Dr. R.C Majumdar in his History of Freedom Movement of India, vol. 3 has made the following observations about Subhas and Gandhiji. He observed that there were two categories of followers of Gandhiji in Congress, one "who willingly surrendered their conscience and judgment to the safe keeping of the political Guru", and the other "who fell a victim to the magic charm of Gandhi even though they fumed and fretted at his obsolete views and inexplicable or irrational dogmas repulsive to their own independent judgment." The second category included Jawaharlal Nehru. Dr. Majumdar said, "No wonder that lesser men looked upon Gandhi almost as a divine being, the truth of whose words and views must not be questioned on any account." He continues, "There is a popular notion, sustained by catching slogans, that Gandhi achieved India's freedom by the method of Satyagraha and thus laid down for the subject peoples all over the world a unique method for gaining independence without bloodshed. Of course, Gandhi's own statement leaves no doubt that Satyagraha had never any fair trial in India's struggle for freedom, and, as such, cannot claim any credit for it. But there were other deep-seated differences between Gandhi and his followers. He placed the cult of non violence above everything else—even above the independence of India." He goes on, "As a matter of fact Gandhi realized, late in life, that a wide gulf had always separated him from his followers though they all submitted to his authority. Gandhi realized at long last that slave-driving may be an agreeable pastime and a great source of strength to a leader, but it does not pay in the long run. For, like ordinary slaves, the slave-followers of Gandhi gradually turned against his leadership and revolted against his authority. It is not often realized by many that since the failure of the ‘Quit India’ movement Gandhi’s political influence waned more and more as the achievement of freedom approached nearer and nearer. That Gandhi played a very great role in rousing the political consciousness of the masses nobody can possibly deny. But it would be a travesty of truth to give him the sole credit for the freedom of India, and sheer nonsense to look -upon Satyagraha (or Charka, according to some) as the unique weapon by which it was achieved." Dr. Majumdar is brutally honest when he says, "The two great ends of Gandhi’s life, to which even the freedom of India was a subordinate one, were to inculcate in the masses the spirit of non-violence and to bring about unity between the Hindus and Muslims by a change of heart. He failed miserably in both and realized it only too well at the fag end of his life. The cult of non-violence never took root in the hearts of the people." He goes on analyzing further, The failure to achieve the two great ideals of non¬violence and Hindu-Muslim unity led to the failure of Gandhi’s third ideal, namely, to maintain the political unity of India. As usual, Gandhi held fast to his ideal almost till the last, when his dream of a united India was rudely shattered by the action of his own followers."
R.C Majumdar almost eulogizes Subhas Bose in his comparison with Gandhi, uncharacteristic of any Historian of National prominence post independence who hijacked the narrative. He says, "Next to Gandhi, the most dominant figure in the struggle for India’s freedom was undoubtedly Subhas Chandra Bose. His unique personality shone forth when he, alone of all the leading figures in the inner circle of the Congress, kept himself unaffected by the magic charm of Mahatma Gandhi." He says, The fundamental difference between Gandhi and Subhas Bose is quite obvious. Gandhi’s ideal in life was the establishment of Satyagraha, and everything else was secondary ; even the freedom of India had no meaning or value to him in case it involved a sacrifice of this ideal. To Subhas Bose, on the other hand, the freedom of India was the only aim and object and no means was too mean for that purpose. Agreement between the two was, therefore, impossible. It is a sad commentary on contemporary politics that most of the Congress leaders at heart agreed with Bose in this respect, but sided with Gandhi."
