There is evidence that Subhas met Rabindranath Tagore even when he was a student, to get more information on the latter's plan on education. Subhas again met Rabindranath in his voyage back to India from London in 1921. The poet had expressed his disapproval about the Non Cooperation Movement. Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson point out in Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore: “Tagore, despite strong initial reservations about Bose, had by 1937 come to view him as the only hope for principled leadership in Bengal. He was distressed to see Bose failing politically and the increasing factionalism of Bengali politics.” Tagore was deeply disturbed by the treatment meted out to Subhas by the Congress leadership and had entreated on his behalf to Gandhiji, a very rare gesture from somebody like Tagore. He also wrote a letter to Nehru expressing his distress and dissatisfaction on account of the situation. After Subhas's resignation from Congress in April 1939, Tagore wrote in a letter to Subhas in May 1939: “I am a Bengali poet; on behalf of Bengal I hail you as the leader of the nation”. In a letter to Gandhi written on 29 March 1939 he made a fervent plea: “At the last Congress session some rude hands have deeply hurt Bengal with an ungracious persistence; please apply without delay balm to the wound with your own kind hands and prevent it from festering.” There are also evidences that the great poet knew about Subhas's intention of escaping from India and carrying out a struggle from outside India. After Subhas's disappearance an anxious poet had requested to keep him posted on news and information about Subhas. Subhas on his part was full of admiration for Kaviguru.
