Haripura and Tripuri Sessions and Subhash Bose’s Views

At a Glance

• Haripura February 1938; Bose unanimously elected president
• 1939 election Bose 1,580; Pattabhi Sitaramayya 1,377
• Tripuri March 1939; near Jabalpur, Central Provinces
• Outcome Bose resigned April 1939; Forward Bloc in May; Rajendra Prasad became president
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: The Second World War and the Nationalist Response

Where Does It Fit?

This is the first topic of the category on the Second World War and the nationalist response. The previous topic evaluated the Congress ministries. This topic covers the Haripura and Tripuri sessions and Bose’s views. The next topic compares Gandhi and Bose in depth. Previous topic: Congress Ministries: Labour Policy, Social Welfare and Evaluation.

What Was the Disarray in the Congress After Civil Disobedience?

After the Civil Disobedience Movement there was some disarray in the Congress. In Gandhi’s view there was rising corruption and indiscipline, along with rivalries and petty squabbles among leaders, bogus membership and unethical means used to win control of Congress committees. He believed the Congress should put its house in order before another movement, and also felt the masses were not in the mood for a struggle. Others felt the struggle should continue. The movement is in Evaluation of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Who Was Subhash Bose?

Subhash Chandra Bose was president of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, working mainly to organise youth and promote the trade union movement. He disagreed with Gandhi and other leaders on many aspects of the struggle. Along with Jawaharlal Nehru he opposed the Nehru Report’s dominion status, favoured complete independence, announced the formation of the Independence League, and fully endorsed the Simla Deputation; Muslim League founded After 1937 League turned to extreme…">Lahore resolution on purna swaraj. He was active in the 1930 Salt Satyagraha and was arrested, and he was strongly against the suspension of civil disobedience and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931, especially as the government would not negotiate on the death sentence for Bhagat Singh and his associates. The Nehru Report is in Nehru Report, 1928.

What Happened at Haripura, February 1938?

At the Congress meeting at Haripura in Gujarat in February 1938, Bose was unanimously elected president. In his presidential address he said that the Congress ministries in the provinces had immense revolutionary potential. He talked of the economic development of the country through planning, and was instrumental in setting up the National Planning Committee, described in Congress Ministries: Labour Policy, Social Welfare and Evaluation. The session adopted a resolution that the Congress would give moral support to those agitating against governance in the princely states. In the following months the international situation became highly disturbed, with clear signs of a European war.

What Was the Election of 1939?

In January 1939 Bose decided to stand again for president. Gandhi was not happy about his candidature. Bose said he represented the new ideas, ideologies, problems and programmes that had come out of the progressive sharpening of the anti-imperialist struggle in India. Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, J.B. Kripalani and some other Working Committee members argued that ideologies and programmes were developed in the Congress bodies such as the Working Committee, and that the president’s position was more constitutional, representative and symbolic of national unity. They favoured Gandhi’s candidate, Pattabhi Sitaramayya.

Bose won by 1,580 votes to 1,377, with the full support of the Congress Socialist Party and the communists. Gandhi congratulated Bose but said that Pattabhi’s defeat was his own defeat. It became a Gandhi versus Bose issue.

What Happened at Tripuri, March 1939?

The Congress session at Tripuri, in the Central Provinces near Jabalpur, showed that all was not well. The Working Committee, the ruling body, is nominated by the president, so the election of the president is the constitutional occasion through which the membership expresses its view of the leadership. With Bose’s victory the polarisation over ideology and method was clear, and his election against the official machine led to a sharp inner crisis.

Bose had accused Working Committee leaders of being ready to compromise with the government on federation. The leaders felt they could not work with a president who had publicly doubted their nationalism, and they resigned from the Committee. Bose was ill but attended Tripuri. In his presidential speech he predicted an imperialist war in Europe and said that the time had come to raise the issue of swaraj and submit the national demand to the British government as an ultimatum. He favoured a six-month ultimatum, with a mass civil disobedience movement to follow if it was rejected. In his view the Congress and the masses were strong enough, and the international crisis should be used.

Gandhi was firm that it was not the time for ultimatums, as neither the Congress nor the masses were ready, and that communal discord, class strife and the lack of a united vision would undermine any movement. A resolution moved by Govind Ballabh Pant reaffirmed faith in Gandhian policies and asked Bose to nominate the Working Committee in accordance with Gandhi’s wishes; it was passed without opposition from socialists or communists, who were not keen to discard Gandhi’s leadership. Gandhi said he did not want to impose a committee and that Bose, as president, should choose his own.

How Did the Crisis End?

Bose tried to win Gandhi’s confidence but failed, and refused to nominate a new Working Committee. He wanted an immediate struggle led by Gandhi, while Gandhi held that the time was not ripe and would not lead a struggle on Bose’s radical lines. Gandhi wrote that their views seemed so diametrically opposed that he saw no possibility of bridging them. Bose had also misjudged his support: even the socialists and communists were mostly not keen on a split, since it would reduce the Left to a splinter group and they wanted a united Congress as the main organ of the national struggle.

The Tripuri session also adopted a resolution of sympathy with the people of China in their resistance to imperialism, and approved sending a Medical Mission to China. As an analytical point, the crisis was about strategy and leadership together, since Bose wanted to use the war crisis at once while the Gandhian leadership wished to wait, and the next events in Congress Offer, Wardha Meeting and Resignation of Congress Ministries show that the war question soon forced the choice. The two leaders’ wider differences are in Gandhi and Bose: Ideological Differences.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Gandhi-Bose conflict A frequent Prelims and Mains theme
• Dates and votes 1,580 to 1,377 and the 1939 events are stock facts
• Forward Bloc The origin of Bose’s separate path

What Came Next?

The next topic compares Gandhi and Bose on method, state, economy, religion and other subjects. Next topic: Gandhi and Bose: Ideological Differences.

Key People and Terms

• Pattabhi Sitaramayya Gandhi’s candidate in the 1939 election
• Forward Bloc The party within the Congress formed by Bose in May 1939
• Ultimatum Bose’s proposal of a six-month deadline to Britain
• Working Committee The Congress’s ruling body, nominated by the president
• Govind Ballabh Pant Moved the Tripuri resolution reaffirming faith in Gandhi’s policies
• Tripuri Session near Jabalpur in March 1939

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about the Gandhi-Bose rift. These points add depth.

• Cause Strategy and leadership
• Left’s choice Not to split the Congress
• Outcome Resignation and the Forward Bloc