A CONGRESS LEADER

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 80, 5 April 1938, Page 4

A CONGRESS LEADER

HIS CAREER IN INDIA

BOSE ON THE OUTLOOK

Subhas C. Bose, newly-elected president of the Indian National Congress Party, is one of the leaders of the extreme Left Wing of that body, says the London correspondent of the "Christian Science Monitor." Interviewed in London recently, Mr. Bose gave an impression alike of modesty and vigour. A slight, youthful figure wearing the Indian conventional middle class dress of long brown chupkuh (cassock) with lighter coloured trousers and cap, he spoke excellent English. Asked what hia attitude would be towards the Right V/ing of the Congress movement, ho said frankly: "We recognise'that the interests of the two communities are not identical, but we believe we can keep, the whole together." He added that' I the people that had to be mainly con-v sidered were the peasants who, he stated'impressively,1 "are India." In his view, the people of India have entered upon a struggle'for freedom in which they have aligned themselves with democratic world force» similarly engaged whether in China or in Spain.

Regarding the Congress Ministers now in charge of \ seven out of the eleven new Provincial Governments in India, he said there will be no hesitation in withdrawing them at any time when this expedient is considered the best means for attaining the full liberty they are resolved to secure. He drew a very sharp distinction, however, between the Provincial Governments and the Federal one proposed to be set up at the centre. "There is no analogy," he said, "between acceptance of office in the provinces and at the centre, for no one' sees anything in the Federal plan that is worth while to perpetuate."

SUPPORT FROM MOSLEMS,

The Moslem community, he claimed, will stand behind Congress in opposing the entire plan as now adopted for a Federal Government. They are quite prepared for the fight that must come over this issue, he;'said.

Mr. Bose differs from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi iri.'his determination not only to get rid of the British connection but also to free the peasants from what;he. regards as the oppression iinderj^hich . they now suffer from IndianTSbneylenders, landlords, and industrialists.- •■■■■ !•/.';■■■ :.'■':■■>' •■'.•■ ;

As these last-named classes Have hitherto been an important So.urce of the finances of the Congress, ,it , has sometimes been doubted whether "that body would be able to hold together under his leadership. But Mr. Bose made no secret of. his intention to

stand by his tenets. '

Though, still himself at ah':age Remarkably young for political leadership of any kind, he has* already had a most stormy career in 'India, wjhere his preaching against the continuance of British rule has 'brought shim into frequent serious,conflict with.,the law.

Indeed, the great popularity he enjoys in Indian Nationalist circles has been largely due to the complete disregard of self with which he has' courted arrest and imprisonment in *> what he has conceived to have.been the cause of freedom for his fellowcountrymen. In between prolonged period's of detention or imprisonment he has at different times been elected to such important posts, as those iof chief .executive.officer of the Calcutta Municipality, president of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, secretary of the All-India Congress Committee, president of the Indian Trade Union Congress, and Mayor of Calcutta.

ELECTED WHILE IN PRISON.

His election to the last-named of these posts actually took place when he was-in prison.

His conflict with authority dates from his student days. His career witnesses indeed to tthat.widespreadt t .widespread political movement in Bengal which has turned some of the highest educational institutions in Calcutta into nurseries of youthful rebellion against the hitherto dominant power. ■ •'

Born in 1897, Mr. Bose early distinguished Himself as a student at the Calcutta University. In 1920 he appeared successfully in the competitive examination for admission into that handsomely paid and extremely highly esteemed body of British public > officials, the Indian Civil Service. In the following year he resigned the prospects thus assured to him, of a brilliant official career and proceeded to devote himself to Indian politics. He obtained a degree as Bachelor of Arts at Cambridge University in 1922, subsequently returning to India, where he at once became a prominent member of the Nationalist movement and a vigorous supporter of Mr. Gandhi's non-co-operation campaign.