Modi Should Beware of Netaji’s Contentious Legacy

The PM needs to tread carefully when it comes to Bose. Netaji’s legacy could do the BJP more harm than good.

The BJP’s search for new national icons has gone into overdrive since Narendra Modi took over. It began with Sardar Patel. The 182-foot statue of him being constructed near Vadodra sealed the deal. Even Ambedkar’s legacy is being contested, with both the BJP and Congress trying to appropriate the Dalit icon.

Now, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose has joined the league of coveted icons. But his legacy being far more dubious than the others, it could backfire for the BJP.

The Patriot

Bose’s patriotism is beyond question. From his time in the Congress to the formation of the Forward Bloc and even as the head of the Indian National Army, he was always staunchly against British colonialism, arguably, to a far greater degree than Nehru or Gandhi.

There is also potential political mileage to be gained from jumping on the Netaji bandwagon. The BJP is looking to make its presence felt in West Bengal in the 2016 polls. For many Bengalis, Netaji is an almost mythical figure.

And the recent furore over Nehru’s ‘spying’ on Bose’s family has brought him back to the national consciousness. On his trip to Germany, Modi even met Surya Bose, Netaji’s grand-nephew, who wanted the ‘snooping files’ declassified.

Dubious Legacy

Anti-British sentiment aside, there are many questionable aspects to Bose. A recent report in the Times of India points out Bose’s dictatorial tendencies, his penchant for militarism and his disturbing affinity for Nazism.

So long as there is a third party, the British, these dissensions will not end. These will go on growing. They will disappear only when an iron dictator rules over India for 20 years. For a few years at least, after the end of British rule in India, there must be a dictatorship... No other constitution can flourish in this country and it is so to India’s good that she shall be ruled by a dictator, to begin with ...
– Subhash Chandra Bose, 1943

Bose saw himself as a ‘strong leader’ in the mould of Mussolini and Hitler. For him, India needed a “combination of National Socialism (Nazism) and communism”. He also went in for grand, self-aggrandising displays when he got the chance.

In 1938, at the 51st session of the Congress at Haripura, Bose was the president. He organized for himself a grand ceremony that was no less than a victory march of a triumphant ancient Indian king returning from digvijaya. He supposedly entered the venue in a chariot drawn by 51 bullocks, accompanied by 51 girls in saffron saris, after a two-hour procession through 51 gates that also had 51 brass bands playing.
– The Times of India

Many detractors of Modi often accuse him of being dictatorial and some of them have gone so far as to call him a fascist in the past. With his mandate in the general elections, he has been able to put the ghost of the 2002 Gujarat riots behind him.

Is the political battle in Bengal really worth the potential stigma of Bose’s contentious legacy? Modi needs to tread carefully – any potential electoral gains could be offset by Bose’s lack of credentials as a democrat.