The most glorious part of Subhas Chandra Bose's achievement in forging national unity and bringing about communal harmony was in the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). He moulded the INA as the army of a truly united and one nation. He invented and put in vogue symbols and idioms evoking the unity of India. The very name of the INA "Azad Hind Fauj," its marching song Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja, its salutation Jai Hind and his ultimate appeal to his men Tum hame Khoon do ham tumhen Azadi denge (you give me blood, I shall give you freedom) evoked Hindu-Muslim unity. Even his marching order Dilli Chalo and capture Lal Qila symbolised Indian unity. For very few things evoke the continuity of the Indian political system as Delhi does and the grandeur of the Indian empire as the Red Fort.

Samar Guha, in his book The Mahatma and the Netaji: Two Men of Destiny of India, says: "His Azad Hind government constituted of Indian representatives from all parts of the country and from all communities, on the credibility of their patriotic capability and dedication to the cause of the Indian revolution.

A majority of the generals of the highest echelon of the Azad Hind Fauj happened to be Muslims ... The majority of the personnel of the supreme body of the War Council happened to be Muslims .... The Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian officers lived together in the same barracks and dined together ...? "

Among Netaji's trusted commander and other senior officers in the INA, there were several Muslim officers like Shah Nawaz Khan, Habibur Rahman, the Kiani brothers and Aziz Ahmed. His only companion on his submarine journey was a Muslim officer, Major Abid Hasan. Subhas Chandra Bose's unique achievement of making the INA the living symbol of national unity deeply influenced public opinion and inspired the freedom fighters in India. It also made a mark internationally. The nationwide solidarity, cutting across the communal divide, demonstrated during the trial of the INA senior officers, and the heroes welcome extended to them all over the country after their release, had electrified the entire country and touched Indians belonging to all communities. It also inspired the rebellions in the navy and the police force, which shook the foundations of the British empire in India.

In his book, Samar Guha quotes from Michael Edward's book, Last years of British India, to the effect that, "The spectre of Subhas Bose frightened Jinnah," Quade-Azam saw the danger posed by the INA Movement and the legends of Subhas Bose to his Pakistan plan.

He also quotes from New York Times reports on this phenomenon. The New York Times wrote: "In spite of an uncompromising struggle between the two factions, for the first time since 1921, Muslims and Hindus together staged street protests and riots against British India in Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi. The catalytic agent in this case was Subhas Chandra Bose." In another report, the New York Times had this to say: "The Indian problem often seems to be one of reconciling the political difference between the Hindus and Muslims .... Lately, there appeared the first serious evidence of anti-White feeling that crops up in other parts of Asia ... stimulated by the propaganda of Subhas Chandra Bose ... who won followers among Hindus and Muslims alike."

Subhas Chandra Bose was very thorough, comprehensive, perceptive and farseeing in his analysis of the communal problem and in his prescription of how to deal with it. Apart from his idea of intensifying the Freedom Movement as a means of containing this problem, concrete proposals made by him on various occasions, particularly in his presidential address at the Haripura Congress, add up to an integrated, comprehensive and multipronged approach to solving the communal problems.

Subhas Chandra Bose believed that economic and  social factors were the major contributors to the communal problem, and that an effective approach to solving this problem was to inculcate a perception of common interest. In his presidential address at the Haripura Congress, he said: "Only by emphasising our common interests, economic and political, can we cut across communal division and dissensions. A policy of live and let live in matters religious, and an understanding on matters economic and political, should be our objective." He, therefore, declared in his address that after coming to power, the Congress would undertake national reconstruction on socialistic lines, from which the have-nots (which included the vast majority of the Muslims) would benefit.

He gave greater priority to economic and social problems than to religious problems. In his specific action programme for normalising relations between the Hindus and Muslims, was included an inculcation of the perception of common economic interests.

In the Indian Struggle, he assumes that, "when every individual has employment, food and education and has freedom in religious and cultural matters, there will be no more minorities problem in India".

Another important plank of Subhas Chandra Bose's platform for bringing all the communities of India together was his emphasis on conferring upon the minorities their legitimate rights and giving them equal rights. In the speech that he delivered at the session of the Central Sikh League in Jallianwala Bagh on April 8, 1931, he said: "We are trying to form a constitution in which all communities of India might be provided equal rights and justice." However, the most elaborate enunciation of his ideas on this subject are in his Haripura presidential address: "The Congress stands for the political and economic rights of the Indian people as the whole. If it succeeds in executing its programme, the minority communities will be benefited as much as any other section of the Indian population."

In that speech, he quotes extensively from the pronouncement made by the All India Congress Committee at its meeting in Calcutta in 1937. In that pronouncement, the Congress "considered its duty to protect the rights of the minorities in India and ensure widest possible scope for the development of these minorities and their participation in the fullest measure in the political, economic and cultural life of the nation. The resolution on "Fundamental Rights" adopted by the All India Congress Committee included the following rights of interest to the minorities:

(i) Every citizen shall enjoy freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess and practise his religion.

(ii) The culture, language and the script of the minorities and different linguistic areas shall be protected.

(iii) There will be equality before law, irrespective of religion, caste etc

(iv) No disability will attach to any citizen by reasons of his or her religion, caste etc.

In his presidential address at the Maharashtra Provincial Congress Conference in Poona on May 3, 1928, Subhas Chandra Bose made an eloquent plea for social unity, including communal unity. The address was entitled Vision of Free India. He said: ".. you cannot free one half of your soul and keep the other half in bondage. You cannot introduce a light into a room and expect at the same time some portion of it to remain dark. You cannot establish political democracy and endeavour at the same time to resist the democratisation of the society. No, my friends. Let us not become a queer mixture of political democrats and social conservatives. If we want to make India really great, we must build up a political democracy on the pedestal of a democratic society. Privileges based on birth, caste or creed should go, and equal opportunities should be given to all irrespective of caste, creed or religion .... "

The third important component of his approach to resolving the communal problem is the policy of "live and let live" in matters of religion. He has defined this as "a policy of complete non-interference in matters of conscience, religion and culture ... " This policy is included as a separated point in the resolution of Fundamental Rights adopted by the All India Congress Committee meeting in Calcutta in 1937, and reiterated by Subhas Chandra Bose in his Haripura address. The relevant point reads: "the State shall observe neutrality in regard to all religions."

The same point was repeated a few years later in Subhas Chandra Bose's address to the students of Tokyo Imperial University under the title, A Testament - India:Past, Present and Future. He said in that address: "Consequently, the government of free India must have an absolutely neutral and impartial attitude towards all religions and leave it to the choice of the individual to profess or follow a particular religious faith."

This is the closest that Subhas Chandra Bose comes to the concept of "secularism" enshrined in the Indian Constitution.                                            (Source: The Nation and the World)