Nehru and Bose: Parallel Lives

0.0

Nobody has done more harm to me than Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939. Had relations between the two great nationalist leaders soured to the extent that Bose had begun to view Nehru as his enemy? But then, why did he name one of the regiments of the Indian National Army after Jawaharlal? And what prompted Nehru to weep when he heard of Boses untimely death in 1945, and to recount soon after, I used to treat him as my younger brother? Rudrangshu Mukherjees fascinating book tracks the growth of these two towering figures against the backdrop of the independence movement, delicately tracing the contours of a friendship that did not quite blossom as political ideologies diverged, and delineates the shadow that fell between themfor, Gandhi saw Nehru as his chosen heir and Bose as a prodigal son. Nehru and Bose: Parallel Lives brings to light the riveting story of two contrasting personalities who would go on to define modern India.

0.0

Rudrangshu Mukherjee is vice chancellor and professor of history at Ashoka University. Earlier, he taught at Calcutta University; he has held visiting appointments at Princeton University, Manchester University and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was the editor of the editorial pages of the Telegraph, Calcutta, and continues in that role as a consultant. He is the author and editor of several books which include Awadh in Revolt, 1857-1858: A Study of Popular Resistance, and Spectre of Violence: The 1857 Kanpur Massacres, as well as The Penguin Gandhi Reader.