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'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had

minimal role, naval mutinies alone
led to Independence

Counterview Desk

Reacting to a Counterview story, "Rewiring history?

Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British

PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader

has forwarded reaction in the form of a link, which

carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal

role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the

site satyagrahis.in.

The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view,

reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired

army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian

Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal

role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was

Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the

satyagraha.in article here.

Text:

Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that

Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said

Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and

gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement,

they concluded the whole freedom struggle. This is

one of the most flawed arguments put by his critics.

Let’s know the reality of this so-called statement.

CONTEXT

G.D. Bakshi (retired Indian army officer) [1] claimed in

his book ‘Bose: An Indian Samurai’ that when former

Governor of West Bengal Justice PB

Chakraborty [2] asked Clement Attlee (in a private

chat) what was the main reason for the British exit from

India, Attlee gave the credit to INA and Subhash

Chandra Bose, and gave minimal credit to Gandhi, this

has been mentioned by G.D Bakshi.

But this story is ‘apocryphal’ (a story or statement of

doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as

being true or completely true).

Let’s understand the whole story and rebuttal GD

Bakshi’s argument.

Following is the excerpt from GD Bakshi’s book ‘Bose:

The Indian Samurai’ [3] :

In 1956, Atlee had visited India and stayed in Kolkata

as the guest of the then Governor of West Bengal,

Justice P. B. Chakraborty. They had a most remarkable

conversation on how India had won her freedom.

Justice Chakraborty remarked that the Quit India

movement launched by the Congress in 1942 had

been completely crushed and had petered out entirely

by 1944. Why then did the British leave India in such a

tearing hurry a er the war? Atlee replied that it was

because of the INA of Subhash Bose and the mutinies

it had triggered in the British Indian Armed Forces.

Chakraborty then pointedly asked “What then was the

role of Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement in the

grant of India’s Independence?” He said and I quote

‘Atlee’s face twisted into a sarcastic smile as he spelt

out the word “minimal”.

Let’s understand the reference or background of this

story.

Now GD Bakshi’s claim’s reference is: Ranjan Bora,

writing in The Journal of Historical Review Vol No

3,1982 article titled “Subhash Bose, the INA and the

War of Indian liberation” [4]

Following is the excerpt of Ranjan Bora’s article (or GD

Bakshi’s reference):

Chief justice P.B. Chakrabarty of Calcutta High Court,

who had also served as the acting Governor of West

Bengal in India, disclosed the following in a letter

addressed to the publisher of Dr. R.C. Majumdar's

book A History of Bengal. The Chief Justice wrote:

"You have fulfilled a noble task by persuading Dr.

Majumdar to write this history of Bengal and publishing

it … In the preface of the book Dr. Majumdar has

written that he could not accept the thesis that Indian

independence was brought about solely, or

predominantly by the non-violent civil disobedience

movement of Gandhi. When I was the acting Governor,

Lord Atlee, who had given us independence by

withdrawing the British rule from India, spent two days

in the Governor's palace at Calcutta during his tour of

India. At that time I had a prolonged discussion with

him regarding the real factors that had led the British to

quit India. My direct question to him was that since

Gandhi's "Quit India" movement had tapered off quite

some time ago and in 1947 no such new compelling

situation had arisen that would necessitate a hasty

British departure, why did they have to leave? In his

reply Atlee cited several reasons, the principal among

them being the erosion of loyalty to the British Crown

among the Indian army and navy personnel as a result

of the military activities of Netaji. Toward the end of our

discussion I asked Atlee what was the extent of

Gandhi's influence upon the British decision to quit

India. Hearing this question, Atlee's lips became

twisted in a sarcastic smile as he slowly chewed out

the word, "m-i-n-i-m-a-l!"

1. Okay, so Ranjan Bora used RC Majumdar’s

autobiography as a reference. Ranjan Bora’s

reference to this story is a letter written in

Bengali (translated into English) by [a Bengali]

PB Chakraborty to the publisher of [Bengali]

historian R.C. Majumdar's book (publisher of the

book, not RC Majumdar) ‘Bangla Desher Itihas’

or ‘A History of Bengal’ (Vol. IV).

2. The facsimile of the letter was published in the

appendix of Majumdar’s autobiographical book

in Bengali Jibaner Smritideep (The light of my

life’s memories) published in 1978 for the first

time. R.C Majumdar’s reference is not a peer-

reviewed history source, only a reminiscence.

And no reliable secondary source has paid

attention to Chakraborty’s claims.

Critical Background Check Of This Story:

1. First of all clear one thing which many people fail

to understand this so-called remarkable

conversation was a ‘private chat’ (maybe at the

dinner table), not any public talk.

2. Now the letter addresses Attlee’s title incorrectly,

Attlee was knighted, but was an Earl, instead of

a Lord in 1955-56.

3. As per the list of Governors of West Bengal,

there was a gap between Harendra Coomar

Mookerjee’s death on 7 August 1956, and

Padmaja Naidu’s tenure starting on 3 November

1956. PB Chakraborty was indeed the Chief

Justice of the Calcutta High Court during 1952-

58. The Raj Bhavan of Calcutta does not record

acting governors in its list – It would be slightly

strange for an “acting governor” of less than 3

months to have actually bothered to move into

Raj Bhavan.

4. It is also established that Attlee indeed travelled

to India during Oct 1956, and after spending 5

days in Madras, visited Calcutta, where he met

Nehru at the Raj Bhavan. And the former British

Premier, Earl Attlee, met Prime Minister Nehru

at the Raj Bhavan in Calcutta on October 22 and

had an informal discussion with him for about

half an hour. Earlier, he called on the Chief

Minister, Dr. B.C. Roy.

5. This letter by PB Chakraborty was written on 30

March 1976 to Majumdar, nine years after

Attlee's death and 20 years after the incident (or

private chat) with Atlee. RC Majumdar himself

was 88 years old then (He died in 1980).

6. This letter was published in the appendix of

Majumdar’s autobiographical book in Bengali

R.C Majumdar’s reference is not a peer-

reviewed history source, only a reminiscence.

No reliable secondary source has paid attention

to Chakraborty’s claims.

Now, before we take this story as a historical fact, it is

important to note these points

This was such a bombshell story, why did Mr

Chakraborty wait 20 years to tell it?

1. Even RC Majumdar, a renowned historian, but a

fierce critic of Gandhiji, waited for two years, and

only used this remark in just one place, in a non-

academic work (his autobiographical book in

Bengali), not in any of his published academic

work, books and papers.

2. Neither there’s any corroboration of this private

chat nor reference is peer-reviewed which is

used to conclude history or say so-called ‘most

remarkable conversation on how India had won

her freedom’ by ultra-minded people like GD

Bakshi.

3. These alleged remarks made by Attlee are very

strong and extraordinary as claimed. So it,

therefore, is noteworthy, that nowhere else in all

his speeches and writings in his entire life, till his

death in 1967, did Attlee utter any words to this

effect anywhere, apart from this claimed

conversation with Mr PB Chakraborty.

CONTRADICTIONS:

(The other circumstantial and chronological evidence

also challenge this story)

1. Atlee and his Labour party are the ones who were in

the favour of India’s independence. In the 1945

election in Britain, India’s freedom had been a

campaign promise of the Labour party, its manifesto

pledging “the advancement of India to responsible self-

government.”[5] From 1945 Labour Party Election

Manifesto:

2. Atlee In his speech at the Blackpool Conference on

23 May, 1945, Attlee clearly said that 'they would strive

earnestly to enable India to get full self-government’.

An excerpt from RC Majumdar’s book 'History of the

freedom movement in India', Vol.3, 1963, page no.

743:

3. Attlee considered Indian Independence his 'finest

achievement'. [6]

India found its mentions in the 1950 Labour manifesto

too: “The selfish and cowardly bungling of the

Conservative Government landed us in a war which

collective security could have prevented and for which

the Government had not prepared. The Colonies were

shamefully neglected and the democratic aspirations of

the Indian people met with continuous frustration and

delay.” [7]

4. “Oh and btw, India’s independence was for all

practical purposes decided well before the INA trials

[Simla Conference]. Only a few sticky items like

Dominion status vs. full sovereignty were discussed.”

To back this statement “India’s independence was for

all practical purposes decided well before the INA

trials”, I would like to quote Churchill and British King's

conversation.

In July, King George VI write in his diary wrote, “He

[Churchill] surprised me by saying that all his

associates and all the three parties of Parliament are

ready to leave India in the hands of Indians after the

war.” (Source: Viceroy to Prime Minister, 24 February

1946, Transfer of Power Documents, Vol.6, p. 1055)

5. Viceroy Wavell blamed Congress leaders’ speeches’

for the mutiny uprising.

Then Viceroy of India — Lord Wavell had no doubt that

the primary cause of the REN “mutiny” was the

“speeches of Congress leaders since September last”

which he said in a letter to PM Attlee. [8]

6. In fact, the Punjab CID authorities warned the

Director of the Intelligence Bureau of the “considerable

danger,” while dealing with the Communists, “of putting

the cart before the horse and of failing to recognize

Congress as the main enemy.” [9]

7. The Home Department’s provincial level enquiry into

the causes of these “disturbances”, came to the

conclusion that they were the outcome of the

“inflammatory atmosphere created by the intemperate

speeches of Congress leaders in the last three

months.” [10]

8. In 1948, the British branded the Mutiny as a larger

communist conspiracy raging from the Middle East to

the Far East against the British crown. [11]

British Prime Minister Clement Attlee then blamed the

Communists for the 1946 Royal Naval Mutiny. (

Source: San Bernardino Sun newspaper on 23rd Feb

1946)

9. An argument is the attribution of the sending

of Cabinet Mission (which spoke of Indian

independence coming soon) is that it was because of

the impact of the RIN revolt.

But if we see chronology, on February 18 the Bombay

Naval strike began. And on 19 February, Attlee in the

House of Commons announced the decision to

despatch the Cabinet Mission. This is obviously

untenable. The decision to send out the Mission was

taken by the British Cabinet on 22 January 1946 and

even its announcement on 19 February 1946 had been

slated a week earlier.

Last But Not Least:

Even if anyone finds that quote true then Mountbatten

also has something to say:

“It had always been the British policy not to yield

anything to force but Mahatma's non - violence had

won. We decided to quit as a result of India's non

violent struggle.”

— Lord Mountbatten

(Source: CWMG, Vol 94 Pp.209 published by IB

Ministry, Gol)

“A divinely inspired saint I know that I am expressing

the views of the British people in offering to his fellow

countrymen our deep sympathy in the loss of their

greatest citizen. Mahatma Gandhi, as he was known in

India, was one of the outstanding figures in the world

today, but he seemed to belong to a different period of

history.

Living a life of extreme asceticism, he was revered as

a divinely inspired saint by millions of his fellow

countrymen. His influence extended beyond the range

of his co-religionists.

For a quarter of a century, this one man has been the

major factor in every consideration of the Indian

problem. He had become the expression of the

aspirations of the Indian people for independence, but

he was not just a nationalist. His most distinctive

doctrine was that of non-violence. He believed in a

method of passive resistance to those forces which he

considered wrong. The sincerity and devotion with

which he pursued his objectives are beyond all doubt.

The hand of the murderer has struck him down and a

voice which pleaded for peace and brotherhood has

been silenced, but I am certain that his spirit will

continue to animate his fellow countrymen and will

plead for peace and concord.” [13]

— Lord Clement Attlee

(Source: https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/tribute-

detail/MTEx/OTM=)

This one is the actual quote.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] G. D. BAKSHI - WIKIPEDIA

[2] PHANI BHUSAN CHAKRAVARTTI - WIKIPEDIA

[3] BOSE

[4] SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE, THE INDIAN

NATIONAL ARMY, AND THE WAR OF INDIA'S

LIBERATION

[5] 1945 LABOUR PARTY MANIFESTO -

[6] THE BRITISH PM WHO OVERSAW INDIA'S

INDEPENDENCE

[7] 1950 LABOUR PARTY MANIFESTO -

[8] THE TRANSFER OF POWER 1942-7; : FREE

DOWNLOAD, BORROW, AND STREAMING :

INTERNET ARCHIVE

[9] INDIA'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

[10] INDIA'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

[11] CPI (M) ON TWITTER

[12] GANDHI HERITAGE PORTAL: REPOSITORY OF

AUTHENTIC INFORMATION ON THE LIFE AND

THOUGHTS OF MAHATMA GANDHI

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

CULTURE , GOVERNANCE , LIFE , PEOPLE ,

POLITICS , SOCIETY

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Comments

Dr.E.Balakrishnan said…

Very good

November 25, 2022

Unknown said…

If Britishers would have humanity and

peace loving people they would have
not at the first place tried to conquer
and rule or shall have destroyed other
cultures of other nations.
Even today Britishers are not self made
warriors they are dependent on some
strong etcs for their existence.
That day bose ,this day modi.
If Britishers are born warriors let them
challenge India alone, history shall be
the other way.
Long live subhash chandra bose .

February 11, 2023

Anonymous said…

Long live Netaji Subhash Chandra

Bose (the person who had a Gandhi
brigade in the INA and was the one
who called Gandhiji "Mahatma").

April 27, 2023

Anonymous said…

Loved this thank you cleared all my

confusion

April 30, 2023

CHARLES DARWIN said…

Nice try to support Gandhiji and

undermine Netaji but taking British
documents to undermine the Navy
revolt went too low

July 07, 2023

Anonymous said…

I m actually confused, why are you

disregarding the British documents
Charles Darwin ?

August 15, 2023

Kums nabam said…

Thankyou for clearing the doubts....

Nowadays BJP it cells all are just trying
to change the history just to make look
gandhi bad .... That's is the reason they
follow the murderer nathuram gotse
ideology ... Bless India and save from
this hatred ideology by bjp people

September 06, 2023

ChutiyaAuthorOfPost said…

So as per the writer,

1. Dont trust indian documents, why
after 20 years, why not then .. blah blah
blah
2. Use the documents of the oppressor
and try to prove that britishers always
wanted to give independece. We
indians were chutiya not taking it
3. And at the end he use Lord
Mountbatten to prove gandhi was great
and he got us independence. Lord
Mountbatten and gandhi were in same
team you peanut size brain.

October 04, 2023

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