Bose campaigning in Kolkata. Photo courtesy of the New York Times
Congratulations to SAI Founder and Former SAI Director Sugata Bose on being elected to the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat in India’s national election. Bose won the seat in West Bengal as a Trinamool Congress candidate. Bose’s mother, Krishna Bose, was a MP three times, and he is the grandnephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Bose is the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs in the Harvard History Department. His field of specialization is modern South Asian and Indian Ocean history. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. His books include His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011) and A Hundred Horizons: the Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.)
Bose told the New York Times, “I began to think this was a historic election, probably our most important since independence,” he said. “The Congress was going to be defeated badly, and I didn’t want the forces of religious majoritarianism to be the only alternative,” he added, referring to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
“As an educationist, I would like to put education at the very top of our educational agenda,” he said. “We proudly talk about demographic dividend, but it could turn into a demographic disaster if we don’t educate our citizens. Given my background, that will be a major priority,” he told the New York Times.