Netaji could not support Sri Aurobindo’s renunciation of political life and his retirement to Pondicherry

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Netaji would never genuflect before self-seeking politicians Sir, ~ JK Dutt in his homage to Subhas Chandra Bose (Perspective page, 23 January) has suggested that there was a secret deal between Netaji and the Indian leadership whereby Netaji was forced to reconcile to the status of a five-star prisoner in Russia enjoying all comforts and facilities on condition that he would remain hidden forever from the vision of his countrymen and the world. The author has, however, not produced a single evidence in support of this preposterous blackmail theory. Is it not inconceivable that a person of Netaji’s stature would genuflect before self-seeking politicians and succumb to their blackmailing? Would he ever dream of exalting his own interest over that of his motherland? It is true that his rivals, particularly Nehru and Patel, would have pounced on him had he returned to India but the people would have enthroned him at the helm of affairs. Neither Nehru nor Patel would have dared to defy the popular will which Bose represented.

If Netaji had really opted for a life of tranquility, it was to satisfy his spiritual yearning which was his first love and testified by himself in his famous essay My strange illness. It is likely that he felt an aversion for the brand of politics represented by his rivals which was the epitome of pettiness and vindictiveness. Netaji was a spiritual mystic by nature and a politician by necessity. Dilip Kumar Roy has expressed his conviction that had Bose opted for spiritual life, he would have attained much greater fulfillment than he did by entering the world of politics. It is quite likely that though Netaji could not support Sri Aurobindo’s renunciation of political life and his retirement to Pondicherry, yet in his heart of hearts he craved for a similar life of spiritual meditation. Once he told Dilip Kumar Roy that he wanted to go to Pondicherry but desisted because he knew that in that case he would not be able to return.

Bose’s greatest sacrifice was that he abandoned the truest call of his nature for the sake of his country. If at all he opted for a life of self-effacement, it was never the result of blackmail but rather a belated realisation that enough was enough and the time had come to respond to the call of the Himalayas, the abode of eternal peace, as he himself said. Bose also said to Ba Maw that he pined for spiritual life but had to respond to the call of his country. I fail to understand how the author proposes to establish his “blackmail” theory. Could any power under the sun blackmail Netaji? To suggest that he was blackmailed, is to belittle his greatness. ~Yours, etc., Sumit Mukerji, Kalyani, 31 January.