1939: Subhash Wins but Congress Faces Internal Strife

In January 1939, Subhash Bose decided to stand again for the president’s post in the Congress. Gandhi was not happy with Bose’s candidature. Bose said he represented the “new ideas, ideologies, problems and programmes” that had come out of the “the progressive sharpening of the anti-imperialist struggle in India”. However, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad,

J.B. Kripalani and some other members of the Congress Working Committee pointed out that it was in the various Congress bodies, such as the working committee, that ideologies and programmes were developed; moreover, the position of the Congress president was more of a constitutional one, representative and symbolic of the unity of the nation. They favoured the candidate supported by Gandhi, namely, Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Subhash Bose won the election by 1580 votes against 1377; he got the full support of the Congress Socialist Party and the communists. Gandhi congratulated Bose on his victory but also declared that “Pattabhi’s defeat is my defeat.” Now it became a Gandhi versus Bose issue.