The political ideology of Subhas Chandra Bose: A reappraisal

Abstract

The work contained herein is an analysis of the political ideology of the Indian nationalist politician Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945). The work critiques the present historiography in defining accurately the ideology of Subhas Chandra Bose, since at present Bose is variously described as either a fascist or a socialist, or both by modern historians, who cite his similarities to western politicians and politics of the time, and his links with them.
The work subsequently explains in detail the individual aspects of Bose's political maturation, by examining the primary sources on the subject, including declassified sources held within the India Office Library in London, and the numerous papers and articles held by the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. These primary sources are used to re-contextualise the existing arguments of the secondary literature. The work then presents a new interpretation of Bose's ideology: it argues that Bose's ideology far from being a product of his western experience, was effectively formed mainly on the basis of the teachings of Indian philosopher Narendranath Datta (Vivekananda) and the nationalist philosopher Aurobindo Ghose, and other Indians, only accreting aspects of western ideologies where they fitted this Asian whole,
modernising but not negating the essentially Indian origin of Bose's ideological thought. The work explicates through interpretation of the sources the nature of Bose's belief system and describes Bose's political thought from an Indian philosophical perspective, rather than from that of the existing western basis, which it is asserted here is flawed and contradictory. The outcome contributes to the field by synthesising the present ideological .discourse, and delineating a separate, distinctive ideology that defines both the thought and actions of Bose in a more comprehensive manlier.