'Partition would have been difficult with Netaji around'

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, FEB. 18. Ms. Anita Bose, daughter of Subash Chandra Bose, said here today that the partition of India would have become a difficult solution for the transfer of power from Britain had Netaji been alive in 1947.

Speaking at a `meet the press' programme at the Press Club here, she said history might have taken a different course if Gandhi and Bose had joined hands against the division of the country because the latter enjoyed a lot of respect among the Muslims though Jinnah favoured separation and Nehru was not too keen about unity. Ms. Bose, mother of three children and two grandchildren, is Professor of Economics at the University Augsburg, Germany.

Comparing Nehru and Bose, she said both were socialists but the latter would have concentrated on improving the situation at home before emphasising on foreign policy like Nehru did by joining the non-aligned bloc. She ruled out the possibility of her becoming a rallying point for cleansing Indian politics because she was not interested in active politics in India or in Germany, where she is married to Prof. M. Pfaff, a Member of Parliament. Although she was proud of being Netaji's daughter, she did not relish bathing in reflected glory.

Taking a dim view of the dynasty factor in politics, she said the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was not a phenomenon confined to India. In Germany, a MP who had exploited his father's image to get elected turned out to be his pale shadow. She said the seat held by her husband was originally offered to her but she had declined.

She refused to attach importance to the unending debate about the circumstances under which her father died. She said Netaji's life and not his death was more important. She ruled out the theory that Netaji had taken `sanyas' because his independent spirit and action-oriented life could not allow him to live as a recluse.

Asked what she felt when right-wing parties exploited Netaji's name, she said her father would not have gone along with the BJP so long as it did not shed communal policies. The Congress was also using Netaji's name. But, this did not detract from the fact that there were thousands of genuine followers of Netaji.

She defended Netaji's decision to seek the help of Germany in his fight against Britain. His choice was limited between a colonial force and one which was openly fascist and racist.

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