On Netaji Subhas Bose’s 128th birth anniversary, it’s crucial to celebrate his vision of a free, secular India that transcended religious and caste identities – especially given how the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and Hindutva organisations are polarising society along religious lines through majoritarianism. Hugh Toye’s 1959 book, The Springing Tiger, describes Bose’s determination to abolish caste and religious distinctions, citing an Indian National Army sepoy who said, “In India we have many religions and many gods. But here everything is Jai Hind.”
This unifying “Jai Hind” slogan stands in stark contrast to today’s India, where prime minister Narendra Modi uses religious slogans like “Jai Bajrang Bali” to seek votes in Karnataka (violating the law), and BJP and Hindutva leaders employ “Jai Shri Ram” to intimidate those of other faiths. Those claiming Bose’s legacy should heed his example of uniting people.
In An Indian Pilgrim: An Unfinished Biography, Bose rejected divisive historical narratives, writing:
“I am inclined, however, to think that in proportion to their numbers, and considering India as a whole, the Muslims have never ceased to play an important role in the public life of the country, whether before or under British rule-and that the distinction between Hindu and Muslim of which we hear so much nowadays is largely an artificial creation, a kind of Catholic-Protestant controversy in Ireland, in which our present-day rulers (i.e. the British) have had a hand.”
He further argued:
“History will bear me out when I say that it is a misnomer to talk of Muslim rule when describing the political order in India prior to the advent of the British… Whether we talk of Moghul Emperors at Delhi, or of the Muslim Kings of Bengal, we shall find that in either case the administration was run by Hindus and Muslims together, many of the prominent Cabinet Ministers and Generals being Hindus.”
This historical understanding led Bose to mobilise people across faiths in India’s freedom struggle. He criticised Hindutva figures like V.D. Savarkar for collaborating with the British, equating Savarkar’s actions with those of Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
In his August 17, 1942 Azad Hind Radio address, eight days after Gandhi launched the Quit India movement, Bose said:
“I would request Mr. Jinnah, Mr. Savarkar, and all those leaders who still think of a compromise with the British, to realise once for all that in the world of tomorrow there will be no British Empire.”
While promising honoured places for freedom fighters in future India, he warned that “supporters of British Imperialism will naturally become non-entities in a free India.” Yet today, Modi and BJP leaders promote Savarkar as a role model, contrary to Bose’s vision.
Bose’s commitment to inclusivity was evident in his desire to adopt a national song which would be acceptable to all Indians regardless of their religious creed. He readily concurred with Rabindranath Tagore (as a member of the review committee for a national anthem) when Tagore said of Bankim Chandra’s iconic ‘Vande Mataram’ — a portion of which has been adopted as India’s national song — that its core “is a hymn to goddess Durga: this is so plain that there can be no debate about it. Of course, Bankim does show Durga to be inseparably united with Bengal in the end, but no Mussalman can be expected patriotically to worship the ten-handed deity as Swadesh (the nation).”
This inclusive vision influenced Bose’s Indian National Army. When Gandhi visited imprisoned INA soldiers, they described being served segregated “Hindu water/tea” and “Muslim water/tea.” The soldiers told Gandhi they mixed these together – a lesson in communal harmony that deeply moved him. This vision remains vital today as India faces divisive Hindutva narratives.
S.N. Sahu served as officer on special duty to former president K.R. Narayanan.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
