Chapter X: The Maximist Uprising
1st of May – 31st of May 1938
1st of May, in the evening.
Almost three months had passed since the Commune had officially sent its invitation along with the delegation to the Teheran Conference. Gandhi had signed it personally and added a little personal note for Jinnah. The invitation was not really an invitation in the classical sense of the word. It was an invitation to hold a summit to reunite peacefully, but the details were to be filled in by the government of Delhi. This was as to assure their agreement to the summit. Now, finally, their answer had arrived and the entirety of the Commune’s government cabinet gathered in Gandhi’s
ashram to discuss how to move further. Mahadev opened the letter and started reading it:
“On behalf of Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Jinnah, I have the pleasure to inform the Government of the Bharatiya Commune that we accept your request for a summit on the reunification of the Indian subcontinent. As per your request, we have thought about the date and location of the summit. Our Government proposes to hold the conference at Lucknow on the 10th of July of this year. This gives both our nations roughly two months to prepare for the negotiations. On behalf of the Prime Minister, I have also included his Fourteen Points for the future of India. The Prime Minister wishes to make clear that these points are his demands and are to be taken as they are. If there are points of dispute, it is up to the Prime Minister to decide during the Summit whether or not changes are needed. The Government of the Dominion looks forward to seeing President Gandhi and his associates in Lucknow. May God be with you and guide India on the path of peace.”
Gandhi was the first to speak: “This is wonderful news. Jinnah’s Fourteen Points have been circulating for a while now and they are not entirely unreasonable. This great country has a history of being divided into many smaller states. Therefor Jinnah’s proposal for a federal state is not entirely ridiculous. Now, on the matter of religion. My support goes to a secular state where ideally religion doesn’t play a role. But I do understand the concerns of the Muslims. They want to be protected and have an equal say in government. Cementing their rights in a future Constitution will be a necessary step in unifying India. With Jinnah’s demands now clear, it is time that we put our own demands forward. Any suggestions?” Minister of Internal Affairs Amrit Kaur answered Gandhi’s call: “I must say that I am very pleased with the response from Delhi. However, I must also say that unification will have mayor consequences for my cabinet. For example, the National Bhoodan Committee has been doing wonders with the country side. Our latest figures show an immense increase in education investments from the local Bhoodan Councils. We as a government should be proud of this achievement and we must try to keep this wonderful piece of legislation alive in a unified India.” Everyone in the room nodded. Then it was Razak’s turn to speak: “I’m a bit concerned about what position a unified India will take on the world stage. I mean both the Commune and the Dominion are part of an international alliance. We have our own unique bond with Burma in the Eastern Syndicalist Union, while the Dominion is an integral part of the Entente and the British Commonwealth. I feel like this issue could dominate peace talks and maybe even sabotage them. We must ask ourselves what our future relationship with Burma will be and what kind of relationship we want with the Entente and Commonwealth. We do not want to put ourselves back in the position of British subjects, but I suspect that Jinnah wouldn’t like to just cut all ties with the Entente.” Gandhi understood Razak’s concerns and said: “Part of the peace process is also mending the bond between the Indian people and the British. For too long has our relationship been one of inequality. If the British are willing to treat our people and our democratically elected government as equals, than there is certainly a place for the British in our house of friendship and peace. I’m quite sure they have too many financial and economic interests to just let the Dominion go, but we can hold that against them. If it looks like Delhi is slipping from their grasp and we can offer to guarantee trade relations with the Entente, then I suspect they’d be more than willing to accept reunification. As for Burma, I am sure that trade and cooperation will continue. My plans for the Burma road could also benefit industry in the Dominion, so they would also favour a friendly neighbour, even if they are syndicalists.” Tagore, the Commune’s premier, then chose to speak: “My friend, there is one last issue which I think is vital for our nation after reunification and that is the matter of collective industry. As it stands now, our people are shareholders in the companies they work for and this status is protected by the law. The Dominion on the other hand is a capitalist country and does not provide the same legal provisions for collective industry. If we were to join our two countries, then competition from the capitalist industries in the west might root out our collective industries in the east. We must provide legal protection for these industries and make them more competitive, without losing workers’ rights of course. This will be a difficult balance, but an important one nonetheless. I think Jinnah will have an ear for our concerns on this matter, as he’s a social democrat himself.” Gandhi thanked Tagore for his thoughts and replied: “We must indeed not forget about our own economical interests. But let’s not forget that competition is an aspect of capitalism. We must ask ourselves if capitalism is what we want to achieve. My intentions for this country’s economy have always been self-sufficiency, autarky or whatever you want to call it. Feeding and clothing our own people should be our priority. Whatever extra profits we make, we could use for foreign trade. But we must never lose sight of the poorest and weakest in the country. I have recently come across the ideas of a man called John Maynard Keynes. His thoughts on economical processes are truly wonderful and we can use them in our own nation. Keynes advocates raising the purchasing power of the people to increase the demand for goods. Our priority as a government should therefore be increasing the purchasing power and making sure that the demands of the people are filled. Increasing the supply of goods without having a population that can buy that surplus leaves our economy vulnerable to the demand of foreign countries.” Minister of Economy Sitaramayya was amazed about Gandhi’s thorough knowledge of economical theory and said: “Bapu, you have a good point. This Mr. Keynes who you are talking about is indeed the hottest new topic among economical theorists all around the world. Even in Canada his theories are put to the test. I think we could quite easily convince Jinnah with this logic.” The discussion went on for another hour before the Cabinet agreed on a preliminary draft of demands and disbanded.
2nd of May, in the morning.
Field Marshal Bose had called together his followers for one last time. News had reached him that the Dominion had accepted Gandhi’s invitation. Bose was furious, this was his last chance to try and stop the government. The Field Marshal had also invited the mole, he finally figured out how he could use her against Gandhi. When everyone was gathered in his home, Bose started talking: “Friends and allies of the resistance, the time has come to rid this nation of its traitors. I have received word that the imperialists in the west have accepted Gandhi’s request for negotiations. We cannot allow that fool to sell our country to Ottawa. I have therefore sent the order to our soldiers to start the dismantling of Gandhi’s weak government. Tonight, we march onto the government building and remove Gandhi himself from office. If all goes well, in the following weeks we will have taken over complete control of the Commune and we will start preparing the invasion of the Dominion.” The crowd cheered after Bose’s speech, but General Saghal was terrified. She snuck out to bring this to Gandhi’s attention. That was exactly what Bose had hoped for. Unbeknownst to the General, the Field Marshal had rigged her car with explosives. As soon as she would reach the Presidential Residence, her car would explode, hopefully killing Gandhi and Saghal in the process. Bose could then easily fill the power vacuum by proclaiming himself the Commune’s next president.
Lakshmi Saghal hurried towards her car. As soon as she got it running, she drove towards Gandhi’s residence. But along the way, she decided to make a stop at Abdul Razak’s house and inform him of Bose’s plan, so he could start their own plan to counter the Field Marshal. She left the car running while she got out and ran to Razak’s door. When he opened the door, Razak recognized the General’s shocked face. “Abdul, I have no time to explain, but Bose will start his uprising today. He plans to storm the Presidential Residence tonight. You must get the Red Army on high alert and double security on Gandhi as soon as you can”, the General said as quickly as she could. As soon as she had arrived at his door, Lakshmi was gone again. When she got back into the car, she pressed the gas pedal as hard as she could, but her engine gave up. She tried to restart the car, but an explosion blew her car from its framework, killing the General in the process. Razak, who had seen everything and was still a bit shocked by Saghal’s sudden appearance at his door, hurried towards the car. Pieces of wreckage lay all over the street, but there was no sign of the General. If what she said was true, then Gandhi must be informed as quickly as possible. Razak hurried towards his own car and speeded towards the Presidential Residence.
2nd of May, in the evening.
Bose just received word that his plan to kill Gandhi had failed. In the meanwhile, military presence in the capital had nearly tripled since this morning. Bose knew that storming the Presidential Residence at this point would be suicide and he decided to flee the capital and join his forces in the Bengal countryside instead. Before he left though, he ordered his followers to spread misinformation in Calcutta and deliver an ultimatum to Gandhi. The Mahatma, as idealistic as he was, of course refused the ultimatum, leaving Bose no other option than to reorganize in the west.
3rd of May, in the early morning.
Bose had prepared for this very moment for months now, but so had the late General Saghal and Abdul Razak. Their focus had been on reducing Bose’s forces even before the war had started. Now it was all up to Razak to defeat Bose and at the same time keep casualties low on both sides. As it stood right now, Bose’s Maximists controlled parts of Orissa and almost the entire area bordering the Dominion. Loyalist troops were primarily stationed around the capital after the recent bombing and now had to be transported to the front as quickly as possible. In the meantime, a telegram was sent to Burma, requesting their assistance in putting down Bose’s uprising.
4th of May.
Razak’s first priority would be to ensure that Bose remained isolated from the rest of the world so he couldn’t receive any supplies or volunteers. To achieve this, Razak ordered the Red Army to occupy Orissa and prevent Bose’s Maximists from reaching the ocean.
7th of May.
While the Red Army was keeping the Maximists in the south from reaching the ocean, Maximists in the north were trying to reach Darjeeling and seek connection with their former training camps in Nepal. In the meanwhile, Razak ordered an advance into Maximist territories in between a gap of the enemy’s defences.
10th of May.
Instead of cutting of the Red Army’s push towards Patna, Bose made the tactical mistake of pushing south to cut of the troops that are heading towards Raipur. However, the Red Army is quick enough to fill the gap and prevent the Maximist from driving a wedge between the two fronts. In the meanwhile, a division of the Red Army is able to get closer to Bose’s hideout in Patna due to his troops being engaged in the east.
11th of May.
Razak’s plan to cut the enemy’s forces in half has worked. There are now two pockets of Maximist resistance. While the northern pocket is close to collapsing, the Maximists in the southern pocket are still trying to push towards the ocean, but the Red Army is holding them off for now.
12th of May.
Patna is taken, but Bose was able to flee south nevertheless. Razak expects him to head towards Raipur and lead the troops there. In some places, guerrilla warfare has broken out between the Maximists and the Red Army, further complicating the Bharatiyan Civil War.
27th of May.
The Maximists still aren’t put down, but the northern pocket is on its last legs. Meanwhile, Bose has regrouped in the south and is trying to seek a connection to the northern pocket. The south however is also close to collapse, with Raipur being taking at the moment.
31st of May.
The conflict is over, the Maximists have capitulated. More important though, Razak has managed to keep the casualties quite low. 245 brave men lost their lives on the side of the Red Army, while 14 140 Maximists were killed, most of them died in the last days of the war when the pockets of resistance were finally dealt with. Bose himself was found dead in Raipur. He had committed suicide to save himself from capture and humiliation in Calcutta. In exactly one month, Razak was able to defeat the uprising and end the civil war. Gandhi and his government could now fully focus on reunification. Members of the Indian National Congress raised the question of what to do with the traitors and have even suggested execution, but Gandhi refuses to sign any order to kill and has instead chosen to imprison them and has asked for their transfer to Burmese prisons. The battle’s won, but the child is lost.
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Bonus points to whoever can spot the reference to a popular show in this chapter.