10 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
mentation on this occasion, however, proved untenable. On January 3,
1946, Claude Auchinleck, the commander- in- chief of the British In-
dian Army, issued an order commuting the sentences and setting the
three Red Fort prisoners free, to a tumultuous reception by the Indian
public. He explained to his se nior of fi cers in February that “any at-
tempt to force the sentence would have led to chaos in the country at
large and probably to mutiny and dissension in the army, culminating
in its dissolution.”^20
The view of Subhas Chandra Bose as a warrior- hero who snatched
po lit i cal victory for his country out of the jaws of his own military de-
feat is no more than a partial glimpse of a multifaceted personality. The
warrior paused between battles, often involuntarily in British prisons,
to give expression to his dreams for India and the global role that he
saw for his country free of bondage. His spirit of ser vice to suf fering
humanity had been inculcated early in life, under the in flu ence of
the teachings of the Hindu sage Swami Vivekananda. In public life he
transcended the boundaries of religious community in the manner of
his po lit i cal mentor Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, making the cause
of Hindu- Muslim unity his top po lit i cal priority. It was his mastery on
this score that most impressed Mahatma Gandhi and that accounts for
his salience today on a subcontinent which continues to face the spec-
ter of religious con flict. “Though the INA failed in their immediate
objective,” Gandhi noted, “they have a lot to their credit of which they
might well be proud. The greatest among these was to gather together,
under one banner, men from all religions and races of India, and in-
fuse into them the spirit of solidarity and oneness to the utter exclu-
sion of all communal and parochial sentiment.” The modern propo-
nent of nonviolence wanted this example to be emulated. If unity were
achieved only “under the glamour and romance of fight ing,” he would
be disappointed. He wanted the feeling of oneness to “persist in
peace.”^21
Bose was acutely aware that Indian society was extensively fissured
along lines not just of religious community, but also of caste, class, and
gender. He chose to side with the underdogs, having iden ti fied the sub-
ordinated castes, the laboring masses, and women as the three op-
pressed collectivities who had to be empowered. He worked to bring