Gandhi and Bose: Ideological Differences

• 1942, Gandhi called Bose the "Prince among the Patriots". Death of Bose was reported, Gandhi said that Netaji’s "patriotism is second to none... His bravery shines through all his actions. He aimed high and failed. But who has not failed."
• Netaji will remain immortal for all time to come for his service to India.
• Bose aware of Gandhi’s importance, called him “The Father of Our Nation”.
• “yield to none in my respect for his (Gandhi’s) personality” adding “it will be a tragic thing for me if I succeed in winning the confidence of other people but fail to win the confidence of India’s greatest man.”
• Both men considered socialism to be the way forward in India.
• Gandhi did not subscribe to the Western form of socialism which he associated with industrialisation, but agreed with the kind of socialism advocated by Jayaprakash Narayan.
• Gandhi and Bose were religious men and disliked communism.
• Both worked against untouchability and spoke for women’s emancipation.

Gandhi	Bose
Non-Violence versus Militant Approach
Believer in ahimsa and satyagraha, the non-violent way to gain any goal. Unarmed masses had little chance of success in an armed rebellion	Bose believed that Gandhi’s strategy based on the ideology of non-violence would be inadequate for securing India’s independence. His mind, violent resistance alone could oust the alien imperialist rule from India. Considered the Gandhian civil disobedience campaign as an effective means of paralysing the administration.
Means and Ends
Gandhi felt that the non-violent. propagated could not be practised unless the means and ends were equally good. Not just use any means to achieve an end Deep dislike for the ideas of the Fascists and the Nazis. He saw Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan not just as aggressors but as dangerous powers.	Bose had his eye on the result of the action. Openly criticised the British for professing to fight for the freedom of the European nations under Nazi control but refusing to grant independence to its own colonies, including India. Admired the Nazis and the Fascists for their discipline. He was just a pragmatist; he was against the Fascist theory of racial superiority and the Fascist acceptance of capitalism
Form of Government
Gandhi’s ideas on government can be found in the Hind Swaraj (1909); it was “the nearest he came to producing a sustained work of political theory.” Idealised state his - Ramrajya. Did not need a representative government, a constitution, an army or a police force. "At the individual level Swaraj is vitally connected with the capacity for dispassionate self assessment, ceaseless self-purification and growing self reliance." Sceptical of the party system and sure that representative democracy could not provide people with justice. Opposed to centralisation. Basic unit, people will always abide by the ideals of truth and non-violence. Every village would be a self-sufficient republic or panchayat. Panchayat - five persons-male and female - elected annually. “In the ideal State. . . there is no political power because there is no State. But the ideal is never fully realised in life. Hence the classical statement of Thoreau that the government is best which governs the least is worthy of consideration.” Visualised a loose linkage of independent village republics as the ideal form of the State. Democracy would not be possible without high morality. Gandhi laid more emphasis on duties than on rights.	Democracy was the acceptable political system for India. Later, political system - a State of an authoritarian character. Early as 1930, Bose expressed "a synthesis of what modern Europe calls Socialism and Fascism. We have here the justice, the equality, the love, which is the basis of Socialism, and combined with that we have the efficiency and the discipline of Fascism as it stands in Europe today", he called 'samyavada' Bose admired discipline and orderly approach to anything, impressed by the methodical and systematic approach of the British and their disciplined way of life. Not a Nazi or a Fascist, he supported empowerment of women, secularism and other liberal ideas. Neither was Bose a communist, he considered himself “a socialist, but that was a very different thing from being a communist. Felt that the theoretical ideals found in Marx’s writings could not be applied in India without a lot of modification. After the achievement of independence, Bose considered leftism would mean socialism. National life would have to be on a socialist basis. Initial stage of authoritarian rule, there could be formed “a new India and a happy India on the basis of the eternal principles of liberty, democracy and socialism.” October 21, 1943, the formation of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India), he post as Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army. Named himself head of state, prime minister, and minister for war and foreign affairs.
Militarism
Gandhi was against the military on the whole. His Ramtajya - built on the concept of truth and non-violence and self-regulation, not require either police or grandiose armies Gandhi, “demoralises those who are trained for it. It brutalises men of naturally gentle nature.” Main causes of war, according to Gandhi, were racialism, imperialism and fascism. Not against defensive war. Military was required for Self-defence, but it was to be on minimal scale.	Deeply attracted to military discipline. Full dress uniform, reviewed his ‘troops’. Gandhi and most of his supporters were uneasy with this display
Ideas on Economy
Own brand of Economic Vision - Decentralised economy without state control. Dismissed both capitalism and Western socialism. Developed the idea of village Sarvodaya - “back to the roots” vision. Production was for immediate use and not for distant markets. Agriculture prospered, industry was decentralised business was through small scale cooperative organisations. Against largescale industrialisation, strong objections to labour saving machinery. Not against instruments and machinery that saved individual labour "Mechanisation is good when the hands are too few for the work intended to be accomplished. It is an evil when there are more hands than required for the work, as is the case in India". He wanted the capitalists to be trustees, and as such would take care of not only themselves but also of other, mutual trust and confidence.	Economic freedom to be the essence of social and political freedom. Favour of modernisation. Indifference to modern scientific developments, especially in the field of war weapons. Backward agriculture had to be modernised. Agricultural sector, modernisation helped only with the development of industry, which could absorb the surplus labour from agriculture. India to progress, a comprehensive scheme of industrial development under state ownership and state-control would be indispensable. Need to set up a planning commission to advise the national government. Abolition of landlordism and liquidation of agricultural indebtedness, impressed by success attained by the Soviet Union in economic development. Reasons for demanding Industrialisation - solve the problem of unemployment. Socialism, he said, was to be the basis of national reconstruction and socialism presupposed Industrialisation. Compete with foreign countries, improving the standard of living. Classify - heavy, medium, and cottage.
Religion
Gandhi was primarily a man of religion - went beyond narrow sectarianism Gandhi there is no higher way of worshipping God than serving the poor and identifying God in them. Considered different religions to be merely the different paths towards the same destination. All religions are based on the same principles, namely, truth and love. Claimed that religion is a binding force and not a dividing force. Each person should follow his or her own religion freely, not conceive of a state without religion. Religion were at the base of his idea of state too.	Subhash Bose believed in Upanishadic teachings. Bhagavad Gita and was inspired by Vivekananda. Free of bigotry or orthodoxy. Non-discrimination on the basis of religion and in context he took up the Hindus’ cause when he demanded that Hindu prisoners be given the right to do Durga Puja just as Muslims and Christians were allowed to celebrate their festivals. Motivated Indians towards freedom struggle through Hindu symbolisms. Named his force Azad Hind Fauz - Many non-Hindus in that army and who were close to him. INA was to be a mixture of various religions, races, and castes with total social equality of all soldiers. Common celebrations of all religious festivals took place in the INA. Bose was a secularist with an impartial attitude to all religions. Free India must have an absolutely neutral and impartial attitude towards all religions and leave it to the choice of individuals to profess or follow a particular religion of his faith. Religion is a private matter. Economic issues cut across communal divisions and barriers.
Caste and Untouchability
Eradicating untouchability, maintaining the varna distinctions of the caste system and  strengthening tolerance, modesty and religiosity in India. Any Shastra propounded untouchability that Shastra should be abandoned. However, supported the varna system; he believed that the laws of caste were eternal, and were the base for social harmony.	Bose looked forward to an India changed by a socialist revolution that would bring to an end the traditional social hierarchy with its caste system. Completely rejected social inequality and the caste system. Favour of inter-caste marriages & spoke vehemently against untouchability. Inspired by Vivekananda in his belief that the progress of India would be possible only with uplift of the downtrodden and the so-called untouchables.
Women
“To call women the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to women. Instrumental in bringing women out of their homes to take part in the struggle for freedom. Involved bringing women out of the purdah. Apart from bringing women into the struggle for swaraj, he vehemently opposed various social ills affecting women like child marriage, the dowry system and female infanticide, and the treatment of widows. considered women to be the presiding deities of the home, But he did not ask women to walk out of their homes and launch  gitations, personal or public, against their plight or a satyagraha within their exploitative domestic environments. He drew his symbol of his ideal woman from the figure of Sita who bore patiently and bravely all the injustices heaped on her by Rama.	Robust view of women. Differing from the German National Socialists (Nazis) and the Italian Fascists, considered women to be the equals of men. Prepared to fight and sacrifice. Arduously campaigned to bring women more fully into the life of the nation. Maharashtra Provincial Conference in May 1928, declare - “The status   women should be raised and women should be trained to take a larger and more intelligent interest in public affairs… it is impossible for one half of the nation to win freedom without the active sympathy and support of the other half. Insisted - separate planning commission for womem, chaired by Rani Lakshmi Bhai Rajawade. 1943, women to serve as soldiers in the Indian National Army.  Rani of Jhansi Regiment, Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan (Sahgal after marriage) Given the same treatment as the men and received no special privileges. View, women should be given a high position in the family as well as in society. Female emancipation, in liberating women from age-old bondage to customs and man-made disabilities, social, economic and Political. Wanted women to get all-round education. All for abolition of purdah and also supported widow remarriage.
Education
Against the English system of education & use of English as a medium of instruction. Advocated free and compulsory education for all-boys and girls between 7 and 14 years. View: Education should be an integrated approach to the full development of the personality include physical training and high moral principles along with intellectual and cognitive development Differentiated between learning and education, knowledge and wisdom, literacy and lessons of life. Education should be a means of attaining knowledge and wisdom that ultimately place the seeker on the spiritual path, not merely a means to make a career and achieve social status. Education should be a means to enlightenment. Wanted the Hindu scriptures to be a part of education as they propounded discipline and self-restraint. Nai Talim or basic education for all in 1937. Education was to emphasise on holistic training of mind and body, so along with academics, there was to be purposeful manual labour. Handicrafts, art and drawing - Fundamental teaching in Nai Talim. Want Indian villages self-sufficient, emphasised on vocational education	Subhash Bose was for higher education, especially in the technical and scientific fields, as he wanted an industrial India. National Reconstruction will be possible only with the aid of science and our scientists. Indian students to be sent abroad for "training in accordance with a clear and definite plan so that as soon as they returned home, they may proceed straight away to build up new industries"