Three Bengalis could have become prime minister of India. Each was staring at the summit, ready for the final ascent, when he discovered that his oxygen supply had been cut off-not by the enemy, but by the team leader.
From left: Bose, Basu and Mukherjee
Subhas Chandra Bose was undermined by Mahatma Gandhi with a rare pious savagery. We are familiar with savagery in politics, and piety is not unknown, but this deadly combination was unique. Bose had the temerity to challenge Gandhi from a Left platform at the Tripuri session in 1939. The reasons have become archaic, but the quiet ruthlessness of Gandhi's response is still relevant to any student of Congress intrigues. Bose's big mistake was to win, by 1,580 votes to 1,377, against Gandhi's nominee, Sitaramayya. Gandhi declared this was his defeat, not his candidate's, and forced 13 out of 15 members of the working committee to quit in the gap between the election on January 29 and the Tripuri session on March 8.
