Gandhi and Clash with Bose: Opposite Idiologies

Gandhi for all his title of 'Mahatma' was in reality a hard boiled politician. He had nurtured a policy of Ahimsa or non violence and he was loathe to let anyone oppose it. This policy was not confined to his personal life, but he enforced it with an iron will on the Congress party. Subhas Bose was a fiery politician from Bengal who had directly opposite views to Gandhi. Whereas Gandhi believed in non-violence and Satyagrah to throw out the British, Bose believed in more aggressive methods including going to war. He was of the view that shaking hands with the devil was not a bad thing if it ousted the British. That made him incline to Germany and Hitler. Gandhi opposed this tooth and nail and had already given his tacit assent for the Raj by condemning Hitler and Nazi rule. In the famous Lahore session of 1939 the clash between the two came to the fore. Bose had a large backing in the Congress party itself and in the Presidential election of that year he defeated Gandhi's nominee and protege Sitaramiah by a wide margin. Gandhi was aghast at the defeat of his nominee and he saw in Bose a threat to his leadership and philosophy.

Gandhi above all was a politician and he at once along with Nehru decided that Bose must be removed as Congress president. All this makes pretty sad reading now and is brought out in Leonard Mosley's book'The last days of the British Raj'. Gandhi started a unique method to oppose Bose. He declared along with his confident Nehru that there will be co-operation with Bose. He started complete non-cooperation with Bose and this frustrated Bose no end as Gandhi and Nehru would not reply or answer anything Bose asked or proposed.

Bose saw the game of Gandhi and he resigned as Congress party President. The rest is history as Bose charted a dangerous course and sided with Hitler and japan. But Gandhi remained steadfast in his opposition to Bose.