LETTER TO SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
SEVAGRAM, WARDHA,
December 29, 1940
MY DEAR SUBHAS,
You are irrepressible whether ill or well. Do get well before going in for fireworks.I have not been in consultation with Maulana Saheb. But, when I read in the papers about the decision, I could not help approving of it.
I am surprised that you won’t distinguish between discipline and indiscipline.
But I quite agree with you that either of you is more than a match for the Maulana Saheb as far as popularity is concerned. But a man has to put conscience before popularity. I know that in Bengal it is difficult to function effectively without you two. I know, too, that you can carry on even without the Congress. But the Congress has to manage somehow under the severe handicap.Suresh(Suresh Chandra Banerjee) wrote to me that Sarat was coming. I have been waiting. He can come any time he chooses, and so can you too. You know, you will be well looked after here.
As for your Bloc(All-India Forward Bloc) joining civil disobedience, I think, with the fundamental differences between you and me, it is not possible. Till one of us is converted to the other’s view, we must sail in different boats, though their destination may appear, only appear, to be the same.
Meanwhile let us love one another, remaining members of the same family that we are.
SEVAGRAM, WARDHA,
December 29, 1940
MY DEAR SUBHAS,
You are irrepressible whether ill or well. Do get well before going in for fireworks.I have not been in consultation with Maulana Saheb. But, when I read in the papers about the decision, I could not help approving of it.
I am surprised that you won’t distinguish between discipline and indiscipline.
But I quite agree with you that either of you is more than a match for the Maulana Saheb as far as popularity is concerned. But a man has to put conscience before popularity. I know that in Bengal it is difficult to function effectively without you two. I know, too, that you can carry on even without the Congress. But the Congress has to manage somehow under the severe handicap.Suresh(Suresh Chandra Banerjee) wrote to me that Sarat was coming. I have been waiting. He can come any time he chooses, and so can you too. You know, you will be well looked after here.
As for your Bloc(All-India Forward Bloc) joining civil disobedience, I think, with the fundamental differences between you and me, it is not possible. Till one of us is converted to the other’s view, we must sail in different boats, though their destination may appear, only appear, to be the same.
Meanwhile let us love one another, remaining members of the same family that we are.
Yours,
BAPU
The Hindu, 24-2-1941
BAPU
The Hindu, 24-2-1941
In his reply dated January 10, 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose said: “I am glad to receive your letter . . . not so much for the contents, as for the clarification of your views. . . . It is not merely my personal desire to offer hearty and sincere co-operation, but it is the desire of many who stand with me. For doing this, it is neither necessary nor desirable to surrender or abandon our political principles and connections. . . . In the previous struggle, many worked shoulder to shoulder with ardent Gandhi ites while differing from them on several important questions. Why should not this happen again? I beg of you to reconsider your decision. . . .”
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