of Indian Muslims loyal to Bose.

·        Gandhi’s Hindu attire and vocabulary had turned off most of the Muslim elite as had Nehru’s attitude towards them.

·        Many people believed that, Bose’s views on communalism, his force of personality and his relationship with Jinnah, might have been able to persuade the Muslim League leader not to insist on Partition.

·        And thus the great tragedy of 1947 might have been avoided.

Changes in election outcomes

·        Even Bose could have been competed with Muhammad Ali Jinnah for the loyalty of the Muslim elite.

·        Thus, making a fundamental difference to the outcome of the 1946 provincial elections in which the League bagged most of the Muslim seats.

Split in INC

·        Netaji and Nehru had differing views on key issues, and their two personalities were simply too strong for either to give in to the other.

·        Over time the rift between Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Bose would have certainly led to a split in the Congress.

Outflank Hindu Nationalists

·        Even assuming India was divided, Bose as the nationalist par excellence but secular to the core would have been able to outflank Hindu nationalists.

·        Nehru’s commitment to a secular India was second to none but his secularism was both liberal and effete.

·        Bose’s secularism tinged with hyper-nationalism based on the INA’s motto “Unity, Confidence, and Sacrifice” would have been far more muscular and could have prevented Hindu chauvinism from gaining traction.

Non-aligned foreign policy

Netaji would not have shared Nehru's idealistic vision of a non-aligned foreign policy.