The Dream That Wasn't

Chapter: Eklavya

(For Chapter:The Dream - http://mool-dhara.blogspot.in/2014/04/the-dream-that-wasnt.html)

I was packing my bags to go back to Delhi forever when my landlord came rushing inside my room without even caring to knock on the door.

“I read about your Dream on mool-dhara” my landlord said and fell silent. His eyes were stuck on the brown leather suitcase lying on the top of the almirah in my room.

“So… did you like the article?” I asked him in an attempt to distract him.

He looked at me and said, “I want to narrate you a story”.

* * * * * * *

I remember I was coming back home one day when I saw a huge crowd gathered outside my house. There was a make-shift stage in our veranda and a leader was giving a speech from it. My father was standing right beside this man.

“Who is he?’ I asked my amma.

“He is the new president of Indian National Congress, Subhash Chandra Bose” she replied.

At first I thought Netaji was too young to be a Congress President. There were other stalwarts in Congress like Nehru; then why should Congress elect a young leader like him as their president?

“Oh, his status is even bigger than Pandit Nehru”, my Amma replied.

I sat among the crowd to listen to Netaji. He was a powerful speaker. His ideas were unconventional unlike his contemporaries. For example when other Congress leaders like Gandhiji and Nehru wanted freedom from British in phases, Netaji was advocating complete, unconditional Independence for India. He was demanding ‘Poorna Swaraj’. I decided to join Netaji there and then.

Netaji's demand for Poorna Swaraj and idea to use force against the British to achieve means had won him fans in Congress. But Gandhiji was unhappy with this cultural change in Congress. Netaji’s schemes were against the moral principles of Gandhiji. In Gandhiji’s opinion Nehru was a more appropriate leader to lead Congress.

To put it aptly, the triangular relationship of Gandhiji, Nehru and Netaji  could be compared with Guru Dronacharya, Arjuna and Eklavya from Mahabharat. It was a known fact that Netaji considered Gandhiji as his mentor. Rather Netaji was the first person to address Gandhiji as 'Father of our Nation' long before the title was officially given to Gandhiji after independence. But Gandhiji seldom gave Netaji that status of a pupil. Gandhiji had a special liking and an even more special plan for Nehru.

But within Congress, in presence of Netaji, Nehru’s importance was diminishing. And Gandhiji-led clique didn’t like it at all. So in the next year’s President Elections of Congress, Gandhji decided to place a candidate against Netaji. Gandhji was confident that his candidate would be more acceptable to people than Netaji himself.

But my father, who was also Netaji’s closest ally, understood the game plan well in advance. He galvanised all the south Indian votes of Congress towards Netaji. I, myself travelled to different places to convey this message of my father to other Congress leaders who wanted to see Netaji getting re-elected.

When the election took place Netajii was re-elected as the President of the Indian National Congress and Gandhiji’s candidate suffered a defeat. For Gandhiji, the water had breached the gates of the dam.

In a Congress rally, with Nehru sitting on one side and Netaji on the other side, Gandhiji whispered into Netaji’s ears.

“For a guru to have a pupil, the pupil must be ready to offer his guru a guru-dakshina".

"Bapu, please ask me. All I have, is yours" replied Netaji with complete sincerity.

"Leave Congress for Nehru."

Netaji stood up on the dais and announced his resignation there and then.

* * * * * * *

"Thus the Eklavya whom you were seeking in your article on mool-dhara was none other than Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who gave away his proverbial thumb as a guru dakshina. That was his dedication towards Gandhiji" my landlord concluded. His eyes had become wet.

“I know what happened next” I interrupted my landlord.

“He went to Russia and Germany to seek help, but their response was disappointing. From there he went to Japan, where Subhash Chandra Bose established the foundation of Indian National Army. But the Japanese forces were defeated by the British forces in the Battle of Kohima and Imphal. And as a result, INA was forced to pull back.”

I didn't stop there.

“All the soldiers of INA were imprisoned by the British Army. To avoid arrest, Subhash Chandra Bose escaped to Japan. And then a Japanese plane carrying him crashed in Taiwan and he died.”

“Not all of that is true” interrupted my landlord.

“Which part are you talking about?” I grew curious.

* * * * * * *

Netaji didn't leave India before forming his own political party, Forward Block. My father was appointed secretary of the party. Netaji understood the risk India could suffer under the propaganda politics of Nehru and to some extent that of Jinnah who wanted a separate country for Muslims living in India.

Needless to say Gandhiji was happy because now Nehru could easily establish his dominion over Congress. But what did Gandhiji get in return from Nehru?

The independence was around the corner and Nehru was the president of Congress again. Gandhiji had complete faith in his favourite pupil that Nehru would never let the country be divided. Gandhiji assured everyone that if at all the country divides, it will only be divided over his dead body.

Nehru was in a hurry to be the Prime Minister. He no longer wanted to wait for the truce between Hindus and Muslims in India. He let the partition took place.

* * * * * * *

“Jawaharlal Nehru went on become the first prime minister of the divided India and Gandhiji died 5 months later in January 1948” I recollected.

“Yes. My father was present at his crematorium along with Netaji….”

“With Netaji? You mean to say Subhash Chandra Bose was alive when Gandhiji died! But his plane crashed in 1945..”

“He never died in any plane crash. He was always alive.” revealed my landlord.

* * * * * * *

India was partitioned in 1947. At that time he was in Lahore, in disguise, helping people to migrate safely to India. My father and many other associates of Netaji helped him in this task. When Kashmir was burning after independence he took up the work of providing relief and rehabilitation to the people. He used his experience of setting up Indian National Army to tackle this gigantic task with efficiency and resourcefulness.

Congress, under the leadership of Nehru, created a complete mess in Kashmir. He thought of making a political comeback in the general elections of 1951 and set things right in India. But Congress swept the elections and Nehru was elected the Prime Minister of India again. Forward Block couldn't win many seats.

And then somewhere in 1950s Nehru setup a commission to find out what actually happened to Subhash Chandra Bose. My father told me that Nehru had come to know that Netaji was alive and hence he had grown suspicious of Netaji coming back into mainstream politics. As a result, anyone who was found involved with Netaji and the Indian National Army was put behind the bars. Police came to our house also and arrested my father on the charges of treason. My father died in jail 4 years later.

But Netaji was untraceable.

Netaji perhaps realised that it was better to die as a hero than to live long enough to see you become a villain. And in my opinion, it was the right thing to do. We all love heroes who die tragic deaths, don’t we? And if there is a mystery involved around him, that is even better.

  

Soon Forward Block became redundant in most part of the country in the absence of Netaji. Dynasty became the policy and politics of Indian National Congress. There was nothing left of Netaji other than a troubled legacy.

What you wrote in your last article could actually have been true if Netaji had his way.

Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram would have been playing for India. Mahindra & Mahindra would have been Mahindra & Mohammad. Kashmir would have continued to be known as 'The Heaven on Earth'. Terrorism wouldn't have existed. And India would have extended from Afghanistan-Iran in the west to Myanmar in the east, from Kashmir in the north to Kanyakumari in South.

* * * * * * *

“So what happened to Netaji if he didn’t die in the plane crash?” the mystery was still unsolved in my head.

“Honestly speaking, I don’t know. He lived a life of ‘bahrupiya’ for many years and never stayed at one place for long.”

“When was the last time you saw Subhash Chandra Bose?”

“In August of 1975. He had come to stay with us. He stayed in this house, in the room where you stay… And then one day he went to the beach for a walk and never returned. He left his brown leather suitcase behind.”

* * * * * * *

I pulled down the brown leather suitcase from the top of the almirah. 

It had a combination lock with three wheels of alphabets. I rotated the first wheel till “S”, second wheel till “C” and third till “B”. The lock opened.

The suitcase had clothes of plain white cotton. There was a case for spectacles. There was also a diary and an un-posted letter to someone called ‘Emilie’.

I opened the letter; it had a photograph inside. In the photograph Gandhiji was sitting in the centre whispering something in Subhas Chandra Bose’s ears, who was sitting on his left. Jawaharlal Nehru was sitting on the right side of Gandhiji.

There was a message written with blue pen on the other side of the picture.

“Probably this was the moment that changed the course of Indian history forever… Pakistan would never have been created”

* * * * * * *