The Scandal That Shaped Partition: The Affair

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0:28this week on our empire club miniseries we see the collision of three individuals whose close and eventually romantic relationship will change the course of history for india and the subcontinent forever the wife of the last viceroy of india will literally fall into the arms of the future first Prime Minister of India in Singapore in 1946. But the context of their meeting is just as shocking as the event itself. Here's a clip from episode three, where we discuss the Indian National Army and its controversial role in the Second World War. I mean, we should talk about the man who precedes him to this theatre of action, who is most definitely an agitator, but this time at a time of war.

1:15So let's have a flashback. Previously, previously in this story. We'll all wiggle. Yes. Subhash Chandra Bose. We should talk about why the British were so anxious about Nehru's visit. And it is because during the very heat of war, there was another Indian, another educated Indian, who was really causing problems for the Allies. And that was the man they call, in this part of the world, we're sitting in Jaipur, let me remind you, recording this, Netaji, who I think has the largest statue in all India is dedicated to Sebastian the Bose who almost had he been successful would have changed India's allegiances in the second world war let's let's talk about Sebastian the Bose he's such an interesting figure he's Bengali he's from Calcutta you know and sort of fiercely intelligent as a brother as well Sarat and it's all you know they're kind of working together.

2:09He came up also through the Indian National Congress. So in the same organization as Gandhi and Nehru, very different politics to them. He was from the beginning pretty interested in much more extreme forms of politics. Direct action. He thought they were namby-pamby and rubbish, didn't he? Yes, he did. And actually, a lot of people agreed with him because he actually was elected leader of the Indian National Congress in 1938. Gandhi freaked out, tried to get Nehru to come back and like depose him and he refused to do that. So, you know, a very un-Gandian, very much into direct action. He loved violence, super pro-violence.

2:47Loved uniforms. I mean, he saw that the, you know, Quit India movement should be fought as a war. And so, all of the followers of Bose dressed in khaki and drilled, didn't they? And he was actually very attracted to fascism that was going on in Europe. Now, I think, you know, you have to sort of think this through from an Indian point of you at the time that if your great enemy is Britain, my enemy's enemy is my friend. Well, maybe it isn't actually that great a friend. You know, obviously, that's the kind of dictum that can get you into a lot of trouble in foreign policy. But at that point, he saw a greater affinity with Germany, Italy and Japan than he did with the Allied powers.

3:26So, Beau's obviously an incredibly controversial figure, but very popular at that point. And when he adopted the name you mentioned netaji which means you know dear leader leader that's actually a conscious imitation of hitler's title führer right okay all right so you can understand then where you flash forward now on this conversation we've done our little time blip why when when nero is coming to that same theater of war okay the war is over yeah the reason we one thing we didn't mention is that boz at the height of his powers was agitating for mutiny that's within the ranks the Indian soldiers and it was the largest volunteer force in the history of the world he wanted those Indian soldiers to mutiny against the British now when they're at their weakest this is the way to throw them out of India he argued you know basically slay your commanding officers this is the time to get it right and he really went for that and he did this extraordinary dash from India you know dressed as a patan through Afghanistan and all this to get to Germany during the war and sort of, you know, turns up in Germany, makes friends with the Nazis.

4:36You know, I mean, it's a complicated friendship because they don't, for instance, he had a relationship with a German woman and they really didn't approve that sort of thing, as you can imagine. But at the same time, he started a regiment in the Wehrmacht. So, largely kind of Indian soldiers who'd been, who were prisoners of war, he's saying, well, let's turn and fight the British. That's our real battle. so you know all of that's happening and then they send him back by submarine and he kind of washes up you know in the east and you know sets up in the andaman islands and declares that he's now ruler of a free india that this is happening you know and you should mutiny against the british so obviously a huge anti-british agitator um and and also just bear in mind that word mutiny an Indian mutiny.

5:22I mean, it's right in the DNA of those who run the civil service and in political circles. It's like a live wire through them, even just that word. What happened and kind of one of the reasons that didn't really go any further is that Bose was taking a flight in 1945 and the plane crashed in Formosa, now Taiwan, and he was killed in that plane crash. We do hope you enjoyed that clip from our members mini-series on the scandal that shaped partition. And to access that full series, just head to empirepoduk.com, empirepoduk.com to become a friend of the show today.

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