HIS MAJESTY OPPONENT - 10TH ANNIVERSARY

NICE READ ,READ WITH AN OPEN MIND

子供ながらに、１９６７年のインドの共和国記念日や独立記念日の式典のページェントに参加したことがあります。ちょうどそのころからでしょうか？東京の寺に葬られているこの人物の伝記に興味を持つようになりました。そして時々思い出したように読みたくなります。もとはといえば、少年向けの太平洋戦争の歴史シリーズ、そしてその中でのインド国民軍の不思議な存在への興味がその端緒でした。でもどこまで、１９６７年のその時点からこの人物への理解が深まったのでしょうか？今回はboseの係累でもある学者による作品です。さまざまな英文の歴史的な資料がその根幹をなしています。boseのICS任官拒否の経緯はある程度わかりました。そして従来あまり語られることのなかったboseの中欧との個人的なかかわりやドイツでの戦時中の活動についても、その女性関係も含めて、理解は深まりました。ドイツへの脱出そしてそこでの宣伝活動、そしてドイツと日本の潜水艦のリレーによるシンガポールへの移動の部分はたしかに迫力のある部分です。しかし、どうもわかりにくいのが、boseのINC（india national congress)での役割なのです。本書でもガンディーやネールとのかかわりの中で、たしかにboseの活動は取り上げられています。しかしその取扱いは国民議会の左派としての孤立という従来の平坦なものです。本書でも、戦後のインドでのボースの取り扱いは、そのミステリアスな死亡（台湾の飛行場での事故死）の経緯への関心以外の観点からは取り上げられていません。もしかするとboseというのはインド人ののどに突き刺さった骨のようなものなのかもしれません。その本質を克明にたどっていくことは、インドの独立運動の明と暗を再経験することであり、新しい正史と神話（ネール王朝神話？）が作られた後の戦後のインドでは、それは許されない作業なのかもしれません。またシンガポールや東南アジアのindian diasporaをベースとした政治運動も、戦後の勢力図の中では、刺激的な潜在的な意味合いを持ち、なかなか表立っては取り上げにくいテーマなのかもしれません。

THIS IS A BIOGRAPHY OF THE REAL LIBERATOR OF INDIA SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE BY SUGATA BOSE.SINCE THE EARLY TWENTIES BOSE FOUGHT UNCOMPROMISINGLY AGAINST BRITISH COLONIALISM,HE WAS A MILITANT OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS; FROM THE THIRTIES HE HAD SOCIALISTLEANINGS HOWEVER UNLIKE THE SECULARIST AND PRO-SOVIET NEHRU BOSE BELIEVED IN AMULTIRELIGIOUS STATE IN WHICH THE THREE MAJOR RELIGIONS HINDUISM, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITYCOEXISTED IN HARMONY, HIS ROLE MODELS WERE DE VALERA'S IRELAND AND ATTATURK'S TURKEY.WHEN WORLD WAR TWO BROKE OUT BOSE DID NOT SUPPORT BRITAIN FOR THAT REASON HE WAS JAILED,THE BOOK NARRATED HIS EPIC ESCAPE FROM INDIA TO AFGHANISTAN ACROSS THE SOVIET UNION (STILLALLIED WITH GERMANY BECAUSE OF THE MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT), FINALLY HE ARRIVED IN EUROPEAND MET WITH THE FUHRER AND THE DUCE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN SUPPORT FOR THE FIGHT AGAINSTBRITISH COLONIALISM, BOTH OF THEM WERE LUKEWARM WITH BOSE, HOWEVER HE GOT ALONG WITHRIBBENTROP AS A MATTER OF FACT AN INDIAN LEGION WAS RAISED IN GERMANY TO FIGHT AGAINSTBRITAIN; BOSE HOWEVER KNEW THAT THE REAL FIGHT WAS IN ASIA SO HE DEPARTED IN A GERMAN SUBMARINEIN WHICH HE WAS WELL TREATED, AFTER CROSSING THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE IT MADE A RENDEZVOUSWITH A JAPANESE SUBMARINE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INDIAN OCEAN AND FINALLY HE ARRIVED IN MALAYAWHERE HE RAISED THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY (INA) THAT FOUGHT ALONSIDE THE JAPANESE ARMY AGAINSTBRITISH IMPERIALISM ACROSS SOUTHEAST ASIA WITH THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF LIBERATE INDIA.HE WAS RESPECTED BY THE JAPANESE WHO TREATED HIM AS AN EQUAL UNLIKE THE CONDESCENDINGAND ARROGANT WAYS OF THE BRITISH.ON NOVEMBER 1943 BOSE ASSISTED TO A PAN-ASIAN MEETING IN TOKIO PRESIDED BY THE PRIME MINISTER HIDEKITOJO IN ORDER TO DELINEATE THE NEW ORDER IN ASIA KNOWN AS THE GREAT EAST ASIAN CO-PROSPERITY SPHEREWHICH WAS AN ALTERNATIVE TO BOTH THE PREDATORY CAPITALISM OF THE WEST AND THE OPPRESIVEAND TOTALITARIAN COMMUNISM OF THE SOVIET UNION.BOSE AND THE INA FOUGHT VALIANTLY AND CORAGEOUSLY UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE WAR, THE BATTLESOF IMPHAL AND KOHIMA ARE EXAMPLES OF THE DEDICATION AND RESILIANCE OF BOTH THE INA AND THEJAPANESE. BOSE DIED IN A PLANE CRASH IN SAIGON IN AUGUST 1945 ALMOST AT THE END OF THE WAR, TWOYEARS LATER IN 1947 INDIA BECAME INDEPENDENT.TODAY BOSE IS REVERED IN INDIA AS A REAL PATRIOT AND LIBERATOR ACROSS THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM FROMTHE HINDUIST RIGHT TO THE SOCIALIST LEFT.BUT BOSE IS NOT ONLY ABOUT INDIA BUT A SHINING GUIDING LIGHT FOR ALL THE OPPRESED NATIONS LIKE CUBAWHICH FROM 1959 IS UNDER A TOTALITARIAN COMMUNIST TYRANNY THE MOST OPPRESIVE REGIME THAT THEAMERICAN CONTINENT (NORTH, CENTRAL AND SOUTH) HAS EVER HAD, ALL WHAT WE NEED IS A LEADER LIKE BOSE AND ANALLY LIKE TOJO.

very pleased,thank you

Impressive overview of the life and thought process of one of the greatest and the most inspirational leader of Indian independence struggle!