The Warrior and the Saint 147Bengali garb presented a contrast to Jinnah, attired in his Savile Row
suit and Oxford shoes. The meeting was cordial enough, as Bose be-
gan a fresh attempt to negotiate a settlement of the Hindu- Muslim
question.
In this instance, Bose discovered that his friend Jawaharlal Nehru
had com pli cated the negotiations for him. His predecessor as Congress
president had arrogantly proclaimed after the 1937 elections that there
were only two parties in India: the British and the Congress. Nehru had
looked “through the telescope,” the Muslim League leader had been
told, for a Hindu- Muslim prob lem—but “if there is nothing, what can
you see?”^25 Jinnah now aspired to be the “sole spokesman” of India’s
Muslims.^26 He insisted that the Muslim League be recognized as the
authoritative and representative or ga ni za tion of the Muslims of India:
this had to be the basis for any substantive negotiations between the
Congress and the League. The Congress felt it could not possibly accept
the implication that it was merely a “communal” or ga ni za tion. “Is it
not enough,” Bose pleaded with Jinnah on July 25, 1938, “that the Con-
gress is not only willing but eager to establish the friendliest relations
with the League and come to an honorable un der stand ing on the much
vexed Hindu- Muslim question?” On August 2, Jinnah replied that
while the League was “equally anxious” for a settlement, it felt the need
to “inform the Congress of the basis on which negotiations between
the two or ga ni za tions should proceed” since the “very existence” of the
League had been called into question by Nehru. The exchanges of 1938
foundered on the inability of the Congress and the League to agree on
the “basis” for negotiations. After the Congress Working Committee
had considered the issue at Wardha, from December 11 to Decem-
ber 16, 1938, Bose wrote to Jinnah abandoning the effort he had com-
menced on May 14.^27 This was a great pity. Had substantive talks been
held, Jinnah might have found in Bose a Congress president willing to
share power with the League in key provinces and at the all- India level
in the future. As it happened, the two parties were at odds about who
they represented and who could speak for the Muslims of India.
As Congress president, Bose tried hard to work in cooperation with
Gandhi and sought to carry the Congress Working Committee with him
on im por tant matters. Despite Bose’s ideological sympathy with the