144 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
ence of Indian students in London, but “His Majesty’s Government
were not going to add to their present worries by having a London
bobby arrest the Indian President just before his Congress of 200,000
met.” There followed a de scrip tion of his arrival at the Indian National
Congress venue—the fifty- one bulls adorned with gold leaf and bells
drawing “a single chariot in which, beaming through his horn- rimmed
glasses, rode Congress President Subhas Bose.” “Among the slick, top
handful of Congress politicians, most of them obviously enjoying the
incense of power and prestige,” the Time story conceded, “Subhas Bose
stands out.”^18
Throughout 1938, Subhas Chandra Bose worked tirelessly to imple-
ment most of the items on his Haripura agenda. In May, as a first step
toward drawing up a blueprint for the socioeconomic reconstruction
of India, he convened in Bombay a conference of the heads of the seven
Congress provincial ministries. In addition to these leaders, several
ministers and members of the Congress Working Committee were in
attendance. The meeting discussed the challenges of industrial recon-
struction, development of power resources, and coordination among
the Congress- ruled provinces. Bose’s own priorities were made clear in
a speech he gave to the Bombay municipality at the same time as the
conference. While the better and richer parts of Bombay compared
well with the most advanced cities of the world, he wanted to train a
spotlight on poverty and the slums inhabited by the poor. A modern
municipality, in his view, had to provide primary education and health
care, with particular attention to the prob lems of infant mortality and
maternal health. While battling to wrest power from British hands at
the center, Bose urged the Congress governments in provinces and cit-
ies to do their best for the underdogs of society.^19
Bose was also keen to plan ahead for the time when Indians would
wield power at the all- India center. He held meetings with leaders of
the sci en tific community and sought the advice of the renowned sci-
entist Meghnad Saha, who was a regular visitor at his Calcutta home.
In August 1938, during a conversation with Saha at a meeting of the
Indian Science News Association, Bose called for “far- reaching cooper-
ation between science and politics.” Saha tried to put him on the spot