Interview | Why Netaji Bose remains an inconvenient nationalist despite being immensely popular

Author Chandrachur Ghose, while explaining the riddle of Subhas Chandra Bose being an inconvenient nationalist, also talks about his ties with Gandhi and Nehru, and why his Hitler connection was borne out of his love for India Chandrachur Ghose, with Anuj Dhar, has devoted his entire life to Mission Netaji — an endeavour that works towards decoding the mystery surrounding Subhas Chandra Bose’s ‘life’ post-1945. His new book, Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist, however, isn’t just about Netaji post-1945, but about some “missing gaps” in his life that will help understand the ‘inconvenient nationalist’ better. Elaborating on his plan for the Corporation, he said, “We have here in this policy and programme a synthesis of what modern Europe calls Socialism and Fascism.” He added, “We have here the justice, the equality, the love, which is the basis of Socialism, and combined with that we have the efficiency and discipline of Fascism as it stands in Europe today.” Those who quote the above statements to showcase Bose’s early conversion into fascism need to note what the British Chancellor of the Exchequer said in January 1927. I myself feel, largely from my own instinct, but also from the information I have had from various sources, that there is a growing feeling of sympathy for the INA.” British PM Clement Attlee, in a meeting with MPs, summed up the situation on 13 February 1946: “There are two alternative ways of meeting this common desire that we should arrange to get out, that we should wait to be driven out…” A decade later, in a meeting with the Bengal Governor, Attlee categorically said that the role of Gandhi in India’s Independence was “m-i-n-i-m-a-l”.