The Warrior and the Saint 137ing Committee, the top decision- making body of the Congress. He had
on occasion threatened resignation, but ultimately fell into line at Gan-
dhi’s behest. Unquestioning obedience to patriarchal authority of any
kind was anathema to Bose; he had rejected it over and over again since
he was fif teen years old. The Mahatma would find it much harder to
tame the fiery spirit of this rebellious son.
India Freed Means Humanity SavedOn January 28, 1938, soon after his return from Europe, Bose had to
rush to the Bengal provincial conference being held at Bishnupur, in
Bankura district. It was a star- studded gathering, at which Bose was
joined by M. N. Roy and his wife, Ellen Roy, as well as by Sarojini
Naidu. On January 31, he left for Gandhi’s abode in Wardha for a
meeting of the Congress Working Committee, in preparation for the
annual session.^2 After coming back to Calcutta, he had barely a couple
of days to write his presidential address, before boarding the train for
Haripura on February 11. Closeted in his bedroom at 38/2 Elgin Road
for two days, he wrote out his mammoth speech in a single draft. The
pages were couriered to Sarat Chandra Bose’s secretary at 1 Woodburn
Park, to be typed up. Once Sarat’s talented assistant Nirad C. Chaud-
huri had cast an eye over the typescript, it was sent to the printer. The
printed version was not yet ready when Subhas left Calcutta, and it had
to be dispatched to Haripura the next day. Bose’s entourage included
his elderly mother, a number of other close relatives, and several po lit-
i cal associates.^3 Subhas had very much wanted his second mother, Ba-
santi Devi, to come with him, but she was unable to make the trip.
“The man at whose feet I learnt politics is not with us today,” he wrote
to C. R. Das’s widow. “How happy he would be if he was with us.”^4 For
the first time since the Deshbandhu had presided over the Gaya session
of the Congress in 1922, a leader from Bengal had been elected presi-
dent of the Indian National Congress.
After crossing the entire subcontinent from east to west, Subhas
Chandra Bose alighted from the train at Bardoli, which had been a
storm center of peasant agitation in Gujarat. From there, he traveled by
car to Haripura and was carried in a ceremonial chariot to the complex