Model Question and Answers for APSC | Highlight the differences in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom.

Ans: Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose are seen as some of the main architects of India's freedom struggle. However, their difficult relationship during such tumultuous times is still discussed today.

The differences in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi

• From the very beginning, Bose and Gandhi stood for polar opposite Subhas Chandra Bose was very well- known for his radical and militant methods to make India independent. While he was an integral part of the Indian National Congress, his views were highly different from Mahatma Gandhi's.
• Gandhi's non-violent approach to the independence struggle gained momentum. It strongly influenced the Indian National Congress when it took part in the historic Non-Cooperation Bose joined the Congress in 1921 and became a part of the agitation.
• Therefore, when the Non-Cooperation Movement was called off after the Chauri Chaura violence, Bose was one of the many who criticised his move. He said: to sound the order of retreat just when public enthusiasm was reaching the boiling point was nothing short of a calamity.
• Slowly and steadily, the rift only grew. While Bose's beliefs involved an armed revolution and taking help from Japanese and European forces, Gandhi opposed them vehemently.
• Bose wanted to grab the opportunity provided by the second world war for India’s freedom, thus approaching Germany, and Japan while Gandhi saw fascism and Nazism a greater danger to Indian polity and society thus co-operated with British. Thus they had a different understanding of the same event

• Religious teachings had great importance in the life of Gandhi while Subhash Chandra Bose was a leftist and rationalist.