142 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
industrial era, even if we desire to do so.” The state in in de pen dent
India would, “on the advice of a planning commission,” be called upon
“to adopt a comprehensive scheme for gradually socializing our entire
agricultural and industrial system in the spheres of both production
and appropriation.”^12
Bose visualized a key role for the Congress in the task of national
reconstruction and believed, unlike Gandhi, that the party could not be
expected to wither away after freedom was won. The “existence of mul-
tiple parties and the democratic basis of the Congress Party,” he said
trustingly, would “prevent the future Indian state becoming a totalitar-
ian one.” Intra- party democracy would serve to “ensure that leaders are
not thrust upon the people from above, but elected from below.”^13 Sub-
sequent developments would soon reveal that Bose’s views regarding
the Congress party’s commitment to internal democracy were overly
optimistic. His clear opinion in favor of the Congress’s granting collec-
tive af fili a tion to peasants’ and workers’ or ga ni za tions was not shared
by several of his colleagues, who represented the interests of landown-
ers and industrialists in the Congress leadership.^14
Bose and Nehru were the only two leaders to take a genuine inter-
est in international relations. Toward the end of his Haripura address,
Bose dealt with the foreign policy of a subject nation and urged the
Congress to be poised to take advantage of the international situation.
India’s foreign policy should not, he argued, “be in flu enced by the in-
ternal politics of any country or the form of its state.” Every country
had men and women sympathetic to the cause of Indian freedom,
and he wanted to mobilize their support systematically. He made a
strong case for extending India’s soft power through vigorous cultural
diplomacy. He did not like the word “pro pa ganda,” because of the
“air of falsity” about it; but he insisted on spreading knowledge about
India across the globe. He wished to see trusted representatives of the
Congress appointed in all continents, near and distant, and felt it was a
pity that Central and South America, where there was deep interest in
India, had been neglected so far. He concluded by underscoring the
global sig nifi cance of India’s freedom: “Ours is a struggle not only
against British Imperialism but against world Imperialism as well, of
which the former is the keystone. We are, therefore, fight ing not for the