I have read that Gandhi was an orthodox Hindu and Bhagat Singh was an atheist. What was Subhash Chandra Bose's ideas about religion?
Subhash Chandra Bose was deeply religious. So, he can never be branded as communist in its true sense or pro-communist as some leftist politician parties in Bengal under CPIM Jyoti Basu tried to project. These parties like Foreword Block and RSP promoted propaganda for political gain that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose wanted a communist style rule post-independence. Bengali sub-nationalism has always been a prominent political topic in Bengal and communists like Jyoti Basu promoted this propaganda instead of doing real economic development. Similarly, he was not fascist and took help from Germany and Japan during WW-II just to overthrow British.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was strictly secular and had top military generals Sehgal, Dhillon and Shahnawaz Khan who were from three major religions from India. He has to be secular because he was fighting the enemy using Azad Hind Fauj (INA) who were ex-Indian Army soldiers. Presence of Sikhs and Muslims in Indian Army was in higher percentage compared to Hindu population with respect to actual population distribution. This is because many decades ago, British preferred certain ‘marshal tribes’ like Gurkhas to be preferred in Indian Army. He even modified Bankim Chandra Chatterjee written ‘Vande Mataram’ so that it becomes less Sanskrit and acceptable to Muslim soldiers of INA. He met MA Jinnah who was like him only – ex congressman but never accepted two-nation theory. In fact, when he left India in 1941, the demand for Pakistan was not that strong and Quit India Movement of 1942 also didn’t happen.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose also met VD Savarkar but never endorsed Hindu Mahasabha as his primary enemy was British and post INA formation, needed secular nature of INA. But he was highly religious.
In the month of January 1941 when was then under house arrest in his Elgin Road house and about 15 British detectives were kept to keep an eye on the house. There were about 7 levels of police cordon. But Netaji came out through this police cordon and managed to escape. Just a few days before the great escape, he sent cousin Ila Basu to Dakshineswar temple to bring Goddess Maa Kali flowers and charanamrit (a religious liquid prasad). Netaji was determined not to leave the country without taking the blessings of Dakshineshwar's Kali Maa. Netaji left the country a few days after this incident and this religious person. Wherever Netaji went, he would carry the Gita, chanting Rudraksha garlands and dried Hibiscus flowers of Kali mother's feet. Netaji relied on Maa Kali to conserve energy. But he also ate beef while transiting from Afghanistan just to escape British spies which means he was practical also.
Even when Netaji was in jail, he used to worship Maa Kali and used to write 'Kali Mata' on top of the letters. The hunger strike that Netaji started in the Presidency Jail in 1940 was on the holy day of Kali Puja. Subhash Chandra Bose wrote to the jail chief in the letter- “I repeat this letter, written on the sacred day of Kali Puja, should not be treated as a threat or ultimatum. It is merely an affirmation of one's faith, written in all humility.” "The step that I have now taken is not an ordinary fast. It is the result of several months mature deliberation, sealed by vow prayerfully taken by me on the sacred day of Kali Puja."
Even during the formation of the Azad Hind government, Netaji regularly visited the Ramakrishna Mission in Singapore. Netaji dressed in civil uniform used to worship Maa Kali. Maa Kali was Netaji's source of strength. And with this power, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose jumped into India's freedom struggle. Mother Kali was Netaji's Aaradhya Devi (preferred deity) in every phase of his life. Netaji's Elgin Road house has a picture of a Rudra idol of Maa Kali hanging in the corner of his bedroom. He often rushed to the temple of Maa Kali at Dakshineshwar, drawn by Maa Kali. His heart was attached to Dakshineswar temple. He used to go to Belur Math by boat across the Ganges and used sang Shyama Sangeet (devotional Maa Kali songs in Bangla). Famous people like Praful Sarkar and Congress leader Avinash Bhattacharya often accompanied him on the boat.
His daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff has said the RSS’s ideology and his father’s ideas of secularism and inclusiveness are “poles apart and do not coincide”. The fanfare over the celebration of her father's birth anniversary is to “partially serve their (BJP, RSS) own interests” where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addressed a public event at Shahid Minar, Kolkata to commemorate Netaji’s 126th birth anniversary. Many different groups want to celebrate Netaji's birthday in different ways and a number of them necessarily agree with his ideas,” Bose-Pfaff said. BJP is actually admiring his patriotism and ignoring his secularism. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat while addressing a programme on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary at Shahid Minar in Kolkata on 23 January 2023 said that we should all work together to fulfil Netaji’s dream of making India ‘glorious’ which is same as RSS dream but didn’t say anything on secularism.
So, the final conclusion is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was neither communist, nor fascist and not a congressman or Sanghi. He was just a nationalist. Current BJP party which projects a nationalist outlook with muscular patriotism has highjacked congressmen like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Pranab Mukherjee etc. and project them as true patriot. This suits BJP politically.
BJP admires these patriots but none of them belong to BJP or RSS
Picture source: Google
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