Subash Chandra Bose: His Majesty's Opponent by Sugata Bose

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Subash Chandra Bose is a tragic figure in Indian history and an enigmatic personality in Indian historiography. Jawaharlal Nehru, his rival and a self-appointed heir of Gandhi declared with joyful glee that Bose had died in a plane crash near Taiwan and thereby ignited a controversy which is still reverberating. Nehru relief at the untimely demise of Subash Chandra Bose was transparently clear and I dare say that Nehru was the real beneficiary of the death of Subash Chandra Bose. The plane crash removed from the scene a very powerful and charismatic figure from the landscape of Indian politics. And the quick elimination of Gandhiji meant that in the post Independence era, Nehru was virtually without a rival. Even Sardar Patel was constantly humiliated by Nehru in the years following Independence, that he died a broken man, his dreams shattered by the barrage of humiliation inflicted by the first Prime Minister. Incidentally, on the day Gandhi met his untimely death he was scheduled to meet Nehru and talk to him about the impending resignation of Sardar Patel from the cabinet.

The political life of Subash Candra Bose is fascinating and the eminent historian Dr Sugata Bose has done a splendid job in contextualizing the career of Bose within the framework of the national movement. Jawarharlal Nehru being a rumbustious factional leader had created a pro-left faction within the Congress party. While public ally deferring to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru astutely created a ginger group consisting of left wing ideologues like Kriplani and Jayaprakas Narayan and this left oriented faction was being pitted against the nationalist such as Bose. One outcome of this strategy was the marinalization of Subash Chanra Bose within the Congress Party and even when Bose won the election to the Presidency of the AICC, the Nehruvian faction prevailed upon Gandhi to disown Bose. The rest as they say is history.

Bose's decision to leave India and seek the assistance of Japan and Germany still remains a controversial issue in Indian historiography. The pro-Nehru bran of state sponsored historians like Bipan Chandra and the like hint that Subash Chandra Bose was a proto fascist and expalin the alliance with Germany in terms of an inherent anti-democratic streak in the personality of Bose. What they deliberately ignore, and this point is well argued in Sugata Bose's recent book, is that factional in-fighting within the Congress aided and promoted by Jawarhar Lal Nehru had made the exit of Bose from the Congress inevitable.

Sugata Bose has quite rightly pointed out that Bose did not envisage a long term alliance with Germany as he was fully aware of the implications of German Nazi ideology. In fact Germany hardly gave any help to Bose except arranging his transport via submarine to Japan. However, SubashhCharda Bose's alliance with Imperial Japan did result in untold suffering when war crimes were comitted by the Japanese forces on the Islands. Subash Chandra Bose being the head of the Interim Government cannot be absolved from the blame for the massacres in Port Blair. Sugata Bose unfortunately does not deal with this painful chapter.

The book under review is very good and scholarly and deserves to be read by all serious student sof modern Indian history.

Injustice to Anjali Gupta: The Ministry has to answer

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The suicide of the Indian Air Force Officer Anjali Gupta is both shocking and frightening. It is shocking because the so-called electronic media that rallied around Jessica Lal and Ruchika Girhotra completely ignored the plight of Anjali Gupta. It is frightening because a woman who complained about sexual harassment against her superior officers was found guilty of "indiscipline" and her services were terminated and the young woman was discharged "dishonorably" thereby adding insult to injury. The officers against whom Anjali Gupta has complained must be made abettors to the suicide in the same manner that S P S Rathore was proceeded against. If India is to retain its pretension to being a civilized society.

Anjali Gupta had leveled serious charges of sexual harassment against her superior officer who happened to be a male. Her complaint was ignored and her male officers ganged up against her and fabricated a case of "indiscipline" against her and the prime witness against the woman was the very officer against whom she had leveled serious charges. The Supreme Court guidelines for dealing with cases of sexual harassment were completely ignored and this young woman was paraded before a hostile male inquiry committee.

I think the Media which covered the case in the very beginning soon gave up and moved on to other stories. Had the case been fraught under the searchlight of the media then this injustice could have been avoided. Anjali Gupta was driven to suicide by a corrupt male officer corp and an indifferent media.

LIBYA ANOTHER WAR FOR OIL; THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE DISASTER

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NATO forces aided by France and USA have succeded in defeating the Libyan armed forces militarily and driving the legitimate government into exile. This repets the pattern of diplomacy that we have been seeing right from the time the Soviet Union collapsed and USA became the single pole around which the international order revolved. This development marks a reversal of the two principles that had been the basis of Western statecraft from 1648 when the Treaty of Westphalia was signed. The two principles were: respect for the legitimacy of states and their territorial integrity and second non interference in ther internal affirs. These principles were thje lessons drawn from the wars between the Dutuch, the French and other European powers (Jermey Black in his History of Diplomacy) has a very good account of this.

In Kosovo, Srebia, Iraq, Afghanistan and now in Libya the West has invoked two multi national bodies to provide legitimacy for its unilateral interverntion. First, the International Court of Criminal Justice and second the United Nations Security Council. Some support was also garnerred from the Arab League and African Union. It is interesting to note that the Arab League encouraged the NATO to go ahead with the no-fly zone thereby undermining the capability of the Libyans to protect the territorial integrity of their state. The use of the International Court of Criminal Justice in a one sided m,anner is yet another innovstion. In any civil war especially one in which foreigh support is palpable there will be retaliation. The rebels too comitted atrocities in Benghazi for which no retibution is forthcoming. This one sided invocation of International Court of Criminal Justice, a victors court to whcih the defeated are brought in chains, will lead to the establishment of alternate and competing tribunals ion which Bush, Blair and now vern Obama and Sarkozy may be arraigned as "war criminals".

The NATO forces gave blanket support to the rebels and in the run up to the take over of Tripoli NATO launched a relentless air bombardment of Tripoli which did not have an ari defence systtem causing lage scale deaths and the so called frwee embedded media and jounalaists ignored the deaths of civilians in Tripoli while exaggerating the toll in Benghhazi. Surprisingly, the USA has made a hero of Belhadj, a notorious al qaeda operative who was sent to Libya via the "extraordinary rendition" rpoute made famous by President Bush and Libya kept him in prison. Now Belhadj has joined hands with NATO and he is on the same page os the Americans as far as Libya is concerned. The US policy has only led to Libya coming under the influence of the al-Qaeda network and along with Somalia will be the hub of terrorist activity.

One definite consequence of the ill advised invasion is the promotion of "identity politics" and USA will have to bear the brunt of this short sighted policy. Like in Iraq where USA promoted the Shiaas at the expense of the Sunnis,here in Libya the USA is encouraging the Berbers against the Turegs. Largew number of Turgs have been killed and the Western media is complicit in not reporting human rights violation of the Berbers. And as is the case in Iraq the final issue is OIL. Libya has Afric's largest known deposit of Oil and with Saudi Arabia being drained of its reserves by 2025,the Western oil comapnies can exploit Libya along with Iraq for another 30 to 40 years. This is the truth.

TEACHER'S DAY AT PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY

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Pondicherry University, one of the most dynamic of Central Universities in the country celebrated the Teacher's Day in a grand manner. The Vice Chancellor, Professor J A K Tareen has given back to the Faculty of the University the dignity that was denied to it be by individuals who cannot be named. His vision of making the university a leading center for highe learning is being realised and he repeatedly speaks of the low ranking Indian institutions of higher learning get in International surveys such as the London Times list and the Shanghai list. His remedy is to increase the student base of the UNiversity, thereby maving from what can be called fishing in a "small pond" for "crabs and fishes" to an ocean where "whales and sharks" are the quarry--the potential Nobel Prize winners. There is an implecable logic in this analogy and I hope that this grand vision unfloded in this University is realised.

The Chief Guest was Professor M Anandakrishnan, Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIT, Kanpur. His pep talk suited the occasion and he boldly said that the reason for the declining standard of education was he rampant political interference. He pointedly said that if Sir S Radhkrishnan were to revisit the Universities with which he was associated with like BHU, Andhra UNiversity and Madras University he would be shocked at the falling standards. Identity politics coupled with political interference were the two single most important factors for the lack of credible universities in India. Pondicherry University remains an exception primarily because the Vice Chancellor remains committed to making the University a world class institution.


The Best Teacher Awards were presented to the outstanding Faculty members. The teachers were evaluated on the basis of 20 paramenters and the those who scored more than 4.5 on the 5.0 scale were selected for the awards. It was an honour to receive this prestigeous award.

The phenomenal growth of the University has led to the University being ranked at # 16 in a recent survey done by the weekly magazine India Today. Anyone who has been associated with the institution as an oldtimer (those who joined at the very inception of the Univeristy and not those who wafted in with the gentle breeze) will say with conviction that what they see on the Campus is a total transformation of the academic culture and administrative practices.

I wish the Univerity, its Vice Chancellor, Professor J A K Tareen and the students the very best.

DO RAJIV GANDHI"S KILLERS DESERVE MERCY

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Thucydides, the great Athenian historian, has a famous chapter in his book The History of the Peloponesian War in which the fate of the male inhabitants of the island of Melos is discussed in the Athenian Assembly. Known as the Melian Dialogue, this chapter must be read by all those who have rushed into the debate on the fate of Rajiv Gandhi's killers. I do not have any sympathy for Rajiv Gandhi or for that matter the criminal organisation called the Congress Party. I must add that I am one of those who argues vigorously that the Congress should be expelled from the political arena because it organised the largest massacre in the history of independent India and Rajiv Gandhi actively abetted this crime. The fact is that Rajiv Gandhi's killers are now perceived to be icons of Tamil Nationalism makes it difficult for a soft state like India, and a government rendered even more soft by incompetence, dynastic fascism and corruption,to carry out the sentence. I do not think that the killers will be executed on September 9th 2011.

Thucydides with whom I began this blog says that political considerations outweigh moral and even legal considerations while debating the issue of clemency. Will any purpose be served now if the 3 men convicted of killing Rajiv Gandhi are put down. It will only reignite the fire of Tamil ethic nationalism and India cannot afford another Identity founded political movement. Further, the role of Rajiv Gandhi's mother in creating the very organisation that ultimately killed her son will once again come to the fore. Further, the incompetent and politically and militarily disastrous intervention by the Indian Army in Sri Lanka following the Indo_Sri Lnakan Agreement will once again be the focus of attention. And the criminal organisation called the Congress has conveniently chosen to forget the Jain Commission findings because Sonia and her courtiers are now in bed with the DMK in that menagerie called the United Progressive Alliance. All these facts are highly damaging to the Congress and hence the killers will have their sentences commuted.

Whether the 3 killers deserve mercy or not is a moot point. Politically it will be impossible for them to be hanged. Already the Tamil Nationalists are out in straight demanding the commutation of the death sentence. The Gandhi family itself has set the precedent by requesting and getting the sentence on Nalini commuted to life imprisonment. The 3 killers will have their sentences commuted and as they have spent more than 16 years in jail, they will be eventually released. Tamil Nadu has the dubious distinction of releasing life convicts whose sentence in commuted for absurd reasons like the 100th birthday of Mr Annadurai. So far 6 people including a young girl have burnt themselves to death in support of the killers. With this kind of madness around the soft state like India cannot carry out its own judicial verdict.

One last point. Did not Rajiv Gandhi deserve his fate as he was responsible for the largest massacre in the history of Independent India and his 3 killers were only instruments of retribution.

WHY ANNA HAZARA IS WRONG; CORRUPTION WILL NOT END WITH THE LOK PAL BILL

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Like a sleeping mahavishnu, Anna Hazara appears daily before the nation's reading public. His statrments, earthy and pointedly simplistic, has thw xountry entrhralled. The media hype surrounding this 74 year old wonderkid from the boondocks of Maharashtra, is such that even to question his rhetorical and theatrical stuts is to invite the wrath of the hyper active middle class and its acolytes in the electronic media. The whole nation is watching with bated breath his antics and such is the power of the media that a large number of people beleive that corruptionwill just vanish the moment the Lok Pal Bill as drafted bb Anna and his Team is passed. Nothing is further from the truth.

Anna's middle calss movement with its noisy assemblage of journalists, social wannbes, fashion designers, corporate lobbyists are now masquerading as the conscience of the nation. Yhis very class is responsible along with the crimianl politicians for the total collape of the moral fabric of Indian society and yet this class pretends to be an agent of change. Corruption could not have grown to this monstrous propotion without the active connivance of the very class that has now comwe out in open support of Anna Hazare. In fsct, Anna Hazare is not challening dynastic fascism he is only reinforcing it when he declared this afternoon that he will negotiate only with Rahul Gandhi or with the Prime Minister. Is this not an open endorcement of dynasty and we all know that the Gandhi Dynasty is the bebeficiary of the corruption. While he has no faith in parliament, this saith from Maharashtra reposes full confidence in the dynasty.

Corruption will not end in India even if Anna Hazare and his 5 magicians are appointed Lok Pals will sky high powers of investigation and procecution. This is because the electoral system has become the fountainhead of all that is wrong in the Indian variant of democracy. One change that Anna Hazare could have asked for but did not is to insist on the audit of the accounts of the politicaL PARTIES. Since politics runs on black money, the system that generates black money is left virtually untouched by Saint Anna Hazare and his 5 apostles. This condition of subjecting the political parties to the audit peocess wil go a long way in cleaning up the political system. Instead the 4 wise men and 1 wise woman want s Lok Pal who will get into the peicture after the deed is done. There is nothing to prevent the Lok Pal and his fellow members of becoming one more layer in a corrupt pie.

I approve of Anna Hazare total disdain for politicians because India is singularly unfortunate in having full time criminals as part time members of Parliament. Team Anna's draft does not address the issue of wanton criminalisation of the political process. If the bill is passed, as I think it will, then will corruption vanish from India. The naswer is a resounding NO.

Is Indian Independence worth the blood, tears, toil and sweat?

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The celebration of Independence Day has become a hollow ritual. The tricolour which once inspire a whole generation has become the symbol of a corrupt, facist dynasty which runs the Congress party. The speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort has the contrived quality of a ritual whose day has passed. Does the idea of India inspire any hope?

The rampant corruption of which the 2G Spectrum Scam and the CWG scam are but the most egresious examples will have their impact on the electorate in thr next general elections. The Indian people are not concerned with political corruption if it is within managable limits. What has now happened it that the people have realised that the sole purpose of politics is to gain power and pelf and use both to cultivate a "vote bank" as the Congress party has done over the past 40 years. Is this the Freedom for which so many countless martyrs laid down their lives. Had they known that within a few decades of Independence India will fall prey to dynastic fascism, I am sure many would have wondered if freedom is woth the candle.

The Indian politician, like the post-colonial intellectual was the first to realise the absolute goldmine in the form if "identity politics". Starting first with language which led to the division of India along linguistic lines, then caste identities were politisised by V P Singh and his cohorts which in turn led to caste blocks becoming the vote banks of politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadava and Laloo Prasad Yadava. The absolute criminalisation of the political system can be seen in those parts of India where political parties representing caste blocks rule the roost. I, of course have Karunanidh's restwhile regime in Tamil Nadu and Mayavathi's regime in Uttar Pradesh in mind. Is this the freedom the martyrs faught and died for?

Apart from the criminalisation of Indian politics due to the strangle hold of identity politics there are other disconcerting aspects. The electoral process has lost its neutral character. P Chidambaram's declaration as the victor in the Sivagangai Parliamentary elections in 2009 is itself proof of how the rich and the powerful are able to subvert the system. And this man is now the "Home Minister" of India a position once occupied by Sardar patle, Lal Bahadur Sastri and Hon'ble L K Advani. Is this the freedom the martyrs of India died for?

The Indian state is crumbling from the weight of its own monstrous crimes. The entire tribal belt is under the sway of the naxalites and given the disgust the people of India feel toward the political system, it is only a short step toward an alliance between the disgruntled elements and the violent naxalites. Civil society activists like Anna Hazare will be co opted into this corrupt political system, leaving the field wide open for Baba Ramdev.

We have to see whether the India that we know will survive another 25 years. The 4 southern state together with Gujarat and Maharashtra already account for nearly 45% of India's GDP. Regional disparities will lead to the undermining of the political fabric. Unfortunately the whole political system is obsessed with its dynastic fixation aand has no time to think of the problems of India. Is this the India for which the martyrs died?

China has shown that a country can progress in spite of centuries of social and economic stagnation. The Universities in China like Beijing University have risen to the very top of the list of global universities and India is struggling at the rock bottom. Is this the Freedom the martyrs died for? I think when historians look back on the post Independence period of India's past they will not hesitate to conclude that a glorious dream was betrayed by dynastic fascism and corruption.