The Biography of Famous Personalities of India will tell you about the controversies, the dark sides of a person that you may have never heard of.
Subhash Chandra Bose In The Congress General Meeting
In The Congress General Meeting
Subhashbabu and Jawaharlal Nehru were chosen as the General Secretaries at the Annual Congress Assembly at Madras (Chennai) in December 1927. Everyone present there recognized Subhashbabu’s fighting spirit and clarity of thought.
Jawaharlal and Subhashbabu played an important role in politics in 1928. Subhashbabu was elected as the president of the Maharashtra Youth Parliament and he roused the spirits of the youngsters at a meeting in Poona.
In 1928, Subhashbabu came to the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmadabad and stayed with Gandhiji for two days. He wished that Gandhiji lead the move to oust the British government. He gave a report about the public awareness in Bengal, the United Provinces, Punjab, Maharashtra, Central Provinces, and other places. He explained to Gandhiji that the time was ripe to fight the British directly.
The labour class of the entire country had become restless. There were strikes at various places. Gandhiji should take the support of, the youth and other workers in the country and head the fight against the British. Gandhiji did not agree with Subhashbabu, and clearly stated that he was unable to take on this leadership at the moment. Subashbabu thus became ready to take on a direct fight against the British government. He had already imparted military training to thousands of Congress workers. Thus, Gandhiji and Subhashbabu had their difference of opinion.
In 1928, the committee formed by Motilal Nehru presented the Nehru Report, which was approved by the Calcutta Congress Summit in the same year. However, the report recommended a ‘status of a Dominion, subject to certain temporary reservations’ to India, which Jawaharlal and Subhashchandra did not agree with.
They insisted on complete independence. Gandhiji mediated between them and they reached a compromise. If the government did not accept their recommendations by 31st of December 1929, Gandhiji would adopt the viewpoint of the youth and demand for ‘Poorna Swaraj’ or complete independence.
The revolutionaries were consolidating themselves by 1929 into a group. The radical revolutionaries believed that individual freedom was not possible without national freedom. So they did not believe in any compromise or middle path. Subhashbabu used to publish these revolutionary ideologies in the daily ‘Forward’.
In order to reduce the impact of Subhashbabu, the Bengal Congress Committee nominated a Gandhian ideologist, Sengupta, against him in the elections for the post of regional president. However, Subhashbabu won the presidency with a large majority.
On 23rd January 1930, a huge rally was organised by Subhashbabu. The British government thought that Subhashbabu was instigating the farmers and artisans against the government. So they arrested him and sentenced him to one year of imprisonment. One day, there was a fight between the prisoners and the jail authorities. Subhashbabu got injured in this scuffle and became unconscious for some time. Many people spread the rumour that Subhashbabu had died. The government got nervous and released him from prison in September.
Subhashbabu contested and won the elections for the position of Mayor in 1930, while he was still in prison.
In March, 1930, Gandhiji began the Civil Disobedience Movement. Subhashbabu went to meet Gandhiji. This was a very moving meeting. Subhashbabu took part in the Movement as Gandhiji’s soldier. The government arrested Subhashbabu in April 1930 and imprisoned him in the Alipur prison.
On 26th of January 1931, Subhashbabu organized a huge rally celebrating Independence Day, as president of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. The government sent their infantry to stop this rally. Many people were injured. Subhashbabu was badly wounded; his body was blood-spattered. And once again he was sent to prison. He was released on 7th of March 1931.
The Congress General Assembly was held in Karachi in 1931. Sardar Vallabhbhai was presiding over this assembly. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were to be hanged to death the next day, the 23rd of March, 1931, for the murder of the British police officer, Saunders. The youth became aggressive. Subhashbabu was a supporter of the revolutionaries. The youth were enraged because neither the Congress nor Gandhiji could save Bhagat Singh. Subhashbabu passed a resolution at the Congress Assembly regarding the death of Bhagat Singh.
When the Second Round Table Conference failed in 1931, the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Satyagraha movement restarted. Someone wrote a letter to Gandhiji alleging that Subhashbabu was supporting the revolutionaries. This letter fell into the hands of the government. Subhashbabu was arrested on 2nd of January, 1931, and imprisoned in the Alipur jail.
Once again, he suffered an attack of tuberculosis. His body became very weak. Colonel Buckley examined him in January, 1933, and recommended that he go to Vienna, Austria, for further treatment. The government accepted this recommendation. He was released on 23rd February, 1933, with the condition that he would not go to England, and sent off in a steamer to Vienna.