Thread by @KumarSeshadri

This is why I do not think much of #SubhasChandraBose

Read this thread about the brutal treatment of #Malaya #Tamils by the Japanese in building the #DeathRailway

Bose wanted to take help from the Japanese in "liberating" #India.

(1/)

https://twitter.com/TNGeography/status/1670474583370235904

Why would the Japanese ever care about "liberating" India from #British rule?

The #Japanese were imperialists. They wanted to conquer all of Asia and the Pacific.

They had already annexed #Manchuria in 1931, and everyone knew about their brutal treatment of the #Chinese.

(2/)

The Japanese followed this up with the #RapeOfNanjing in 1937. This was followed by the establishment of #Unit731 in the city of #Harbin in Northeast #China, scene of one of the most egregious #CrimesAgainstHumanity in history, carried out by the #ImperialJapaneseArmy

(3/)

The #Japanese considered every conquered population to be inferior and not deserving of even basic human rights. They treated the #Thais, the #Burmese, the #Malays, the #Koreans, the #Vietnamese, the #Cambodians, the #Laotians, and of course the #Chinese, with contempt.

(4/)

Given this, why would they treat #Indians any different?

That they didn't see Indians any different was obvious from the way they treated captured Indians in #Malaya during the building of the #DeathRailway in #Burma.

So, #Bose was simply a useful puppet
for the #Japanese.
(5/)

Many of the Japanese #WarCrimes came to light only after the war. But given how many Indians had family members in Malaya and Burma at the time, and that the Japanese were engaging in these atrocities from 1937, surely some news of Japanese brutality would have been known.

(6/)

How could #Bose ignore all this and enter into an alliance with the #Japanese? What did he think would happen if the Japanese had defeated the #British at the #BattleOfKohima?

However bad the British were, the Japanese would have been worse.

(7/)

The best you can say about Bose is that he was a naive and gullible idealist if he couldn't see the obvious and understand that he was simply an expendable pawn in the Japanese plan, or cannon fodder.

If that is so, then his understanding of statesmanship was very poor.

(8/)

This is why, whatever our internal differences, we must never involve outsiders. This is why #RahulGandhi was wrong when he went abroad and said, bad things are happening in India, why doesn't the #West take notice?

What happens in India is a matter for Indians alone.

(9/)

Yes, bad things are happening in India. #Bigotry is on the rise. The #BJP is #BreakingIndia on #religious, #language, and #caste fault lines.

But these are problems for #Indians to sort out among themselves.

Political leaders should try to convince the people of India.

(10/)

They should not invite outsiders to solve our problems. Every country acts in its self-interest. If the #US interferes in our affairs, it will try to install someone in power who will help #American, not #Indian interests.

Bose didn't understand this. And Rahul doesn't.

(11/11)

@threadreaderapp unroll