Who Brought Freedom, Gandhi or Netaji?

October 12, 2009

Ashwin Krushna Navami, Kaliyug Varsha 5111 source;hjs

Recent research shows that Netaji Subhas Bose and the INA were responsible for the British leaving in 1947 in a hurry. The Fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942 rather than Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement was the beginning of the end of the British Empire. Dr. N.S. Rajaram finds out more.

There is a story that the late Mao Zedong, when asked his opinion about Napoleon as a leader replied: “How can I say? He is too recent.” Napoleon’s career ended in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and Mao died only in 1976. So what could Mao have meant when he said that Napoleon was too recent? He meant that a certain amount of time has to pass before we can view historical events and personalities objectively. Our reading of recent events is bound to be colored by our closeness to them. This truth was brought home to me a few years ago when I was visiting Penang in Malaysia as the guest of some veterans of World War II, but first some background.

In India, people are brought up on the story that Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru—with others receive grudging notice if at all—led a heroic struggle freeing India from the British rule. Miraculously, the whole thing was accomplished without resort to violence, by the application of a mighty spiritual force called ahimsa (non-violence) unleashed by the Mahatma. If true it is a tribute not only to the power of Gandhi’s (and Nehru’s) spiritual vision, but also a lasting tribute to the spiritual sensitivity of the British rulers. Like the tiger in the children’s poem (govina kathe in Kannada), which killed itself rather than eat the calf, the British gave up the empire and left.

This received a jolt during a recent trip to Southeast Asia where I had occasion to visit some people who had served with my late father during World War II. Their account of their experience in the period from 1942 to 45 casts serious doubt on this beautiful story. Here we are faced with a dilemma— the conflict between what we read in history books and what the people actually saw on the ground. The usual story is that after some initial reverses the British defeated the Japanese. But those who actually served there, now in their late 70s and 80s, remember it quite differently. Uniformly, this is what I heard everywhere and from everyone.

“When the Japanese attacked, the British ran away. They were very clever. They had a wonderful life with bungalows and butlers and cooks and all that, but as soon as the Japanese came, they ran away. And once they got back to India, they sent Gurkhas, Sikhs, Marathas and other Indians to fight the Japanese. They knew it was too dangerous for them. That is how we got independence in Malaya.” Malaysia was then called Malaya and Singapore was its capital.

Not one of them remembered the British fighting the Japanese— only running away. They remember also Indian soldiers coming and fighting; some of them stayed back in countries like Malaya (as it was then called), Singapore and other places. One man, who as a youngster had been my father’s orderly during the War, invited me to his home in Penang for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Singapore. What he told me took my breath away.

“That is why the British left India also. When the war was over, all the Indian soldiers who had defeated the Japanese returned to India, and the British got scared. They didn’t want to fight the Indians who had just fought and defeated the Japanese. So they ran away from India also.”

I tried to explain to him that Gandhiji’s nonviolence was the force that convinced the British to leave. But this man, not an intellectual but a battle-hardened soldier with sound commonsense would have none of it. “If it was non-violence, why didn’t they leave earlier? Gandhi and the nonviolence were there before the war also. Did they have to wait for the Japanese to come and teach them non-violence?”

One may smile at this simple way of looking at history, but as will be seen later, this revisionist view has good support. The ‘authorized’ version with Gandhi and Nehru as central figures continues to be taught in India because it benefits those in power. It shows the British also in favorable light as a magnanimous and even spiritual people, which of course they don’t mind. But history shows a different picture.

The year 1942 was momentous. It was the year in which the British Empire suffered a massive defeat at the hands of an Asiatic people (Japanese); it was also the year in which Mahatma Gandhi launched his famous but ill-fated Quit India Movement. Subhas Bose also entered the picture at about that time, first in Germany and later in Southeast Asia. But first it is necessary to get an idea of the momentous impact of the Japanese victory on the psyche of the colonized people as well as on that of the colonizing powers. What triggered it was the Fall of Singapore.

The fall of Singapore in 1942 heralded the end of the British Empire and of European colonialism in general. Indian independence came in 1947, but what really ended the Empire was the fall of Singapore. This has received scant notice by Indian historians who remain trapped in Eurocentric thinking, but there is ample evidence supporting it. Among Indian historians, only R.C. Majumdar has seen its significance: the fall of Singapore broke the spirit of Imperial Britain. As we shall soon see British historians have themselves admitted it. Let us look at what really happened to the British in 1942.

When the Japanese attacked Singapore in February 1942, its large and well-equipped British garrison surrendered without a fight. These well-attended ‘pukka sahibs’—used to good living—had little stomach for war. For decades, the ruling authorities had avoided facing the truth that they were not a fighting force. They had deluded themselves with resounding slogans— calling Singapore the ‘Bastion of the Empire,’ ‘Impregnable Fortress,’ ‘Gibraltar of the East’ and such. None of it helped when Singapore fell to a Japanese army less than a third the size of the defending forces.

Yet, so far removed from reality were Singapore’s British residents, that even on the verge of surrender, a gunnery officer was refused permission to mount guns on the golf links for defending the city. He was told that he needed permission from the golf club committee. And the golf club committee would not be meeting for at least a week, so he better hold off!

In the fall of Singapore, its symbolic significance was infinitely greater than the military defeat. It destroyed the myth of European superiority over the Asiatics once and for all. Historian James Leasor wrote in his Singapore, the battle that changed the world:

“Dazed by the incredible superiority of the Japanese, the defenders’ will to win had withered. … The psychological damage was even greater than the military defeat— and this had been grotesque enough. …Under the lowering Singapore sky lit by the funeral pyres of the British Empire … a door closed on centuries of white supremacy … ” Actually the Japanese had planned it that way— to break the sense of superiority exuded by the Europeans, by the British in particular, in their dealings with the Asiatics. Leasor wrote:

“At the start of the campaign, each Japanese soldier had been issued with a pamphlet that set out Japan’s reasons for fighting the British and the Americans. Her [Japan’s] claim was that she would liberate East Asia from white rule and oppression,” for since “We Japanese, as an Eastern people, have ourselves for long been classed alongside the Chinese and the Indians as an inferior race, and treated as such, we must at the very least, here in Asia, beat these Westerners to submission, that they may change their arrogant and ill-mannered attitude.”

The Japanese attack on Singapore accomplished much more: it ended the British Empire to be followed swiftly by the end of European imperialism itself. To return to the fall of Singapore, as with the fall of Hong Kong a few weeks earlier, the only worthwhile resistance had come from the Indian garrisons— the Sikh and the Gurkha regiments. The prestige and the mystique associated with the British Empire were shattered by these ignominious defeats.

And this is how my gracious host in Penang and his friends, men who had seen it at first hand, remember it. As they saw it, the massive defeat destroyed the British morale. It was the specter of the whole nightmare being reenacted in India, with nearly three million Indian soldiers just returned from war, which made the British leave India. “They ran away,” the old soldier kept telling me repeatedly.

I may point out that this is also the view of many Indians who saw action in the war— both in the Indian Army and those who fought in Subhas Bose’s INA. Indian soldiers saw that their British officers were frightened to death of the Japanese, while they themselves were prepared to fight them.

After the War, the British defeat in Singapore was followed by the French defeat in Dien Bien Phu at the hands of Ho Chi Min’s soldiers in Vietnam. This laid the groundwork for the American defeat in all of Vietnam and their inglorious flight from Saigon. No one today talks about the superiority of the ‘White Race’. The first nail in coffin was driven by the Japanese in Malaya in 1942.

It was this changed perception, that the British were just ordinary mortals like the rest that allowed Netaji Subhas Bose to recruit Indians in Southeast Asia into the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauz or the INA). Subhas Bose saw that the Indian armed forces were the prop of the Empire— not just in India but everywhere the British went. But Gandhi and Nehru, preoccupied with their utopian dreams of nonviolence failed to realize its significance. When the opportunity arose, Bose seized it to transform the armed forces into a nationalist force, while Gandhi and Nehru started the Quit India Movement which collapsed in a few weeks.

Before we look further, we need to ask: what support do we have for this revisionist view, that Subhas Bose and the INA brought freedom to India? The evidence is ample and impeccable. Several have noted it, but the most distinguished historian to highlight Bose’s contribution was the late R.C. Majumdar, one of modern India’s greatest historians. In his monumental, three-volume History of the Freedom Movement in India (Firma KLM, Calcutta) Majumdar provided the following extraordinary evidence:

“It seldom falls to the lot of a historian to have his views, differing radically from those generally accepted without demur, confirmed by such an unimpeachable authority. As far back as 1948 I wrote in an article that the contribution made by Netaji Subas Chandra Bose towards the achievement of freedom in 1947 was no less, and perhaps, far more important than that of Mahatma Gandhi…”

The ‘unimpeachable authority’ he cited happened to be Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of Britain at the time of India’s independence. Since this is of fundamental importance, and Majumdar’s conclusion so greatly at variance with the conventional history, it is worth placing it on record (Volume III, pages 609 –10).

When B.P. Chakravarti was acting as Governor of West Bengal, Lord Attlee visited India and stayed as his guest at the Raj Bhavan for three days. Chakravarti asked Attlee about the real grounds for granting independence to India. Specifically, his question was, when the Quit India movement lay in shambles years before 1947, where was the need for the British to leave in such a hurry. Attlee’s response is most illuminating and important for history. Here is Governor Chakrabarti’s account of what Attlee told him:

“In reply Attlee cited several reasons, the most important were the activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which weakened the very foundation of the attachment of the Indian land and naval forces to the British Government. Towards the end, I asked Lord Attlee about the extent to which the British decision to quit India was influenced by Gandhi’s activities. On hearing this question Attlee’s lips widened in a smile of disdain and he uttered, slowly, putting emphasis on each single letter— ‘mi-ni-mal’.” (Emphasis added.)

Another point worth noting: after the fall of Singapore that ended the British Empire, the most dramatic national event was the INA Trial at the Red Fort— not any movement by Gandhi or Nehru. This led to the mutiny of the naval ratings, which, more than anything helped the British make up their minds to leave India in a hurry. They sensed that it was only a matter of time before the mutiny spread to other parts of the armed forces and the Government. None of this would have happened without Subhas Bose and the INA.

The crucial point to note is that thanks to Subhas Bose’s activities, the Indian Armed Forces began to see themselves as defenders of India rather than of the British Empire. This, more than anything else, was what led to India’s freedom. This is also the reason why the British Empire disappeared from the face of the earth within an astonishingly short space of twenty years. Indian soldiers, who were the main prop of the Empire, were no longer willing to fight to hold it together. This is the essence of leadership.

This brings us back to Mao’s half joking reply— that it takes time to get the proper historical perspective. It is now more than sixty years since India became free. We can afford to look back and see the real reasons for British leaving India in a hurry. To sum up, by the end of the War, Gandhi was a spent force, and Subhas Bose was India’s most popular leader.

Now, sixty years and more later it is time to recognize the truth: first, it was the Fall of Singapore in 1942, not the Quit India Movement that was the beginning of the end of the British Empire; and finally, it was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose more than anyone else who was responsible for India’s freedom in 1947.

Hindus have the right to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome
03/10/2009 12:00:53 V Sundaram, IAS, Retd. source-haindvakerlam

Last week (21-9-2009) more than Five Lakh Muslims "occupied" the National Highway 8 between New Delhi and Gurgaon in a planned and methodical manner and offered their Eid prayers with supreme contempt for the regular users of this busy National thoroughfare. Many innocent citizens who could not avoid using that NH 8 on that day to reach their respective places of destination felt unduly harassed and persecuted by this exercise of "minority rights" by the Muslims.

This reminds me of a mammoth Islamic meeting addressed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the and the destroyer of United India, one month before the Direct Action Day in Calcutta in July/August 1946. His main aim on that occasion was to terrorize the Hindus of India into meek submission and acceptance of his Two-Nation Theory which resulted in the birth of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. Thanks to the pseudo-secular policy followed by Pundit Nehru and his Congress successors in Office, the Muslims of India today have been able to gain a blanket unfettered political license to blatantly deny the sacred and time-honoured fundamental religious rights of the majority Hindus in their own homeland today. Today the Muslims in India are flexing their political muscles with uncontrolled fervour to intimidate the peace-loving Hindus of India using the unrequited political support of the Congress government, which derives its transitory political sanction from its commitment to minority vote-bank politics.

All the Hindus of India have now come to understand that the Muslims and Christians are the most favoured children of the Government of India. John Dayal is a known Hindu-baiter in India. When he defended the rights of Muslims to lay siege to the National Highway 8 on the specious plea of saying EID Namaz, Sri R. K Ohri I.P.S (retd) and Secretary General, Patriots Forum in New Delhi gave him a fitting rejoinder in this manner: ". Please tell me is it possible suddenly, improptu, for lakhs of Namazis to suddenly converge at a particular point to lay seige to NH-8 on the plea of saying EID Namaz? You know very well that such large numbers of Muslims (according to Indian Express there were 5 lakhs of them) do not, repeat DO NOT, live in the villages adjacent to that particular spot on NH-8. Still you are trying to defend something totally indefensible. Your flimsy excuse that Muslim demand for an Idgah might have been denied is again a typical "John-type" argument. Was any demand for Idgah in that area ever made, was it refused at all? No, never. Yet you must keep on telling lies ad infinitum. . This "show of force" was a very well organised event to showcase the rising crescendo of jihadi footfalls across India and their booming clout in the ruling political dispensation!

At this rate a day might come, in not-too-distant future, when Namazis will lay seige to all major roads leading to most metropolitan cities. That might as well coincide with the launching of a diabolical war by Pakistan based jihad outfits. Please stop befooling Hindus and let them wake up to the growing threat of India emerging as a global battleground of clash of civilization. That might happen around 2020, or latest by 2030."

On Monday (21-9-2009), the day of Eid, Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi Archdiocese Fr Franco Mulakkal read out the Pope"s message to Muslim leaders, including Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad"s residence. Nabi Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Yahya Bukhari said "This has come for the first time. The message talks about Muslim and Christian unity but we should not limit ourselves to that. India has a secular fabric and we are an example of unity". Fr Mulakkal said, "The Pope has invited all of us to work together to remove poverty (Hinduism!)." While the Vatican has sent its greetings to the Muslims by post all these years, for the first time a representative of the Pope personally went to meet Muslim leaders and read out the Pope"s open message. What is the political need for the Pope in Rome to direct his representative in New Delhi to read out a message to the Muslims of India?

In this context I would like to invite the attention of all concerned to the fact of Pope Benedict"s citation (some time ago) of a 14th century Byzantine emperor to the effect that "Mohammad brought things only evil and inhuman and that He spread by the sword the faith he preached." This statement led to world-wide violent protests from the Muslims. The Pope today has completely somersaulted from this antagonistic position and come to terms with the Muslims of India in the same supplicating manner comparable in letter and spirit as the Congress Party in India. No discriminating observer can fail to notice the common bond of political hypocrisy uniting the Pope in Rome with Powers in New Delhi. Perhaps, W. Somerset Maugham(1874-1965) had people like this Pope in mind when he wrote as follows in his famous novel Cakes and Ale (1930): "Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pur¬sue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole time job.".

President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), not belonging to the Sangh Parivar or the RSS or the VHP to the best of my knowledge, declared with Christian authority in 1803: "The Christian God is cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust". The great English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote with equally Christian conviction (devoid of Indian Christian Hypocrisy!): "Missionaries are perfect nuisances and leave every place worse than they found it"". What do we understand from all this?

In these very columns on 23-5-2006, under the title "Unprovoked, unwarranted Papal assault on India", I had observed as follows: "Pope Benedict XVI had come out with his emotional outburst against the Laws of Conversion in India because of his anger at the passage of the "Anti-Conversion Bill" by the Rajasthan State Legislative Assembly. The Pope has the temerity to declare that the Bill goes against the provisions of the Constitution of India. In declaring thus, Herr Ratzinger is only betraying his Himalayan IGNORANCE of the "LAW OF THE LAND"!! "

HINDUS IN ROME DO NOT HAVE THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO CELEBRATE DURGA POOJA DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE CHAIRMAN OF THE UPA CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE, MRS ANTONIA MAINO GANDHI HAILS FROM ITALY AND STILL HOLDS AN ITALIAN PASSPORT!! Kanchan Gupta, the eminent journalist, has raised the right questions: "What does it mean to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome? It means to be humiliated, harassed and hounded by city officials who happen to be pious Christians."

The Municipal Police authorities of Rome have recently withdrawn permission, granted three weeks ago, to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome. The cancellation came a few hours before the Ambassador of India was scheduled to inaugurate the Puja. No acceptable explanation has been given. I understand that some Italian Officials told the organizers of Durga Puja in Rome that the cancellation of permission at the eleventh hour, both last year and this year, was meant to be "retaliatory action against the persecution of Christians in India". Thus we can see that Governments of Christian countries in the West like Italy, who so often blithely criticize the "lack" of "religious freedom" in India, have no compunctions about trampling on Hindu feelings, emotions and sentiments at home.

I fully endorse the view of Kanchan Gupta: "Let the West look at its own ugly, septic warts. If Christians can celebrate Christmas in New Delhi, Hindus have the right to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome. This is non-negotiable."

I spoke to Dr.Subramanian Swamy, a great Field-Marshall for the deathless cause of survival of Hinduism today. He told me: "I strongly condemn the Italian government for arbitrarily and wilfully disrupting the Durga pooja in Rome organised by the resident Bengalis. The Indian Ambassador was scheduled to appear at the pooja, and the organisers had taken prior permission as in previous years. Yet the Rome police entered the pandal and disrupted the arrangements. Let the Italian government be warned that that there is a limit to the patience even for Hindus. Hindus in India know how to reciprocate such vandalism if the Union Government under the influence of an imposter Indian citizen of Italian descent fails to protect the sacredness of Hindu festivals. I demand an immediate summoning of the Italian Ambassador and a strong protest be lodged."

The Muslims of India can stop Durga Pooja or Ganesh Pooja any time any where depending on when they want it and where they want it. This one-sided capricious assertion of "minority rights" is completely supported and sustained by the pseudo-secular Government of India. The Muslims of Undivided India have got their independence both in Pakistan and India today. The Hindus are still awaiting the dawn of their freedom and independence. WE NEED A SECOND REPUBLIC OF INDIA.