Legacy of Subhas Chandra Bose

Context

• There is an element of intrigue that trails Subhas Chandra Bose’s persona, his life, disappearance and death.

Key Points

• Role in Freedom Struggle:
  • He was a dynamic personality of India’s freedom movement who inspired hundreds of Indians to join the struggle.
  • He resigned from the Indian Civil Service to join the freedom movement, threw a challenge to the Congress leadership and took up an extremist stance against the British, evaded the intelligence network to travel to Europe and Southeast Asia, formed two governments and raised two armies, all in a span of two decades. 
  • Bose’s political activities surrounded revolutionary groups in Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and the United Provinces.
• Bridging Communal Divide:
  • Bose made efforts to bridge the increasing communal divide.
  • The lesson that Netaji and his army brings to us is one of self-sacrifice, unity — irrespective of class and community — and discipline.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

• Early Life:
  • He was born on January 23, 1897, in Cuttack, Orissa. 
  • His father Janaki Nath Bose was a famous lawyer and his mother Prabhavati Devi was a pious and religious lady. 
  • He was a brilliant student right from childhood.
  • He was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and was known for his patriotic zeal as a student. 
  • He was known in particular for his militant approach to independence and his push for socialist policies.
• Famous Slogans:
  • “Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!”
  • “Jai Hind.”
  • The first person to call Mahatma Gandhi “Father of the Nation”, in his address from Singapore.
• Death: 
  • He is said to have died in 1945 when his plane crashed in Taiwan. However, there are still many conspiracy theories regarding his death.

Major Events linked to him

• 1919: Went to London to give the Indian Civil Services (ICS) examination and got selected but he was deeply disturbed by the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre and left his Civil Services apprenticeship midway to return to India in 1921.
• 1938: After his return, took over as the elected President of the Indian National Congress in Haripur and stood for unqualified Swaraj (self-governance).
• He recommended the use of force against the British which then combated against Mahatma Gandhi and his views.
• 1939: Re-elected as President of INC in Tripuri.
  • However, soon resigned from the presidency and formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Congress that aimed at consolidating the political left.
• 1942: Travelled to Japan and took leadership of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia. With Japanese aid and influence, he took the leadership of a trained army of about 40,000 troops in Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia known as the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj).
• 1942: Earned the title ‘Netaji’, in Germany by the Indian soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj.

Source: TH