Highlight the differences in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom.

Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose shared the goal of complete independence but differed fundamentally on the road to it.

Differences in approach

• Means: Gandhi held non-violence as a creed and satyagraha as the only legitimate weapon; Bose treated non-violence as a mere tactic and ultimately embraced armed struggle through the Azad Hind Fauj.
• Timing and opportunity: Gandhi followed a struggle–truce–struggle rhythm to prepare the masses; Bose insisted that Britain's difficulty in World War II was India's opportunity, seeking Axis and Japanese assistance.
• Economic vision: Gandhi stood for a village-centred, decentralised economy with trusteeship of capital; Bose championed socialist planning and rapid industrialisation — as Congress president he initiated the National Planning Committee (1938).
• Political style: the rupture climaxed at Tripuri (1939), when Bose, re-elected president against Gandhi's candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya, was compelled to resign and founded the Forward Bloc.
• Idiom of mobilisation: Gandhi used a moral-religious vocabulary of self-suffering; Bose preferred a secular, militarist nationalism of discipline and sacrifice.

Underlying mutual respect

• Bose hailed Gandhi as the “Father of our Nation” in his 1944 Rangoon broadcast and named INA brigades after Gandhi and Nehru; Gandhi in turn called Bose a “patriot of patriots”.

Their approaches — moral mass resistance and militant nationalism — were rivals in method yet complementary in effect: the INA trials upsurge of 1945–46, joining hands with Gandhian mass sentiment, convinced Britain that continued rule over India was untenable.