The famous freedom fighter
Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose was born on January 23, 1897 at Oriya bazaar of
Cuttack district Orissa. His father Janaki Nath Bose was
a famous lawyer and his mother Prabhavati Devi was a
devout and religious lady. Unlike other prominent
leaders of the Indian freedom struggle, Subhas strongly
believed that an armed rebellion was necessary to wrest
independence from the British. Subhas Chandra Bose is
popularly known as 'Netaji'. In the year of 1902, when
he was only 5 year old, he got admission in Cuttack
Protestant School and then he started
his educational career. In the year of 1909 he got admission
in Ravenshaw Collegiate
School, Cuttack. In 1913, he started his higher secondary
educational academic career in
Presidency College, Calcutta. On 21st
October 1943, Netaji formed the Indian National
Army (I.N.A). Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is remembered for
his Salutation and slogan
of 'Jai Hind'. The famous words of Subash Chandra Bose
"Give me blood, I will give you
freedom" encouraged the freedom fighters. The famous
book “The Indian Struggle” was
written by him.
Indian National Army and Netaji
Netaji Arrived Tokyo in May 1943, Bose attracted the
attention of the Japanese high command, including
Hideki Tojo, Japan's premier. The Japanese agreed to
cooperate in founding an Indian National Army (INA)
in Southeast Asia. Bose was flown to Singapore and
became commander of the INA and head of the Free
India provisional government. The INA included both
Indian prisoners of war from Singapore and Indian civilians in Southeast Asia. The
strength of INA grew to 50, 000 and fought Allied forces in
1944 inside the borders of
India at Imphal and in Burma. For Bose any means and any ally
were acceptable in the
struggle to liberate India. By the end of World War II none
of Bose's Axis allies had
helped, and Bose then turned to the Soviet Union. On Aug. 18,
1945, it is believed that
Bose was en route to the Soviet Union in a Japanese plane when it crashed in Taiwan,
burning him fatally. However, his death it is very
controversial and disputed subject in
India. Due to the lack of evidence and records of his final
days in his life. Bose indirectly
and posthumously achieved his goal of Indian independence.
Political View Of Subhas
Bose's earlier correspondence (prior to
1939) also reflects his deep disapproval of
the racist practices and annulment of
democratic institutions in Nazi Germany. He
also, however, expressed admiration for the
authoritarian methods (though not the racial
ideologies) which he saw in Italy and
Germany during the 1930s, and thought they
could be used in building an independent India.Bose had
clearly expressed his belief that
democracy was the best option for India. The pro-Bose thinkers believe that his
authoritarian control
of the Azad Hind was based on political pragmatism and a post-
colonial recovery doctrine rather than any anti-democratic
belief.
[
However, during the
war (and possibly as early as the 1930s) Bose seems to have
decided that no democratic
system could be adequate to overcome India's poverty and
social inequalities, and he
wrote that an authoritarian state, similar to that of Soviet
Russia (which he had also seen
and admired) would be needed for the process of nation’s
re-building. Accordingly some
suggest that Bose's alliance with the Axis power during the
world war was based on more
than just pragmatism, and that Bose was a militant
nationalist, though not a Nazi, nor a
Fascis. Netaji supported empowerment of women, secularism and
other democratic ideas.
