Subhash Chandra Bose

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Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose, patriot of patriots, was a revolutionary. He

believed only an armed struggle could win freedom for India. During

World War II, on securing diplomatic and military support from the

Axis powers, Bose set up the Azad Hind Fauj -- Indian National Army

(INA) -- to fight the British.

 

He believed India needed allies in its struggle for freedom, even if

that meant forging ties with such 'intolerable' regimes as Nazi

Germany. "It is dreadful, but it must be done. It is our only way

out. India must gain her independence, cost what it may," he argued.

 

Bose was born in Cuttack, Orissa, on January 23, 1897. He went to

Presidency College, Calcutta, in 1913, where he spent four tumultuous

years before going to England. In 1920, Bose stood fourth in the

Civil Service open examination, but left the service in April 1921 to

join the Congress. He was elected twice in succession as president of

the Congress, but left it after a stormy ideological clash with

Mahatma Gandhi over the latter's insistence on non-violence as the

means to resist the British. He then formed the Forward Bloc, which

was organised on militaristic lines.

 

INA recorded its first success on February 4, 1944, in Arakan's Mayu

Valley against the Allied forces. However, bad timing in Imphal

inflicted a heavy toll on the army. Outbreak of malaria and

dysentery, following the onset of monsoon and lack of medical

facilities and supplies dealt a severe blow to the INA.

 

The army, however, regrouped and fought many battles in Burma against

the Allied forces with some successes. But with the defeat of Germany

in May 1945, and Japan's surrender in August, it lost its support-

base.

 

Bose is believed to have died in August 1945 in a plane crash.