Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose (born January 23, 1897, Cuttack, Orissa [now Odisha], India—died August 18, 1945?, Taihoku City, Formosa [now Taipei, Taiwan]?) was an Indian revolutionary prominent in the Indian Independence Movement against British rule. Popularly known as Netaji, he led an armed force composed of former Indian prisoners of war and volunteers from the Indian expatriate community. The Indian National Army, as the force was called, was aligned with the Axis powers and opposed the Allied powers during World War II. Although Bose was initially a member of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) and a devoted supporter of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, he later parted ways with both because of differences over the strategy for achieving independence.

Bose was known in particular for his revolutionary approach to independence and for his push for socialist policies. He was determined to achieve freedom at any cost, a resolve captured in his famous exhortation “Friends! My comrades in the war of liberation…, it is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom. Give me blood, and I promise you freedom!” His death remains a subject of debate, inspiring several books and movies. Bose is often regarded as having been among the greatest Bengalis of all time.

Early life and political activity

The son of a wealthy and prominent Bengali lawyer, Bose studied at Presidency College, Calcutta (now Kolkata), from which he was expelled in 1916 for nationalist activities. He graduated from Scottish Church College in 1919. Following this, his parents sent him to the University of Cambridge to prepare for the Indian Civil Service. Although he passed the civil service examination in 1920, Bose withdrew his candidacy the following year and returned to India to participate in the freedom movement.

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Bose was supported financially throughout his career by his elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose—an eminent lawyer, freedom fighter, and member of the Indian National Congress who actively participated in the Gandhi-led noncooperation and civil disobedience movements.

Subhas Chandra Bose joined the noncooperation movement led by Gandhi, who had made the Indian National Congress a powerful nonviolent organization. He was advised by Gandhi to work under Chittaranjan Das, a politician in Bengal. There Bose became a youth educator, journalist, and commandant of the Bengal Congress volunteers. His activities led to his imprisonment in December 1921. In 1924 he was appointed chief executive officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, with Das as mayor. Bose was soon after deported to Burma (now Myanmar) because he was suspected of connections with secret revolutionary movements. Having been released in 1927, he returned to find Bengal Congress affairs in disarray after the death of Das, and he was elected president of the group. Shortly thereafter he and Jawaharlal Nehru became the two general secretaries of the Indian National Congress.

A falling-out with Gandhi

In the 1930s, differences emerged between Bose and Gandhi: the latter advocated nonviolent methods of protesting British rule, whereas Bose preferred an aggressive approach. Bose was detained numerous times for his association with the underground revolutionary Bengal Volunteers and for suspected involvement in violent acts. As a result of the severe restrictions imposed on him by British authorities and his deteriorating health, Bose traveled to Europe for medical treatment, with the permission of British authorities, from 1933 to 1934 and from 1936 to 1937, during which he pleaded India’s cause before European leaders.

While in Vienna in 1934 Bose met Emilie Schenkl, who became his secretary. They married in 1937 and had a daughter, Anita, in 1942.

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After returning to India in 1937 Bose became increasingly critical of Gandhi’s more conservative economics as well as his less confrontational approach toward independence. In 1938 Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress and formed a national planning committee, which formulated a policy of broad industrialization. However, this did not harmonize with Gandhian economic thought, which emphasized reliance on cottage industries and self-sufficiency through the use of the country’s own resources. Bose defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Gandhi’s favored candidate, in 1939 to become president of the Congress Party again. Tensions between Bose’s and Gandhi’s factions reached a peak during this period, and Bose resigned as a result. He founded the Forward Bloc, hoping to rally radical elements, but in July 1940 he was again incarcerated. His refusal to remain in prison at this critical period of India’s history was expressed in a determination to fast to death, which frightened the British government into releasing him.

Escape and activity in exile

On January 26, 1941, despite close surveillance, Bose escaped his residence in Calcutta disguised as an Afghan named Muhammad Ziauddin. Traveling via Kabul and Moscow, he reached Germany in April.

In Nazi Germany, Bose came under the tutelage of a newly created Special Bureau for India, guided by Adam von Trott zu Solz. Bose and other Indians who had gathered in Berlin made regular broadcasts from the German-sponsored Azad Hind Radio beginning in January 1942, speaking in English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, and Pashto.

A year after Japan’s invasion of Southeast Asia, Bose left Germany and, traveling by German and Japanese submarines and planes, reached Tokyo in May 1943. On July 4 he assumed leadership of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia and, with Japanese support, organized the 40,000-strong Indian National Army (INA; also called Azad Hind Fauj [“Free India Army”]) in Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia. The INA was an armed unit distinct from the official British Indian Army, and its goal was the independence of India. On October 21, 1943, Bose declared a provisional independent Indian government. The INA, alongside Japanese troops, advanced to Rangoon (now Yangon) in Burma (now Myanmar) and thence overland into India, reaching Kohima and Imphal by March 1944. However, lacking air support, they were defeated and forced to retreat. Despite briefly maintaining its identity, the INA’s efforts ended with Japan’s defeat in World War II.

Death and legacy

A few days after Japan announced its surrender in August 1945, Bose fled Southeast Asia and reportedly died in a Japanese hospital in what is now Taiwan from burn injuries sustained in a plane crash. His ashes are believed to have been preserved at Renkōji, a Buddhist temple in Tokyo.

The circumstances of Bose’s death remain shrouded in mystery and are the subject of many books, movies, and conspiracy theories. The government of India has launched several inquiries into the cause of his death and, on most occasions, has found that he died in a plane crash. However, the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry concluded in 2005 that, although Bose is dead, he did not die in a plane crash and that the ashes in Renkōji are not those of Bose. Despite the government’s rejection of the commission’s conclusions, the findings fueled debate over his death. In addition, there have been requests to return Bose’s remains to India. January 23, his birth anniversary, is celebrated as Parakram Diwas (“Day of Valor”) across India.

Although Bose is regarded as one of the foremost leaders in the Indian freedom struggle, his association with the major Axis powers—Nazi Germany, Benito Mussolini’s Italy, and imperial Japan—remains controversial.