View source for Rash Behari Bose

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[[Category:India |B ]]
[[Category:History |B ]]

=A brief biography=
[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=14_11_2023_016_019_cap_TOI  Nov 14, 2023: ''The Times of India'']


'' A biography Fugitive Of Empire by historian Joseph Mcquade relocates Rash Behari Bose’s place in modern Indian history. He helped spread anti-colonialism from Punjab to Tokyo ''

Rash Behari Bose, multi-tasker par excellence, was the chief coordinator of armed conspiracies, notably the bomb attack on Lord Hardinge in Chandni Chowk in 1912 and the abortive rebellion of 1915 that spread from Lahore to Ferozepur, Agra to Benares. He dodged police to reach the Far East where he crafted his pan-Asian vision of freedom, also establishing close ties with military officials and political figures in Tokyo, to become “the most influential Indian in Japan” in the 1920s and 1930s. Regard for Bose earned him the Japanese honorific Sensei. Bose also edited the forward-thinking New Asia periodical and even introduced curry to Japan. An edited version of Mcquade’s email interview to Avijit Ghosh 

''' ● For most people, the first Bose who comes to mind is Subhas Chandra. What made you write a biography of this largely forgotten Bose? '''

 While researching for my first book, A Genealogy of Terrorism, Rash Behari kept emerging as a key figure in some of the most important moments of India’s revolutionary struggle. But in most mainstream accounts of the period, Rash Behari only shows up as a supporting character. I wanted to learn more about his life and see how the story would change if Rash Behari were re-situated as a principal character. 

''' ● What were the highlights of his work before he escaped to Japan in 1915? '''

 Before his escape to Japan, Rash Behari’s most valuable skill was probably his ability to network and build bridges across different factions of the revolutionary movement. In the time between his attempted assassination of the viceroy in 1912 and his escape to Japan in 1915, Rash Behari helped widespread pockets of anti-colonial insurgency to coalesce into a movement that stretched from Punjab to Bengal.

''' ● Since the 1920s a fundamental aspect of his evolving ideas was pan-Asianism. '''

 Rash Behari’s uprooting from the Indian subcontinent in 1915 and the three decades he subsequently spent in Japan exposed him to a broad range of political activists and anti-colonial rebels from across Asia, what Professor Tim Harper refers to as ‘Underground Asia’. Although Rash Behari remained a staunch Indian nationalist, his ideas from the 1920s onwards reflected a worldview that saw the story of India as inextricably linked to that of Asia. 

''' ● Later in his career, Rash Behari’s leanings were towards the far-right. He was impressed by Moonje’s military school, conditionally praised Hitler, and even set up a Japanese branch of Hindu Mahasabha. What prompted this? '''

 Part of the answer likely relates to the company he kept in Japan. While in Tokyo, Rash Behari was financially supported and politically protected by members of Japan’s far-right ultranationalist parties. For him, the unapologetic nationalism of an Asian country was probably quite appealing. Japan’s success at establishing itself as an independent power would have been in stark contrast to the experience of most other Asian countries at the time, subjected to various forms of European colonialism. 

''' ● Is it fair to say that in most textbooks Congress’s national movement is foregrounded while the role of most early 20th century radicals relegated to the background? '''

 This has typically been the case, although I understand some newer textbooks place lesser emphasis on Congress’s role. Outside of India, most people would be surprised to learn that there was a revolutionary movement fighting the British with bombs and revolvers during the same period as Gandhi’s famous non-violent activism. To properly understand the complexity of the Indian Independence movement, we need a rounded picture that accounts for the diverse strands of anti-colonial thinking that motivated people from across the subcontinent and the diaspora. 

''' ● What is relevant about Rash Behari’s ideas today? '''

 Like those of many historical figures, Rash Behari’s ideas provide something of a Rorschach test – the interpretation of which can tell us more about the person forming the interpretation than about the ideas themselves. Depending on how we read his ideas, we can find support for antiracism, anti-colonialism, conservative authoritarianism, and many other contradictory ideas. For me, what was most interesting about Rash Behari’s ideas is the way he rejected Eurocentric interpretations of history and argued for Asia’s place as a crucible for world history. This interpretation of history carries its own problems and baggage, but the idea of Asian centrality in the international order is something that we can observe in many current commentaries on contemporary geopolitics.