At a time when “spiritual wickedness in high places" is manifest, to quote Subhas Chandra Bose’s letter, his great nephew, historian Sugata Bose, spoke on the religious stance of freedom fighters during their time behind bars, including in Alipore Jail.
Speaking on Thursday at the Alipore Museum, Bose made a strong case for Sri Aurobindo's inclusive standpoint even after his release.
In prison, Aurobindo read The Gita and saw Sri Krishna as his guide. A speech he delivered at Uttarpara Joykrishna Public Library after his release is taken as proof of his changed stance. “I say no longer that nationalism is a creed, a religion, a faith; ...it is the Sanatan Dharma which for us is nationalism," Bose quoted from the speech.
Post-colonial secular historians have misinterpreted the speech, he argued, referring to Sumit Sarkar’s dismissive comment that the freedom-fighter turned into a yogi in Pondicherry.
“We must consider what Aurobindo meant by Sanatan Dharma. Otherwise the Hindutva brigade will usurp him,” Bose warned, quoting Aurobindo's definition of the term as “large as life itself”. Even in Pondicherry, he continued writing political commentary. “Those who want to establish Aurobindo as a Hindutva proponent ignore what he wrote in The Spirit and Form of Indian Polity — that the Mughal Empire was ‘a magnificent construction’ and, despite Aurangzeb, it was more liberal and tolerant in religious matters than medieval or contemporary European regimes.”
Aurobindo, he said, celebrated “free life of the regional peoples and the communal liberties, which we need today”.
Chittaranjan Das and Subhas Bose were imprisoned together for a while on December 10, 1921. Subhas was back in jail in 1924 and Das died in 1925. “In a 1926 tribute, Subhas wrote that no other Hindu leader was as much a friend of Islam as Das. His world-love did not make him sacrifice his nationalism,” said Bose, referring to the ultra-nationalism that accompanies Right-wing politics. Bose also discussed Netaji’s prison diaries.
Dinesh Gupta of the Binoy-Badal-Dinesh trio was hanged in Alipore Jail on July 7, 1931. Bose referred to the teenager’s spirited letters to his mother and sister-in-law.
Awaiting death, the 19-year-old wrote that India was supposedly a religious nation. “But fie on religion if a 50-year-old man is allowed to marry a 10-year-old girl!” he continued.
Bose said he wished he could read out another of Dinesh's letters to the ruling dispensation: “For an insignificant cow, there is a fight between brother and brother. Will the Lord open the doors of Vaikuntha or reserve a place in jannat for them?”
The century-old jail, where political prisoners were kept during the Raj, has re-opened as a museum less than a year ago.