Rivalry That Cost India

Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose were India’s two most popular leaders, next only to Mohandas Gandhi. Both of them came from an affluent background, had education in England, possessed an original mind and fought for India’s freedom. Both these leaders made their mark during the boycott movement in 1921 and remained politically close till the middle of 1928 and again for a brief period in 1936-1938, before finally parting ways.

In the mid-1930s, when Bose was talking about an alternative leadership in the Congress Party, Nehru and the Comintern sought to portray him as a fascist, taking advantage of his long incarceration and exile from India, although Bose considered Nehru as a senior partner in the leadership and sought to win over Gandhi’s support in the party’s power-equation with his help till the very end. Bose was however, no longer relevant to Nehru by this time.

This book tells the story of why and how this historic rivalry could perhaps been one of the primary reasons why India missed an early freedom on better terms.