The role that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose played in India’s independence struggle has been much discussed and there are today several good books written about him and the role of the Indian National Army by both Indian and foreign scholars. many more new studies are being published every year.
This is indeed a welcome development. but the point I would like to raise today is that the existing studies on Netaji while focusing on his role in our freedom movement do not pay adequate attention to Netaji’s ideas about the new India he had envisioned.
Very few, if any, among our independence leaders had thought and planned about the political system, the economy and the social structure that independent India should strive towards. Netaji had, in fact, put forward a blue-print for India of the future in his famous Haripura address as President of the Indian National Congress in February 1938.
At the Haripura Congress session Subhas Chandra Bose as the President spelled out the fundamental rights of the people of India – rights that every citizen of India would enjoy once India was free of British rule. I would like to mention a few of those rights:
every citizen of India has the right of free expression of opinion, the right of free association and combination, and the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, for a purpose not opposed to law or morality;
every citizen shall enjoy freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess and practise his religion, subject to the public order and morality;
the culture, language and script of the minorities and of the different linguistic areas shall be protected;
all citizens are equal before the law, irrespective of religion, caste, creed or sex
At Haripura, that is more than eight decades ago, Netaji had also set out a plan for reconstruction once India had attained her freedom. and he said:
“regarding reconstruction, our principal problem will be how to eradicate poverty from our country.”
that many years ago Netaji had warned us that our main problems after independence would be “poverty, illiteracy and disease” !
Netaji had thought of everything including the importance of India’s foreign relations. he talked of developing international contacts by Indian cultural organisations and by Indian chambers of commerce to raise India’s profile across the globe. he emphasised that free India would be a positive force in the world.
You may be surprised to know that as way back as 1928 when India was in the throngs of British colonial rule, Subhas Chandra Bose was thinking of democracy as the political framework for free India. let me quote what he said in his presidential address at the Maharashtra provincial conference in Poona (now Pune) on 3 may 1928:
“Democracy is by no means a western institution; it is a human institution. wherever man has attempted to evolve political institutions, he has hit upon this wonderful institution of democracy. the past history of India is replete with instances of democratic institutions.”
He went on to say: “Among the Khasis of Assam, for instance, it is still the custom to elect the ruling chief by a vote of the whole clan; and this custom has been handed down from time immemorial. the principle of democracy was also applied in India in the government of villages and towns.”
Today when we find democracy in crisis in many parts of the world we need to remind ourselves of the faith that Netaji placed in democracy. Democracy is not a perfect system but it is certainly the best available system.
We must of course admit that the smooth functioning of democracy demands certain pre-requisites. for example, to begin with we need an electoral system that allows voting to take place in a secure and transparent way. We need a multi-party system which will ensure against the installation of a one-party state which descends into an autocratic state. We also need a well-functioning legislature and a genuinely independent judiciary.
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