INTRODUCTION

Subhas Chandra Bose was one of the most fearsome names among the British
Rulers in pre-independence India. A legend and a great freedom fighter, Subhas
Chandra Bose was popularly known as Neta Ji (respected leader) because of his
leadership qualities and almost religious devotion to Indias freedom struggle.
Neta Jis entire life is punctuated with great deeds and exceptional freedom
endeavours. Born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa, Neta Ji Subhas
Chandra Bose was the ninth child of a famous lawyer Janaki Nath Bose and
Prabhavati Devi. He was a brilliant student right from his childhood. He was a
topper in the Matriculation examination from Calcutta province and graduated
with First class. Later on, he went to England in 1919 and appeared for
prestigious Indian Civil Service Examination and achieved fourth place on merit.
But Jalianwalla massacre affected him deeply and he left his Civil services
apprenticeship midway.
Neta ji came back to India in 1921 with a resolve to throw the British out of the
country. He joined Indian National Congress and expressed his desire to serve
the nation to Mahatma Gandhi. On instructions of Gandhi Ji, he joined
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan das in Calcutta. He considered Deshbandhu as his
political guru. Soon enough, Subhas Chandra Bose started to show his
leadership skills and became a vital part of Congress party. He was an active
participant in Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930 and was sent to prison for
his participation. After the suspension of the movement, he was released from
the prison.
Neta Ji Subhas Chandra Bose was not convinced with Mahatma Gandhis method
of achieving independence. He firmly believed that only way to attain
independence was through armed revolution and by shedding blood. He formed
his own party, Independence League and later on Forward Bloc. He quit
Congress in protest to liberal policies of the party and started his own
movement. Neta Ji was imprisoned several times because of his various
revolutionary activities.
Life of Subash Chandra Bose was truly eventful. He approached Hitler for help
against the British. Neta Ji organised Indian National Army and sought the help
of Japan for military assistance. He famously said, "Tum mujhe khoon do, mein
tumhe azadi dunga" (Give me your blood and I will give you freedom). He
hosted the Indian National Flag in Kohima, Assam and Andaman & Nicobar
Islands. But the defeat of Japan and Germany in Second World War forced
Indian National Army to retreat. According to official details, Subash Chandra
Bose was killed in a plane crash over Taiwan while flying to Tokyo on August 17,
1945 but not much information could be found about him afterwards.
Subhas Chandra Bose (

listen (helpinfo); 23 January 1897 unknown) also known

as Netaji (Bengali/Oriya/Hindi): Respected Leader), was one of the most prominent Indian nationalist leaders
who attempted to gain India's independence from British rule by force during the waning years ofWorld War
II with the help of the Axis powers.
Bose, who had been ousted from the Indian National Congress in 1939 following differences with the more
conservative high command,
early 1941.

[3]

[2]

and subsequently placed under house arrest by the British, escaped from India in

He turned to the Axis powers for help in gaining India's independence by force.

[4]

With Japanese

support, he organised the Indian National Army (INA), composed largely of Indian soldiers of the British Indian
army who had been captured in the Battle of Singapore by the Japanese. As the war turned against them, the
Japanese came to support a number of countries to form provisional governments in the captured regions,
including those in Burma, the Philippines and Vietnam, and in addition, the Provisional Government of Azad Hind,
presided by Bose.

[4]

Bose's effort, however, was short lived; in 1945 the British army first halted and then

reversed the Japanese U Go offensive, beginning the successful part of the Burma Campaign. The INA was
driven down the Malay Peninsula, and surrendered with the recapture of Singapore. It was reported that Bose
died soon thereafter from third degree burns received after attempting to escape in an overloaded Japanese
plane which crashed in Taiwan,

[5]

which is disputed.

1945 caused huge public response in India.

[6]

The trials of the INA soldiers at Red Fort, Delhi, in late

[7][8]

Clement Attlee, the British Prime Minister during whose rule India became independent, mentioned that INA
activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (which weakened the Indian Army the very foundation of the British
Empire in India) and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in 1946
realise that they were no longer in a position to rule India.

[9][10][11][12]

were major reasons that made the British

[13]

Subhash Chandra Bose is one of the most dynamic leaders of India's struggle of independence. He
is popularly known as Netaji. He was born in Cuttack, in Orissa on January 23, 1897 to Janaki Nath
Bose and Prabhavati Devi. His father was a famous lawyer and mother a religious lady. Among the
fourteen siblings, he was the ninth child. Right from his childhood he was a bright student and was
a topper in the matriculation examination from the whole of Calcutta province. He graduated from
the Scottish Church College in Calcutta with a First Class degree in Philosophy. Influenced by the
teachings of Swami Vivekananda, he was known for his patriotic zeal as a student. He went to
England to accomplish his parents' desire to appear in the Indian Civil Services. In 1920 he
appeared for the competitive examination and stood fourth in the order of merit. Deeply moved by
the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in Punjab, Subhash Chandra Bose left his Civil Services
apprenticeship midway and returned to India.
After he returned to India, Subhash Chandra Bose was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's views. He
then joined the Indian National Congress and worked under the leadership of Deshbandhu
Chittaranjan Das, who later became his political guru. He opposed the Dominion Status for India
declared by the Congress under the guidance of the Motilal Nehru Committee. They were in favor
of complete independence and nothing else. In 1930, during the Civil Disobedience he was sent to
jail and released only after the Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed in 1931.
Subash Chandra Bose was exiled from India to Europe, he took advantage of this opportunity and
tried to establish political and cultural ties between India and Europe by forming centers in the
various capital cities of Europe. He was jailed for a year for not obeying the ban on his entry to
India. Congress was elected in seven states during the general elections of 1937 and he was
released. Defying the ban on his entry to India, Subash Chandra Bose returned to India and was
again arrested and sent to jail for a year. After the General Elections of 1937, Congress came to
power in seven states and he was released. Next year he was elected as the President of the
Haripura Congress Session. He took a very stern decision and brought a resolution and asked
Britishers to hand India over to the Indians within six months.

Following opposition to his rigid stand, he resigned from the post of president and formed the
Forward Block. He fled to Germany via Afghanistan and tried to persuade Germany and Japan to
cooperating against the British Empire. He then moved to Singapore from Germany in July 1943
and formed the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). The army comprised mainly of Indians who
were prisoners of war. The army crossed the Burma border, and reached the Indian soil on March
18, 1944.
Japan and Germany were defeated in the Second World War and a result the INA could not fulfill
its objective. On August 18, 1945, Subhash Chandra Bose was declared killed in an air crash over
Taipei, Taiwan (Formosa). But there are people who believe that he is still alive and many
Commissions were set up to find the truth but nothing could be found about his whereabouts.
Born: January 23, 1897
Died: August 18, 1945
Achievements: Passed Indian Civil Services Exam; elected Congress President in 1938 and 1939; formed a

new party All India Forward block; organized Azad Hind Fauj to overthrow British Empire from India.
Subhas Chandra Bose, affectionately called as Netaji, was one of the most prominent leaders of Indian freedom
struggle. Though Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have garnered much of the credit for successful
culmination of Indian freedom struggle, the contribution of Subash Chandra Bose is no less. He has been denied
his rightful place in the annals of Indian history. He founded Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to overthrow
British Empire from India and came to acquire legendary status among Indian masses.
Subhas Chandra Bose 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. Subhas Chandra Bose was the
ninth child among fourteen siblings. Subhas Chandra Bose was a brilliant student right from the childhood. He
topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province and graduated with a First class in Philosophy from the
Scottish Churches College in Calcutta. He was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings and was
known for his patriotic zeal as a student. To fulfill his parents wishes he went to England in 1919 to compete for
Indian Civil Services. In England he appeared for the Indian Civil Service competitive examination in 1920, and
came out fourth in order of merit. However, Subhas Chandra Bose was deeply disturbed by the Jallianwalla Bagh
massacre, and left his Civil Services apprenticeship midway to return to India in 1921
After returning to India Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi and joined
the Indian National Congress. On Gandhiji's instructions, he started working under Deshbandhu Chittaranjan
Das, whom he later acknowledged his political guru. Soon he showed his leadership mettle and gained his way
up in the Congress' hierarchy. In 1928 the Motilal Nehru Committee appointed by the Congress declared in
favour of Domination Status, but Subhas Chandra Bose along with Jawaharlal Nehru opposed it, and both
asserted that they would be satisfied with nothing short of complete independence for India. Subhas also
announced the formation of the Independence League. Subhas Chandra Bose was jailed during Civil
Disobedience movement in 1930. He was released in 1931 after Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed. He protested
against the Gandhi-Irwin pact and opposed the suspension of Civil Disobedience movement specially when
Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged.
Subash Chandra Bose was soon arrested again under the infamous Bengal Regulation. After a year he was
released on medical grounds and was banished from India to Europe. He took steps to establish centres in
different European capitals with a view to promoting politico-cultural contacts between India and Europe. Defying
the ban on his entry to India, Subash Chandra Bose returned to India and was again arrested and jailed for a
year. After the General Elections of 1937, Congress came to power in seven states and Subash Chandra Bose
was released. Shortly afterwards he was elected President of the Haripura Congress Session in 1938. During his
term as Congress President, he talked of planning in concrete terms, and set up a National planning Committee
in October that year. At the end of his first term, the presidential election to the Tripuri Congress session took
place early 1939. Subhas Chandra Bose was re-elected, defeating Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya who had been
backed by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee. Clouds of World War II were on the horizon
and he brought a resolution to give the British six months to hand India over to the Indians, failing which there
would be a revolt. There was much opposition to his rigid stand, and he resigned from the post of president and
formed a progressive group known as the Forward Block.
Subhas Chandra Bose now started a mass movement against utilizing Indian resources and men for the great
war. There was a tremendous response to his call and he was put under house arrest in Calcutta. In January
1941, Subhas Chandra Bose disappeared from his home in Calcutta and reached Germany via Afghanistan.
Working on the maxim that "an enemy's enemy is a friend", he sought cooperation of Germany and Japan
against British Empire. In January 1942, he began his regular broadcasts from Radio Berlin, which aroused
tremendous enthusiasm in India. In July 1943, he arrived in Singapore from Germany. In Singapore he took over
the reins of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia from Rash Behari Bose and organised the Azad
Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) comprising mainly of Indian prisoners of war. He was hailed as Netaji by the
Army as well as by the Indian civilian population in East Asia. Azad Hind Fauj proceeded towards India to liberate
it from British rule. Enroute it lliberated Andeman and Nicobar Islands. The I.N.A. Head quarters was shifted to
Rangoon in January 1944. Azad Hind Fauj crossed the Burma Border, and stood on Indian soil on March 18
,1944.
However, defeat of Japan and Germany in the Second World War forced INA to retreat and it could not achieve
its objective. Subhas Chandra Bose was reportedly killed in an air crash over Taipeh, Taiwan (Formosa) on
August 18, 1945. Though it is widely believed that he was still alive after the air crash not much information could
be found about him
Quote 1: Give me blood and I shall give you freedom!
In Hindi:
!

Quote 2: Nationalism is inspired by the highest ideals of the human race, satyam [the truth], shivam [the God],
sundaram [the beautiful].
In Hindi: , , .
Quote 3: Nationalism in India has roused the creative faculties which for centuries had been lying dormant in
our people.
In Hindi: .
Quote 4: Remember that the greatest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong.
In Hindi: .
Quote 5: A true soldier needs both military and spiritual training.
In Hindi: .
Quote 6: No real change in history has ever been achieved by discussions.
In Hindi: - .
Quote 7: I have no doubt in my mind that our chief national problems relating to the eradication of poverty,
illiteracy and disease and the scientific production and distribution can be tackled only along socialistic lines.
In Hindi:

, , ,

.
Quote 8: It is our duty to pay for our liberty with our own blood. The freedom that we shall win through our
sacrifice and exertions, we shall be able topreserve with our own strength.
In Hindi:
.
, .
Quote 9: We should have but one desire today, the desire to die so that India may live ? the desire to face a
martyrs death, so that the path to freedom may be paved with the martyrs blood.
In Hindi: , !
.
Quote 10: As soldiers, you will always have to cherish and live up to the three ideals of faithfulness, duty and
sacrifice. Soldiers who always remain faithful to their nation, who are always prepared to sacrifice their lives, are
invincible. If you, too, want to be invincible, engrave these threeideals in the innermost core of your hearts.
In Hindi: : ,
. , ,
. .
Subhash Chandra Bose (January 23, 1897 - August 18, 1945), also known as Netaji, was one of the most
prominent leaders of the Indian Independence Movement against the British Raj. Subhas Chandra Bose was
born to an affluent family in Cuttack, Orissa. His father, Janakinath Bose, was a public prosecutor who believed in
orthodox nationalism, and later became a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. His mother was Prabhavati
Bose, a remarkable example of Indian womanhood. Bose was educated at Cambridge University. In 1920, Bose
took the Indian Civil Service entrance examination and was placed second. However, he resigned from the
prestigious Indian Civil Service in April 1921 despite his high ranking in the merit list, and went on to become an
active member of India's independence movement. He joined the Indian National Congress, and was particularly
active in its youth wing. Subhas Chandra Bose felt that young militant groups could be molded into a military arm
of the freedom movement and used to further the cause. Gandhiji opposed this ideology because it directly
conflicted with his policy of ahimsa (non-violence). The British Government in India perceived Subhas as a
potential source of danger and had him arrested without any charge on October 25, 1924. He was sent to Alipore
Jail, Calcutta and in January 25, 1925 transferred to Mandalay, Burma. He was released from Mandalay in May,
1927 due to his ill health. Upon return to Calcutta, Subhas was elected President of the Bengal Congress
Committee on October 27, 1927.
Subhas was one of the few politicians who sought and
worked towards Hindu-Muslim unity on the basis of respect of each community's rights. Subhas, being a man of
ideals, believed in independence from the social evil of religious discord. In January 1930 Subhas was arrested
while leading a procession condemning imprisonment of revolutionaries. He was offered bail on condition that he
signs a bond to refrain from all political activities, which he refused. As a result he was sentenced to a year's
imprisonment. On his release from jail, Subhas was sworn in as Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation. In 1931 the
split between Gandhiji and Subhas crystallized. Although the two never saw eye to eye on their view of freedom
and the movement itself, Subhas felt that Gandhiji had done a great disservice to the movement by agreeing to

take part in the Second Round Table Conference. Subhas viewed freedom as an absolute necessity, unlike the
freedom which Gandhiji was "negotiating" with the British. Subhas was arrested again while returning from
Bombay to Calcutta, and imprisoned in several jails outside West Bengal in fear of an uprising. His health once
again deteriorated and the medical facilities diagnosed him with tuberculosis. It was recommended that he be
sent to Switzerland for treatment. Realizing that his avenues abroad were greater with the restrictions of the
British, Subhas set sail for Europe on February 23, 1933. Subhas stayed in various parts of Europe from March
1933 to March 1936 making contacts with Indian revolutionaries and European socialists supporting India's
Struggle for Independence. Subhas met Mussolini in Italy and made Vienna his headquarters. Subhas was
opposed to the racial theory of Nazism but appreciated its organizational strength and discipline. On March 27,
1936 he sailed for Bombay and but was escorted to jail immediately after disembarking. After lying low for a year,
he was able to work actively. He attended the All India Congress Committee Session in Calcutta, the first one he
attended after a lapse of nearly six years. Time had healed the tensions between Subhas and Gandhiji, and
Gandhiji supported Subhas in his efforts to become the President of the next Congress session, 1938. He went to
England for a month in 1938 and rallied for the Indian freedom cause amongst Indian students and British labor
leaders sympathetic toward India's cause. It was a bold move since he was constantly under British surveillance.
Upon his return to India in February 1938, Subhas was elected President of the Indian National Congress. An
excerpt from his Presidential address read, "I have no doubt in my mind that our chief national problems relating
to the eradication of poverty, illiteracy and disease and the scientific production and distribution can be tackled
only along socialistic lines... ." Subhas emphasized that political freedom alone would not be sufficient, as the ills
of the British reign would continue to haunt post-Independent India. He stressed the need to solve linguistic and
religious prejudices and to achieve a high literacy rate amongst Indians. Gandhiji found Subhas's ideologies far
too leftist and strongly disagreed with Subhas's criticism of village industries and stress on competing with the
rest of the world in the Industrial age. Opposition from Sardar Vallabhai Patel, lack of support from Gandhiji and
Nehru's indecision marked Subhas's year as the President of the Congress. One of Subhas' major contributions
was setting up of a National Planning Committee, for the development of an economic program running parallel
to the national movement. Differences between Gandhiji and Subhas led to a crisis when Gandhiji opposed
Subhas' idea that the Bengal Government (a coalition between the Krishak Praja Party & Muslim League) be
ousted and the Congress take charge in coalition with the Krishak party. The idea was criticized by Gandhiji and
Nehru, which resulted in the strengthening of the Muslim League in Bengal and ultimately partition of India. It is
obvious today that had Subhas been able to carry out his plans, Bengal would be a different entity on the atlas.
Despite opposition from the Congress brass, Subhas was a favorite amongst the majority as he was re-elected
for a second term in March 1939. Gandhiji considered Subhas's victory as his personal defeat and went on a fast
to rally the members of the Working Committee to resign. Subhas resigned and Dr. Rajendra Prasad assumed
the Presidency of the Congress. In May 1939, Subhas formed the Forward Bloc within the Congress as an
umbrella organization of the left forces within the Congress. Gandhiji and his supporters accused Subhas of
breach of Congress party discipline and drafted a resolution removing Subhas from the Congress Working
Committee and restrained him from holding any office for three years. On September 3, 1939 Subhas was
informed that war had broken out between Britain and Germany. Subhas discussed the idea of an underground
struggle against the British with members of the Forward Bloc. Subhas pressurized the Congress leaders to get a
Declaration of War Aims from the Viceroy; he declined. Subhas was elected President of the West Bengal
Provincial Congress. In December the Congress Working Committee subverted the Provincial Committee's
authority and appointed its own ad hoc committee. The Forward Bloc progressively became militant and by April
1940 most of its senior members were arrested. Subhas was convinced that the only way he could bring about
India's Independence was by leaving the country and fighting from foreign territories. He had made contact with
radical Punjab and Pathan activists who had contacts in Afghanistan and Russia to organize a militia. Subhas
knew that Britain was in a vulnerable position following the surrender of France in June 1940. He announced the
launch of Siraj-ud-daula Day on July 3, in memory of the last king of Bengal who was defeated by Clive. His plan
was to hold a procession and to unify Hindu and Muslim nationalists. The Government interceded and imprisoned
Subhas on July 2, 1940 in Presidency Jail, Calcutta. Netaji believed that foreign assistance was a must to free
India from British rule. In 1939, when the Second World War broke out, Subhas sought assistance from
Germany, Italy, and Japan as they were enemies of Britain and thus would be natural allies. In 1941, he evaded
a house-arrest in Calcutta by disguising himself as a Maulavi and going to Kabul, Afghanistan. Later, he procured
an Italian passport and fled to Berlin, Germany. There he met Hitler and discussed his plans and sought his
assistance to free India. He also sought assistance from Mussolini. From time to time, he aired his speeches on
the Azad Hind Radio from Berlin to communicate his intentions to fellow Indians and to prove that he was still
alive. After the defeat of Germany, Netaji realized that he could not continue his struggle from Germany anymore.
Ultimately, Netaji reached Japan in June, 1943. He established the Indian National Army (INA) with some 30,000
Indian soldiers. He also set up a radio network in South East Asia in order to appeal to the people, both in India
and outside, for support. The INA declared war against Britain and America. However, the INA had to retreat from
the Indo-Burmese border after a heavy defeat of the Japanese troops there. The British defense was
impenetrable. Though the "Delhi Chalo" mission failed, Netaji proved to the world that his determination was
strong and his attitude was positive in his dream to free India from the clutches of the British.
On August 16, 1945 Netaji boarded a plane from Singapore to Bangkok. Netaji was scheduled to fly in a Type 972 bomber 'Sally' from Bangkok to Saigon. The plane made a stopover in Taipei and crashed within minutes of
take-off from Taipei. Netaji's body was cremated in Taipei on August 20, 1945 and his ashes were flown to Tokyo

on September 5, 1945 where they rest in the Renkoji Temple. To this day, many believe that Netaji escaped from
the air crash and went into hiding.
Netaji wanted unconditional and complete freedom. He dreamed of a classless society with no caste barriers,
social inequalities or religious intolerance. He believed in equal distribution of wealth and destruction of
communalism. His slogan "Jai Hind" still acts as a great binding force today

EARLY LIFE OF SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE

He was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa to Janakinath Bose and Prabhabati Devi, a Bengali family.
He was the ninth child of a total of fourteen siblings. His early education was in an Anglo Indian school in Cuttack,
followed by Ravenshaw Collegiate School and Presidency College, which he attended briefly. His nationalistic
temperament came to light when he was expelled for assaulting Professor Oaten for his anti-India comments.
Bose later topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province in 1911 and passed his B.A. in 1918 in
philosophy from the Scottish Church College under University of Calcutta.
Subhash Chandra Bose left India in 1919 for England with a promise to his father that he would appear in the
Indian Civil Services Examination. He was selected in his first attempt, but he did not want to work under an alien
rule. So he resigned and returned to India. He studied in Fitzwilliam Hall of the University of Cambridge, and
matriculated. He was later a non-collegiate student and studied Philosoe newspaper Swaraj. At that time he took
charge of publicity for the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. His mentor was Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das
who was a spokesman for aggressive nationalism in Bengal. In the year 1923, he was elected the President of All
India Youth Congress and also the Secretary of Bengal State Congress. He was also Editor of the newspaper
"Forward", founded by Deshbandhu. Bose worked as the CEO of the municipal corporation of Calcutta for Das
when the latter was elected mayor of Calcutta in 1924. In a roundup of nationalists in 1925, Bose was arrested
and sent to prison in Mandalay.
In 1927, after being released from prison, Bose became general secretary of the Congress party and worked
with Jawaharlal Nehrutowards Indias independence. Bose was arrested and jailed again for civil disobedience.
But upon his release, he emerged to become Mayor of Calcutta in 1930. During the mid-1930s Bose travelled to
Europe, visiting Indian students and European politicians, including Mussolini. He observed party organization
and saw communism and fascism in action. By 1938 he had become a leader of national stature and agreed to
accept nomination as Congress president.
Netaji advocated complete unconditional independence (Purna Swaraj) for India, whereas the All-India Congress
Committee wanted it in phases, through Dominion status. He was in favor of using force against the British. This
meant a confrontation with Gandhiji and his ideals of non-violence. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi opposed Bose's
presidency, splitting the Indian National Congress party. Bose appeared at the 1939 Congress meeting on a
stretcher. He was elected president again over Gandhi's preferred candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya. However,
due to the politics of the Gandhi-led clique in the Congress Working Committee, Bose had to resign from the
Congress presidency. His uncompromising stand finally cut him off from the mainstream of Indian nationalism.
After that, Subhash Chandra Bose organized the Forward Bloc, aimed at consolidating the political left.
Despite his clear dislike for British subjugation of India, Bose was deeply impressed by their methodical and
systematic approach and their steadfastly disciplinarian outlook towards life. In England, he exchanged ideas on
the future of India with British Labour Party leaders and political thinkers. He came to believe that a free India
needed socialist authoritarianism, on the lines of Turkey's Kemal Atatrk, for at least two decades. But Bose was
refused permission by the British authorities to meet Mr. Atatrk at Ankara for political reasons.
With the outbreak of the second World War, Bose advocated a campaign of mass civil disobedience to protest
against the British governments decision to involve India in the war, without consulting the Congress leadership.
He was once again sent to prison, but was released following a seven-day hunger strike. Bose's house in
Calcutta was kept under surveillance by the British but he successfully escaped to Germany, leaving behind two
pending court cases. A few days before his escape, he sought solitude and on this pretext avoided meeting
British guards and grew a beard and on the night of his escape he dressed as a Pathan to avoid being identified.
On January 19, 1941, Bose escaped from under British surveillance, accompanied by his nephew Sisir K. Bose
in a car that is now at display at his Calcutta home.

Contribution in the freedom movement

The contribution of Subhash Chandra Bose is no less. He has been denied his rightful place in the
annals of Indian history. He founded Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to overthrow British
Empire from India and came to acquire legendary status among Indian masses. Subhash also
announced the formation of the Independence League. Subhas Chandra Bose was jailed during
Civil Disobedience movement in 1930. He was released in 1931 after Gandhi-Irwin pact was
signed. Subhash Chandra Bose was soon arrested again under the infamous Bengal Regulation.
After an year he was released on medical grounds and was banished from India to Europe. He took
steps to establish centres in different European capitals with a view to promoting politico-cultural
contacts between India and Europe. Defying the ban on his entry to India, Subhash Chandra Bose
returned to India and was again arrested and jailed for a year. After the General Elections of 1937,
Congress came to power in seven states and Subhash Chandra Bose was released. Shortly
afterwards he was elected President of the Haripura Congress Session in 1938. During his term as
Congress President, he talked of planning in concrete terms, and set up a National planning
Committee in October that year. At the end of his first term, the presidential election to the Tripuri
Congress session took place early 1939. Subhash Chandra Bose was re-elected, defeating Dr.
Pattabhi Sitaramayya who had been backed by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Working
Committee. Subhash Chandra Bose now started a mass movement against utilizing Indian
resources and men for the great war. There was a tremendous response to his call and he was put
under house arrest in Calcutta. In January 1941, Subhash Chandra Bose disappeared from his
home in Calcutta and reached Germany via Afghanistan. Working on the maxim that "an enemy's
enemy is a friend", he sought cooperation of Germany and Japan against British Empire. In
January 1942, he began his regular broadcasts from Radio Berlin, which aroused tremendous
enthusiasm in India. In July 1943, he arrived in Singapore from Germany. In Singapore he took
over the reins of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia from Rash Behari Bose and
organised the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) comprising mainly of Indian prisoners of war.
He was hailed as Netaji by the Army as well as by the Indian civilian population in East Asia. Azad
Hind Fauj proceeded towards India to liberate it from British rule. En-route it liberated Andeman
and Nicobar Islands. The I.N.A. Head quarters was shifted to Rangoon in January 1944. Azad Hind
Fauj crossed the Burma Border, and stood on Indian soil on March 18 ,1944.

There were many great heroes born at the time of the freedom movement. Each with his own method of
attaining one goal - Independence for India. Some believed in non-violent means, whereas others did not. One
such hero was Subhash Chandra Bose, affectionately known as 'Netaji'. . He was born on 23rd January 1897 in
Orissa.
Though Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have garnered much of the credit for successful culmination of
Indian freedom struggle, the contribution of Subash Chandra Bose is no less. He has been denied his rightful
place in the annals of Indian history.
Bose was one of the most prominent leaders in the Indian independence movement and is a legendary figure
in India today. He was an Indian revolutionary who led an Indian national political and military force against
Britain. Bose advocated complete independence for India at the earliest. If one looks at the history of Indian
Freedom Movement, after Mahatma Gandhi, the name that stands out is of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. His
contribution is no less than those of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, who have been given much of
the credit for the successful culmination of India's freedom struggle. It is more than 64 years since India's
Independence, and it is only pertinent that Netaji's remarkable and stirring deeds need to be brought to light
in the proper perspective. His famous motto was "Give me blood and I will give you freedom.
The British rulers acknowledged with serious concern Netaji was a most dynamic and influential political leader
in all sections and religious groups of the country. They saw how Netaji's ideas always inspired younger
generation to fight more strongly for freedom. Subhash Chandra Bose believed that the Bhagavad Gita was a
great source of inspiration for the struggle against the British. The interpretation of the India's ancient
scriptures had appealed immensely to him. He was willing to cut across religious lines. He was willing to give
up his idea of a religiously divided India, if Netaji led the nation.
He has taken his place with Rana Pratap and Chatrapati Shivaji as a national figure in the heroic tradition. Bose
deserves equal credit with Gandhi in Indian Freedom struggle. Bose's great saga was an inspiration to all
Indians, Future generations would read the amazing story of Netaji's life with pride and reverence and salute
him as one of the great heroes of India."

Rarely do we find somebody of the caliber of this man. His organisational and leadership skills need no
introduction. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, best known as the leader of Indian National Army, was a man who
commanded respect. He believed Gandhis policies would never secure a fully independent Bharat and even if
it could, the nation would be weak from within due to the policies which congress was fast acquiring
Bose advocated the approach that the political instability of war-time Britain should be taken advantage of
rather than simply wait for the British to grant independence after the end of the war which were the views of
Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and a section of the Congress leadership at the time.
Whilst over 1.5 million Indians were recruited to the British Army and fought on behalf of the Allied cause in
World War II, there was little publicity given to the 3,000 Indians that were recruited to the German army by
Subhash Chandra Bose, the radical Indian politician living in exile in Nazi Germany.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose gave many memorable speeches during his lifetime.
We should have but one desire today- the desire to die so that India may live - the desire to face a martyr's
death, so that the path to freedom may be paved with the martyr's blood. Friend's! My comrades in the War
of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all. I demand of your blood. It is blood alone that can
avenge the blood that the enemy has spilt. It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom.
'Tum mujhe khoon do, mein tumhe azadi doonga' (You give me blood, and I promise you freedom).It is our
duty to pay for our liberty with our own blood. The freedom that we shall win through our sacrifice and
exertions, we shall be able to preserve with our own strength......'
His life was full of mystery and adventure and indeed his death has been a major issue and created
controversy from time to time.
"The greatest curse for a man is to remain a slave.
The grossest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong.
The highest virtue is to battle against inequity, no matter what the cost may be."

Role played in the congress

Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945) President - Haripura, 1938; Tripuri, 1939 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23,
1897 into the family of a well- to-do lawyer of Cuttack. He was destined to become one of the
foremost leaders of India's freedom struggle and was to leave an indelible impress not merely on
the history of modern India but on the minds and hearts of the people of Asia. Subhas passed the
Matriculation examination standing second in the Calcutta University. He graduated in 1919 with a
First Class in Philosophy. In 1919, Subhas's parents decided to send him to England as they keenly
desired that he should join the ICS. He appeared for the competitive examination in 1920 and
came out fourth in order of merit. He also secured the Cambridge Tripos in Moral Sciences. Subhas
Babu did not, however, complete the mandatory year of probation. His mind had been deeply
disturbed by grave developments at home; after the heinous Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. Subhas
handed his resignation in April 1921, and returned to India. He went to the Mahatma for guidance
who, perceiving the passion for India's freedom that consumed Subhas directed him to
Deshabandbu Chittaranjan Das, who had in the meantime flashed on the Indian political firmament
and become the uncrowned King of Bengal. From then on for a period of four years, till C. R. Das's
death in 1925, Deshabandhu was his political guru. Subhas first proved his mettle in the thorough
manner in which he worked for the total boycott of the Prince of Wales in Calcutta in 1921;
subsequently his capacity for organisation and executive ability were amply demonstrated in the
discharge of his duties as Chief Executive Officer of the Calcutta Corporation during the mayoralty
of C. R. Das. The Government however, soon clamped him behind the bars in distant Mandalay on
the trumped-up charge that he was actively associated with the terrorists of Bengal. However,
after three years of detention without trial, he was released in 1927 on medical grounds, and soon
began to take an active part in political life despite his shattered health. He was elected President
of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. He devoted much of his time and attention to the
organisation of the youth and to the Trade Union movement as well. In 1928 the Motilal Nehru
Committee appointed by the Congress, declared in favour of Dominion Status, but Subhas Babu
along with Jawaharlal Nehru opposed it. Subhas also announced the formation of the
Independence League. At the Calcutta Congress in 1928, presided over by Motilal Nehru, Subhas
Chandra Bose was G.O.C. of the Congress Volunteers. The Lahore Congress Session under

Jawaharlal Nehru's president-ship adopted a resolution declaring that the goal of the Congress
would be complete independence or "Poorna Swaraj". Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha Movement
(1930) again found Subhas in the thick of the fight, and the Government arrested him and lodged
him in jail. When the Satyagraha was called off in March 1931 upon the conclusion of the Gandhi Irwin Pact, Subhas, who, along with others, was also set at liberty, raised his voice in protest
against the Pact and the suspension of the movement, especially when patriots like Bhagat Singh
and his associates had not been saved from the gallows. He soon came into conflict with the law,
with the result that he was once again detained under the infamous Bengal Regulation. Within a
year or so, his physical condition became so alarming that he was released, and banished from
India to Europe, where he took steps to establish centres in different European capitals with a view
to promoting politicocultural contacts between India and Europe. Returning to India in 1936 in
defiance of a Government ban on his entry, he was again arrested and imprisoned for a year, but
soon after the General Election of 1937 and the accession of the Congress to power in seven
Provinces. Subhas Babu found himself a free man again, and shortly afterwards was unanimously
elected President of the Haripura Congress Session in 1938. In his Presidential address he stressed
the revolutionary potentialities of the Congress Ministries formed in seven Provinces. Contrary to
the popular notion regarding Jawaharlal Nehru's role in Planning, it was Subhas Bose who, as
Congress President in 1938, talked of planning in concrete terms, and set up a National Planning
Committee in October that year. The year that followed saw the steady worsening of international
relations, and clouds of war gathering on the European horizon. At the end of his first term, the
presidential election to the Tripuri Congress session took place early in 1939. Subhas was reelected. defeating Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayaa who had been backed by the Mahatma. Soon after the
election, the members of the Congress Working Committee resigned, and the Congress met at
Tripuri under the shadow of a crisis within the Party as well as internationally. Subhas Babu was a
sick man at Tripuri, but even so, with amazing, almost prophetic foresight, he warned that an
imperialist war would break out in Europe within six months, demanded that the Congress should
deliver a six-months' ultimatum to Britain and in the event of its rejection a country-wide struggle
for 'Poorna Swaraj' should be launched. His warning and advice, however, went unheeded, and
what was worse, his powers as President were sought to be curtailed. He, therefore, resigned in
April 1939, and announced, in May 1939, the formation of the Forward Bloc within the Congress.
In August Subhas was removed from the Presidentship of the Bengal Provincial Congress
Committee, and further debarred from holding any elective office in the Congress for a period of
three years. In September 1939 war broke out in Europe, and Subhas Babu's prophecy at Tripuri
came true almost to the very day. India was dragged into the Imperialist War. The Congress
Ministries in seven Provinces resigned in October 1939), but Mahatma Gandhi declared that he
would not like to embarrass the British Government during the war. In March 1940 Subhas Babu
convened an Anti-Compromise Conference at Ramgarh, Bihar, under the joint auspices of the
Forward Bloc and the Kisan Sabha. The Conference resolved that a world-wide struggle should
launched on April 6, the first day of the National Week, calling upon the people not to help the
Imperialist War with men, money or materials, and to resist by all means and at all costs the
exploitation of Indian resources for the preservation of Empire. The Indian people, hungry for
freedom, participated in their thousands in the struggle launched throughout the country by the
Forward Bloc on April 6. Subhas Babu was arrested in July by the Bengal Government on the eve
of the Anti-Holwell Monument Satyagraha in Calcutta, and sent to jail. While in prison, he resorted
to hungerstrike, whereupon he was released in December 1940. A month later, on the historic
'Independence Day' January 26, 1941, an astounded India heart the news that Subhas Babu had
suddenly disappeared from his house under the very nose of the C.I.D. It was not until November
of that year that news trickled in from Berlin that he had gone out of India, in order, to use his
own words, "to supplement from outside the struggle going on at home". In January 1942, he
began his regular broadcasts from Radio Berlin, which aroused tremendous enthusiasm in India. In
the midst of the war, Subhas Babu left Germany early in 1943, and after a perilous three-month
voyage in a submarine arrived in Singapore on July 2, 1943. The dramatic appearance of the
dynamic leader was a signal for wild jubilation among the Indian prisoners-of-war no less than
among the civilian community in Singapore and elsewhere in East Asia. Two days later, he took
over from Rash Behari Bose the leadership of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia,
organised the Azad Hind Fauj (the Indian National Army), and becoming its Supreme Commander
on August 25, proclaimed the Provisional Government of Azad Hind on October 21. He was hailed
as Netaji by the Army as well as by the Indian civilian population in East Asia. The Andaman and
Nicobar Islands were liberated in November and renamed Shaheed and Swaraj Islands
respectively. The I.N.A. Headquarters was shifted to Rangoon in January 1944, and marching
thence towards their Motherland with the war cry "Chalo Delhi!" on their lips. the Azad Hind Fauj
crossed the Burma Border, and stood on Indian soil on March 18, 1944. How the brave Army
subsequently advanced up to Kohima and Imphal, how Free India's banner was hoisted aloft there

to the deafening cries of "Jai Hind" and "Netaji Zindabad", how the atom bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki compelled Japan to surrender and the I.N.A. subsequently to retreat,
have all become part of history. Netaji was reportedly killed in an air crash over Taipeh, Taiwan
(Formosa) on August 18, 1945. However, even Government spokesmen have confessed that there
is no 'irrefutable proof' of his death in the air crash.

On return from England Subhas met Mahatma Gandhi. On his advice he came into contact with
Chitta Ranjan Das. Subhas became his ardent disciple from 1921-25 and Bengal was his field of
activities. Subhas organised the congress party being attracted by the Non-cooperation
movement.
He also served as a Principal of National College established by Deshbandhu Chitta Ranjan Das
at Calcutta. Subhas though took active in the Non-cooperation movement, was not satisfied with
Gandhi's ways and supproted Motilal and C.R. Das in organising the Swaraj Party. As a result of
his efforts Swaraj Party became very strong and in the elelction of Calcutta cooperation the party
got a majority and subhas was appointed the chief executive officer of the cooperation. Subhas
edited "Forward", English daily and stabilised the Swaraj Party.
The progressive activities of Subhas and the Successful conduct of boycott to Prince of Wales
when he visited Calcutta, soon invited the displeasure of the Government. He was deputed to
Mandalay, but his countrymen showed him their gratitude and elected him to Bengal Legislative
Council in his absence.
In the prison subhas was taken ill and had to be released because the Government was afraid of
consequences of his death in custody. After regaining his health subhas again took active part in
the political life interest nation. Subhas Chandra Bose held mahatma in high esteem but differed
from him in many ideological and strtaegical aspects. Subhas along with Jawaharlal Nehru
represented the left and progressive views inside congress. These two leaders became the symbol
of change in the congress.
In 1928 subhas attended the Calcutta session of Indian National Congress. Subhas-Jawahar
group first tested their strength that they opposed the official resolution moved by Mahatma
Gandhi and secured 45% vote. In 1929 Jawaharlal became the President of Indian National
Congress with the support of Mahatma Gandhi.
However both Jawahar and Subash pushed through the Karachi resolution of 1931, which besides
endorsing the Gandhi-Irwin pact included the principle of fundamental rights and national
economic programme. Economic plannings, land reforms, basic education, and basic civil
liberties were to be the frame work of future congress programme.
The formation of congress socialist party in 1934 did not attract subhas and Jawahar to its
fold. They remained within congress and successfully pushed through progressive views. Subhas
had a forced stay in Europe from 1933 to 1936. During his stay in Europe he tried to educate the
public opinion against barbarism of British imperialism and enriched his knowledge about west.
For his radical views subhas suffered harrasment and frequent arrests by the British government.
Even after his return from Europe in 1936 he was imprisoned under Regulation III of 1818. But
he was realesed in March 1937. Subhas's pro-people, progressive and radical attitude, on the
other hand, made his popular inside and outside congress. Subhas represented the young and

extremist element in the congress and was elected its president in 1938 and again in 1939.
The reelection of subhas at the Tripura Session of congress was against the expressed desire of
Mahtma Gandhi. Gandhiji considered Sitaramaya's defeat as his own defeat and the followers of
Gandhiji did not allow Subahs Chandra Bose to function effectively. Subhas had wide difference
with Mahatma over the issue of India's stand on the world affairs,methods of freedom stress on the
view, not like by Gandhi, the Indian struggle for independence should start at the sometime as
the war broke out in Europe.

Factors for the rift between Gandhi and bose

Both Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi were infallibly dedicated to the cause of Indian
freedom. They were loved by the masses and feared by the Raj. But between themselves, these two icons of
India's freedom movement shared a rather frosty relationship and history is replete with instances of trenchant
differences between them.
Although Subhash Chandra was a follower of Gandhi during the initial days, the later part of the 1930s witnessed
a growing radicalization of his thoughts and Bose became increasingly frustrated with the lack of momentum in
the independence movement. As Bose started to assert his bold stance in various party forums, it led to a
polarization in the Congress party ranks.
Bose found himself frequently at loggerheads with Gandhi and their differences often came out in the public. All
these bickering reached a climax when Subhash Chandra Bose became Congress President for a second term in
1939 defeating Gandhi-nominated candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Unable to hide his displeasure, Mahatma
commented "Subhash' victory is my defeat." But this unhealthy environment within the party made Bose's task all
the more difficult and soon he resigned from his post.
Subhash Chandra Bose and Gandhi also disagreed over their visions for the post-Independence Indian state.
Bose was influenced by the success of the five-year plans in the Soviet Union and he advocated for a socialist
nation with an industrialized economy. Gandhi was opposed to the very concept of industrialization.
In spite of all the differences in ideologies, both these great men admired and respected each other. In 1942
Gandhi called Subhash Bose the "Prince among the Patriots" for his great love for the country. Bose too admired
Gandhi and in a radiBoth are great heroes and deserve the highest pedestal in India. Though, it is not

arguable on who had the greatest love for their motherland (both had enough), I would side with the
Mahatma on who was a better leader for India.
Bose was younger (48 at the time of his death) and more agile. He could inspire millions to get into
direct action. Gandhi's path was hard (if a person kicks at you and you were strong, it is far easier to
slap than holding back) and masses found it hard to comprehend. However, they always knew he was
taking them in the right direction and this trust is what took India almost unscathed until 1947 when all
hell broke loose.
In case of Bose, he wanted to use force against the British empire and believed that the means (such
as aligning with the Axis powers) justified the ends. Not all of India were convinced that this was the
right move.

1. In Mahatma's struggle, removing British was just a small part of the struggle. For most part,
Gandhi fought the landowners in Champaran, for women rights, for minority rights, for village
economies and self respect. Gandhi always knew that removing British is not the hardest
challenge India had. Gandhi never really pressed for independence until 1942. For Bose,
removing British was totally absorbing challenge.
2. More importantly, If India had won through force, our army (under Bose or another General) could
have easily driven to Delhi and made India into a dictatorship. The victorious force always dictate
terms (see what happened to Egypt after last year's revolution). For those of us who are
enamoring such a rule, look at our neighbors such as Myanmar. Burma was as developed as

India in 1947. Now, their Miliary Junta has reduced them to a rubble. Democracies must always
keep their armies under tight leash and never let the armies to dictate terms.
3. While Bose had won the hearts of educated Indian youth, for most parts of India he was largely
unknown. Without Mahatma's all-encompassing movement that brought north,east, west, south of
India together, India would have split into a 100 nations post-partition given our earlier history of
living separate.
4. If Indian public had gone with Bose, I doubt if we would have gotten independence in this form.
For one, Gandhi's peace struggle was popular both in Britain and the US and received a lot of
sympathy & support. Bose had very few takers outside India and by India siding with him, British
nationalists would have easily justified the use of brutal force for crushing Indian independence.
Gandhi's immense popularity & righteousness kept the British government from sending him &
his disciples to Andamans or to the gallows.

Bose was actually a member of Indian National Congress - he held various posts - Secretary and
President of Indian National Congress. He was ousted out in favor of more conservative people.

Gandhi was a benevolent dictator - Nehru was not elected, but simply selected over others like
Patel because of his negotiation skills.
Muthuramalinga Thevar, along with a majority of south Indian votes were actually in favor of
Bose.

There is strong evidence that Bose would have formed a democracy, not a military dictatorship. I
can cite Turkey as an example, with Mustafa Ataturk as a figure similar to Bose in many ways.

Turks fought for their freedom against the Allies, won and became a democracy in a similar
period (1920), and they have peaceful foreign relations - so those arguments that an armed
struggle would have negative effects are not entirely true.

He was pro-women rights - Lakshmi Sehgal & Rani Jhansi regiment is proof of that.
He stressed on education, nationalism and secularism - his idol was Swami Vivekanada

His letters indicate that he was just using real-politic, he was against the practices of Nazi
Germany and Japan.

If ahimsa was Gandhi's gift to the world, Netaji's was "Purna Swaraj" or complete independence "Give me blood and I will give you freedom". Gandhi was actually considering a dominion status
for India, Netaji was the one advocating complete independence.
He was a man of swift action - consider this timeline:

Escape from his house arrest - January '41

Gathering support - Germany ' 42

Gathering Support - Japan '43

INA 40,000 strong - '43

Battle at Chittagong - '44

That is formation of an army from scratch, battle plans and and an offensive against British Indian
Army in less than 4 years, attesting to the fact that history is often made by one man.

From a philosophical point, he was not involved in harming any civilians like other revolutionaries
who advocated armed struggle. He did things the right way, the long way

Formation of Azad Hind(independent India) and its declaration

Formation of a provincial government to represent this entity(in Singapore)
Formation of an army for this government -INA was the real Indian Army(there was a British
Indian Army at the time)

Declaring war on the British government in India and then marching to Delhi via Burma
Due to these actions by Bose, British government had to reconsider its long term plans because
the troops loyal to Britain, which was essential to holding India rebelled. (Gandhi condemned the
mutiny by the way)

For a man who lived by such ideals, other than some pockets in West Bengal and Orissa (where
he is very popular even today), he is hardly appreciated or known on a wide-scale.
There are unsubstantiated reports that Netaji would be handed over as a war criminal if he
returned to India, which is the reason some say he faked his death.

Narayana Murthy : " We have not paid him due respect. It is time this is corrected"
Micheal Edwards: "Only one outstanding personality of India took a different and violent
path, and in a sense India owes more to him than to any other man even though he seemed
to be a failure

Gandhi, Subhas Bose are 3 towering figures of Indian poltics and the freedom movement. The
basic difference between Bose and Gandhi was ideology. Gandhi believed in the creed of non
violence and Bose talked of revolution. Nehru without much of a base of his own sided with Gandhi
and the anointed heir apparant.
In late thirties Bose put forward his theory with vehemence. The net result was that it alarmed Gandhi
and Nehru. The mass of Indianpopulation also were galvanized by Bose's call for freedom at any
price. This again was not to the liking of Gandhi and he saw his support base shrinking. Matters came
to an head in the Lahore session of the Congress party in 1938. Gandhi went public in his opposition
to Bose. Above all he opposed the candidature of Bose for the Presidentship of the Congress party.
Gandhi in public speech made it clear that Bose must be defeated and his candidate Sitaramiah be
elected. Both Gandhi and Nehru thought that in the election Bose would be defeated. The electon
result shocked Gandhi. Nehru sulked at the result which brought out that Gandgi's nominee had been
defeated by a wide margin. Gandhi's prestige took a nose dive, but he resolved to oust Bose.
Gandhi now resorted to his favorite ruse non-cooperation. He refused to meet Bose and also did not
meet him. He started a policy of noncooperation with Bose.
At this time Subhas Bose wrote a long letter to Nehru requesting support to run the party. It is
on record that Nehru ignored the letter and later sent a cursory reply, skirting all the issues raised by
Bose.
Thus a situation was created by Gandhi and Nehru, where Bose could not function as Congress
Partu President. The situatoon was clear to Bose that Gandhi wanted him out of the party. Bose took
the extteme step and resigned as Congress President. He parted ways with Gandhi. The exit of Bose

was a relief to Gandhi and Nehru. The rest is hostory as Bose charted his seperate course of action
and raised the Azad Hind Army to fight the British Raj.

INA
The Indian National Army (INA; Azad Hind Fauj; Hindi: ; Urdu: ) was an
armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of
the army was to secure Indian independence with Japaneseassistance. Initially composed
of Indian prisoners of war captured by Japan in the Malayan campaign and at Singapore, it later drew
volunteers from Indian expatriate population in Malaya and Burma. The INA also was at the forefront
of women's equality and the formation of a women's regiment, the Rani of Jhansi regiment was
formed as an all volunteer women's unit to fight the British occupiers as well as provide medical
services to the INA.
Initially formed in 1942 immediately after the fall of Singapore under Mohan Singh, the first INA
collapsed in December that year before it was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra
Bose in 1943 and proclaimed the army of Bose's Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (The Provisional
Government of Free India). This second INA fought along with the Imperial Japanese Army against
the British andCommonwealth forces in the campaigns in Burma, Imphal and Kohima, and later,
against the successful Burma Campaign of the Allies. The end of the war saw a large number of the
troops repatriated to India where some faced trial for treason and became a galvanising point of
[1]
the Indian Independence movement.
The legacy of the INA is controversial given its associations with Imperial Japan, the course of
Japanese occupations in Burma, Indonesiaand other parts of Southeast Asia, its alliance with the Axis
in Europe, as well as Japanese war crimes and the alleged complicity of the troops of the INA in
these. However, after the war, the Red Fort trials of captured INA officers in India provoked massive
public outcries in support of their efforts to fight for Indian independence against the Raj, eventually
[2]
triggering the Bombay mutiny in the British Indian forces. These events in the twilight of the Raj are
[3][4]
accepted by historians to have played a crucial role in its relatively rapid end.
[edit]First

INA

Japan and Southeast Asia were major refuges for Indian nationalists living in exile before the start of
World War II. Japan had sent intelligence missions, notably under Major Iwaichi Fujiwara, into South
Asia even before the start of the war to garner support from the Malayan Sultans, overseas Chinese,
the Burmese resistance and the Indian movement. These missions were successful establishing
contacts with Indian nationalists in exile in Thailand andMalaya, supporting the establishment and
[5][6]
organisation of the Indian Independence League.
At the outbreak of World War II in South East Asia, 70,000 Indian troops were stationed in Malaya.
After the start of the war, Japan's spectacular Malayan Campaign had brought under her control
considerable numbers of Indian prisoners of war, nearly 55,000 after the Fall of Singapore alone. The
conditions of service within the British Indian Army as well as the conditions in Malaya had fed
dissension among these troops. From these troops, the First Indian National Army was formed under
[7]
Mohan Singh and received considerable Japanese aid and support.
[edit]Second

INA

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in full military uniform

In a series of meetings between the INA leaders and the Japanese in 1943, it was decided to cede
the leadership of the IIL and the INA to Subhas Chandra Bose, since a number of the officers and
troops who had returned to PoW camps, or had not volunteered in the first place, made it known that
[8]
they would be willing to join the INA only on the condition that it was led by Bose. Bose had, at the
[9]
start of the war in Europe, escaped from house arrest to make his way to Germany, reaching Berlin

on 2 April 1941. In Germany he convinced Hitler, in a series of conferences, to support the cause of
[10]
[11]
Indian Independence, forming the Free India Legion and the Azad Hind Radio. By early 1943,
Bose had turned his attention to Southeast Asia. With its large overseas Indian population, it was
recognised that the region was fertile ground for establishing an anti-colonial force to fight the Raj. In
[12]
January 1943, the Japanese invited Bose to lead the Indian nationalist movement in East Asia. He
accepted and left Germany on 8 February. After a three-month journey by submarine, and a short
stop in Singapore, he reached Tokyo on 11 May 1943, where he made a number of radio broadcasts
to the Indian communities, exhorting them to join in the fight for India's Independence.
[13]

On 15 February 1943, the Army itself was put under the command of Lt. Col. M.Z. Kiani. A policy
forming body was formed with the Director of the Military Bureau, Lt. Col Bhonsle, in charge and
clearly placed under the authority of the IIL. Under Bhonsle served Lt. Col. Shah Nawaz Khan as
Chief of General Staff, Major P.K. Sahgal as Military Secretary, Major Habib ur Rahman as
commandant of the Officers' Training School and Lt. Col. A.C. Chatterji (later Major A.D. Jahangir) as
head of enlightenment and culture.
On 4 July 1943, two days after reaching Singapore, Subhas Chandra Bose assumed the leadership of
the IIL and the INA in a ceremony at Cathay Building. Bose's influence was notable. His appeal not
only re-invigorated the fledgling INA, which previously consisted mainly of POWs, his appeals also
touched a chord with the Indian expatriates in South Asia as local civilians, without caste, creed and
religion- ranging from barristers, traders to plantation workers, including Khudabadi Sindhi
Swarankar working as shop keepers had no military experience joined the INA, doubled its troop
[14]
strength.
An Officers Training School for INA officers, led by Habib ur Rahman, and the Azad School for the
civilian volunteers were set up to provide training to the recruits. A youth wing of the INA, composed
of 45 Young Indians personally chosen by Bose and affectionately known as the Tokyo Boys, were
also sent to Japan's Imperial Military Academy to train as fighter pilots. Also, possibly the first time in
Asia, and even the only time outside the USSR, a women's regiment, the Rani of Jhansi regiment was
raised as a combat force.
Although there are slight variations in estimates, the INA is considered to have comprised about
40,000 troops when it was disbanded. The following is an estimate attributed to Lt. Colonel G.D.
Anderson of British intelligence:
There were 45,000 Indian troops from Malaya captured and assembled in Singapore when the
Japanese captured it. Of these, about 5,000 refused to join the First INA. The INA at this time had
40,000 recruits. The Japanese were prepared to arm 16,000. When the "first INA" disbanded, about
4,000 withdrew. The Second INA, commanded by Subhas Chandra Bose, started with 12,000 troops.
Further recruitment of ex-Indian army personnel added about 8,00010,000. About 18,000 Indian
civilians enlisted during this time. In 1945, at the end of the INA, it consisted of about 40,000
[15]
soldiers.
The Tokyo Boys,Tokyo Imperial Military Academy

The exact organisation of the INA and its troop strength is not known, as Fay notes, since its records
[16]
were destroyed by the withdrawing Azad Hind Government before Rangoon fell.
Fay's account of the INA gives the following account.

The 1st Division was under Mohammed Zaman Kiyani. It drew a large number of ex-Indian army
PoWs who had joined Mohan Singh's first INA. In addition, it also drew PoWs who had not joined
in 1942. The 1st division consisted of

The 2nd Guerrilla regiment, or the Gandhi Brigade under Col. Inayat Kiani, consisting of two
infantry battalions.

The 3rd Guerrilla regiment, or the Azad Brigade under Col. Gulzara Singh, consisting of three
battalions.

[17]

The 4th Guerrilla regiment, or the Nehru Brigade. This unit was later under the command
of Lt. Col G S Dhillon.

The 1st Guerrilla regiment, or the Subhas Brigade under Col. Shah Nawaz Khan, consisting
of three infantry battalions. This unit was the first and the major commitment of the INA to
the U Go Offensive.

The 1st Division was lightly armed. Each battalion was composed of five Companies of infantry. The
individual companies were armed with six antitank rifles, six Bren guns and six Vickers machine guns.
Some NCOs carried hand grenades, while men going forward on duty were issued British stocks of
hand grenades by senior officer of the Bahadur groups attached to each unit. Mortars were available,
[18]
but Fay points out these were not available at battalion level.

[19]

The 2nd Division under Colonel Abdul Aziz Tajik. The 2nd division was formed to a large extent
after the Imphal offensive had started, and drew a large remnant of the Hindustan Field Force of
the First INA. The 2nd Division consisted of.

The 1st Infantry Regiment, later to be merged with the 5th Guerrilla regiment to form the 2nd
Infantry Regiment. The 1st Infantry drew a large number of civilian volunteers from Burma
and Malaya, and came to ve equipped with the lion's share of the heavy armament that the
INA possessed.

[20]

The 5th Guerilla regiment, later to be renamed the 2nd Infantry Regiment under Col Prem
Sahgal. This unit drew a large number of the remnants of the Hindustan Field Force.

An additional 3rd Division of the INA was composed chiefly of local volunteers in Malaya and
Singapore. This unit disbanded before Japan Surrendered. There was also a motor transport
division, but this did not have a significant capability or resources.

The Rani of Jhansi Regiment, under Lakshmi Sahgal, comprised female volunteers from Malaya
and Burma.

The Indian National Army was the manifestation of Subhash Chandra Bose's transformation from a Gandhian
freedom fighter to an armed revolutionary challenging the might of the British Empire. Originally the brainchild of
expatriate nationalist leader Rash Behari Bose, the INA saw Subhash Chandra assuming the leadership of the
outfit as its supreme commander in 1943. With characteristic vigor and zeal, Bose set about strengthening the
fledgling organization and proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India in Singapore on October 21,
1943.
The Indian National Army was also known as the Azad Hind Fauj and it owed allegiance to the Provisional
Government which was recognized by nine Axis states. The INA had a combat strength of 40,000 troops
comprising mainly of Indian expatriates in South Asia and Indian prisoners of war. The INA also boasted of an
exclusive

women's

combat

unit

named

the

Rani

of

Jhansi

regiment.

As the Japanese troops launched a major offensive through Burma, the Azad Hind Fauj soldiers fought alongside
them in the frontlines and contributed in many victories. Previously in December, 1943 the Azad Hind
government had established its rule in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and renamed them as Shaheed
(Martyr) and Swaraj (Self-rule). On 18 April 1944, the INA troops captured the town of Moirang in Manipur and in
a

glorious

display

of

patriotism,

raised

an

Indian

tricolor.

However the INA's total dependence on the Japanese troops for arms and logistics support proved to be its
undoing and as the might of the Japanese began to wane, the INA too was forced to retreat. With the subsequent
surrender of Japan the INA resistance collapsed and a number of officers and troops were captures by the
British. The government brought these officers to the Red Fort in Delhi for court martial but eventually had to
relent in the face of nationwide protests and incidents of mutiny in the ranks of British Indian Army.

Subhash Chandra employed his great oratory skills to inspire the troops of Indian National Army. On July 4,
1944, at a rally of Indians in Burma, Bose famously proclaimed, "Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom."
"Delhi Chalo," another phrase attributed to him, became the clarion call of the INA combatants as they marched
towards Indian territory.

Indian National Army was formed under the initiative of leaders like subhas chandra bose, rashbehari
bose and others who, being imbued with the spirit of national independence, sided with the Axis
Powers during the Second World war (1939-1945). The Indian National Army (INA) is also called
'Azad Hind Fauz'.
In December 1941 the Japanese defeated the British at Malaya and Captain Mohan Singh together
with an Indian and a British officer capitulated to them. Indians residing in southeast Asia were much
inspired at the victory of Japan at the initial stage of the war. A number of associations were formed
aiming at the independence of India. Pritam Singh was a leader of such an organisation. He and
Major Fujihara, a Japanese officer, requested Mohan Sing to form an Indian Army comprising the
captured Indian soldiers. Mohan Singh hesitated but ultimately agreed. Fujihara handed over about
40,000 Indian soldiers, who had surrendered to him, to Mohan Singh. It was actually the first step
towards the formation of the INA.
Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February1942. Advancing further north they attacked Burma
(Myanmar) and captured Rangoon (Yangoon) on 7 March 1942. The famous revolutionary Rash
Behari Bose was residing in Japan during this time. He arranged a meeting of the leading Indians
residing in Tokyo on 28 March 1942 and there it was decided that an Association of 'Free Indians'
would be formed and a National Indian Army constituted under the command of Indian officers. A
conference was held at Bangkok on 15 June with this end in view. The conference continued up to 24
June and 35 proposals were adopted. It was agreed that Subhas Chandra Bose would be invited to
Southeast Asia. The Bangkok conference approved the army already formed by Mohan Singh. A five
member working committee was formed and Rash Behari Bose was made its president. The
formation of the INA was formally declared.
In the mean time Subhas Bose silently left Calcutta on 17 January 1941 and arrived in Germany. In
Berlin he formed an India government in exile and extended support to Germany. He began to
broadcast his aims and objectives over Radio Berlin and made contact with Japan. This aroused
tremendous enthusiasm in India. Indians in Germany gave him the title of 'Netaji' and the slogan of
'Jai-Hind' was initiated here during this time.
Subhas left for Japan in a German submarine and arrived in Tokyo on 13 June 1943. Hideki Tojo, the
Japanese Prime Minister (1941-44), accorded him a cordial reception on his arrival. The Prime
Minister declared in their parliament that Japan would advance all sorts of help to India in its fight for
independence. A huge crowd gathered at Singapore to receive Subhas when he arrived there on 2
July 1943. On 4 July Rash Behari Bose resigned and Subhas became the president of the Indian
Independence Movement in East Asia. He formally took the leadership of INA on 25 August and
dedicated himself in bringing discipline within its rank and file. On 21 October 1943 Subhas, popularly
called Netaji, declared the formation of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind and on the 23rd
declared war on Britain and America.
The INA was being organised in such a way so that they could also take part in the invasion of India
together with the soldiers of Japan. But Terauchi, the Japanese commander, gave objection to the
plan on three grounds. He considered that the Indians (as war-prisoners) were demoralised, they
were not painstaking like the Japanese and they were mainly mercenary soldiers. So he opined that
the Japanese would take part in the invasion and the INA would stay in Singapore. Subhas could not
accede to the proposal. Ultimately, after much discussion, it was decided that only a regiment of the
Indian soldiers would take part in the fight with the Japanese as a detached unit. If they could prove
themselves equal to the Japanese, more Indians would be permitted to march to the border. A new

brigade named Subhas Brigade was formed with select soldiers from the erstwhile Gandhi, Azad and
Nehru Brigades.
The INA Headquarters was shifted to Rangoon in January 1944 and sensation was created with the
war cry Chalo Delhi (March on Delhi). The Subhas Brigade reached Rangoon towards the beginning
of January 1944. In the mean time it was decided that the Indian detachment would not be smaller
than a battalion, its commander would be an Indian, the war would continue under Joint plan of Action
and Indians would fight as a separate unit on selected spots. It was also decided that battles would
occur at the Kaladan valley of Arakan and Kalam and Haka centre of China hills to the east of Lusai
hills.
The Subhas Brigade was divided into three battalions. The first contingent advanced across both the
banks of Kaladan and captured Paletoa and Doletmai. It captured Maudak, a British border out-post
at a distance of 64 km from Doletmai a few days after. It was very difficult to get supply of arms and
ammunitions and foodstuff, so the Japanese wanted to fall back, but the Indians refused. So only one
company was left behind under the command of Surajmal and the rest went back. The Japanese
commander also left behind a platoon of his contingents under the disposal of Surajmal.
In the mean time the other two detachments of the Subhas Brigade took the responsibility of HakaKalan borderline. At the fall of Imphal at Manipur it was decided that INA would take position at
Kohima, so that it could enter Bengal across the Brahmaputra. Gandhi and Azad Brigades also
advanced towards Imphal. On the 21 March the Japanese PM declared that the Indian territories
freed from the British would be brought under the administration of a provisional independent
government formed under Netaji. In spite of various hazards and want of food and war materials the
INA advanced up to 241 km inside India.
A few days after the declaration of the Japanese PM the Americans and the British reinforced their
power in the Pacific and took steps to invade Japan. At such a critical juncture the Japan forces had
to give up the plan of invading India. Consequently the INA also had to retreat and was forced to
surrender when the allied powers recaptured Burma.
The Government of India gave strenuous punishment to quite a good number of INA officers like
Capt. Shah Nawaz, Capt. Rashid and others. But the government was forced to lift the order when it
caused widespread commotion among the member of the public. The cause of India's independence
was greatly advanced by the spirit of nationalism aroused by the INA.
Indian National Army
A representative conference of Indians settled in South-East Asia was held at
Bangkok in June 1942. It was presided over by the well-known Indian
revolutionary, Rash Behari Bose. He had settled in Japan, but continued to
work for the liberation of his motherland. This conference was also attended by
Captain Mohan Singh and a few Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army who
had renounced their allegiance to the British after their capture by the
Japanese and were willing to fight for India's freedom. No less than 25,000
Indian prisoners of war in Japanese hands had signified their willingness to join
the 'Army of Liberation' under the command of Mohan Singh before he came to
attend the Bangkok Conference. It was at this conference that the decision was
taken to form an 'Indian National Army' comprising Indian prisoners of war and
civilian residents of South-East Asia. Rash Behari Bose was elected President of
the Council of Action and Mohan Singh took up the command of the 'Army'.
Unfortunately, the Council could not work in a concerted manner and failed to
make any headway in the mobilization of men, money and material. The arrival
of Subhas Bose at Tokyo on June 13, 1943, and the declaration of his
determination to launch an armed attack against the British along the eastern
borders of India electrified the entire scene and the Indians overseas felt that
their long-awaited savious had at last come. Rash Behari handed over the
leadership of the Indian Independence Movement to Subhas Bose, who formed
the Provisional Government of Free India and gave the battle-cry 'Chalo Delhi'
(on to Delhi) to the Azad Hind Fauz (I.N.A) Subhas also made a total
mobilization of the resources of overseas Indians. Defining the task of the

Provisional Government, Subhas declared; "It will be the task of the Provisional
Government to launch and conduct the struggle that will bring about the
expulsion of the British and their allies from the soil of India."
In the beginning, the Japanese were reluctant to give the Indian National Army
an important role in their offensive campaign against British India. Netaji, as
Subhas used to be lovingly addressed by his followers, refused to accept such a
proposition and the Japanese had to agree that, in the campaign for the
liberation of India, the soldiers of the Indian National Army had the inalienable
right to make the maximum contribution. The I.N.A formed the vanguard of the
attack which was launched across the India-Burma border. Netaji himself came
to Rangoon and established his advance headquarters there. The I.N.A.
brigades, named after Gandhi, Azad, Nehru and Subhas, distinguished
themselves in several battles which they won by dint of sheer bravery, courage
and superb discipline. A lofty spirit of patriotism impelled the men and women
of the I.N.A. to make the supreme sacrifice in the field of battle and undergo all
sorts of privations and suffering with a smiling face. They went into ecstatic joy
when they succeeded ill capturing Mowdok, a small town on the Indian side of
the border. They fell prostrate on the ground and kissed the soil with great
reverence to reaffirm their determination to free India from foreign rule. The
main objective of the I.N.A. offensive in 1944 was the capture of Imphal, the
capital of Manipur. The advance units of the I.N.A. reached within two miles of
Imphal and succeeded in besieging the city.
In June 1944, the fortunes of war were turning against the Axis powers. Due to
heavy bombing by the Americans, as also due to the rapid American advance in
the Pacific, the Japanese decided to withdraw from the India-Burma border.
The monsoon started in all the fury and it became impossible to supply rations
and ammunition to the I.N.A. forces. This, along with the pressure of the
reinforced British forces, compelled the Japanese Army and the I.N.A. to fall
further back.
During the winter of 1944-45, the British began their counter-offensive. They
occupied Arakan and marched towards Rangoon. The Japanese evacuated
Rangoon, asking the I.N.A. to hold it as best as they could. By May 1945, the
British forces had occupied Rangoon and a large number of I.N.A. soldiers were
taken prisoner. The Japanese surrender in the middle of August 1945
extinguished the last hopes of the I.N.A. to liberate India. On August 18, 1945,
Subhas Bose was last seen bearding a Japanese bomber at Taipeh. What
happened afterwards is still uncertain.
The I.N.A. was not successful in winning the freedom of the country, but they
certainly hastened the dissolution of the British empire in India.
The second phase of the INA began when Subhash Chandra Bose reached Singapore on 2 July 1943, after
meeting Hitler in Berlin, by means of German and Japanese submarines. He went to Tokyo and Prime Minister
Tojo declared that Japan had no territorial designs on India. Bose returned to Singapore and set up the
Provisional Government of Free India on 21 October 1943.
The Provisional Government then declared war on Britain and the United States, and was recognized by the Axis
powers and their satellites. Subhash Bose set up two INA headquarters, in Rangoon and in Singapore, and
began to reorganize the INA. Recruits were sought from civilians, funds were gathered, and even a women's
regiment called the Rani Jhansi regiment was formed.
On 6 July 1944, Subhash Chandra Bose (referred to as Netaji or the Leader by his followers), in a broadcast on
Azad Hind Radio addressed to Gandhiji, said: 'India's last war of independence has begun . . . Father of our
Nation! In this holy war of India's liberation, we ask for your blessing and good wishes.'
One INA battalion commanded by Shah Nawaz was along with the Japanese Army proceeded to the Indo-Burma
front and participate in the Imphal campaign. The failure of the Imphal campaign, and the steady Japanese
retreat there, quashed any hopes of the INA liberating the nation. The retreat which began in mid-1944 continued
till mid-1945 and ended only with the final surrender to the British in South-East Asia. But, when the INA men
were brought back home and threatened with serious punishment, a powerful movement was to emerge in their
defence.

Forward bloc

the Forward Bloc of the Indian National Congress was formed on 3 May 1939 by Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose, who had resigned from the presidency of the Indian National Congress on April 29
after being outmaneuvered by Mohandas K. Gandhi. The formation of the Forward Bloc was
announced to the public at a rally in Calcutta. Bose said that who all were joining, they had to never
turn their back to the British and must fill the pledge form by cutting their finger and signing it with their
blood. First of all, seventeen young girls came up and signed the pledge form. Initially the aim of
the Forward Bloc was to rally all the leftwing sections within the Congress and develop an alternative
leadership inside the Congress. Bose became the president of the Forward Bloc andS.S.
Cavesheer its vice-president. A Forward Bloc Conference was held in Bombay in the end of June. At
[2]
that conference the constitution and programme of the Forward Bloc were approved. In July 1939
Subhas Chandra Bose announced the Committee of the Forward Bloc. It had Subhas Chandra Bose
as president, S.S. Cavesheer from Punjab as its vice-president, Lal Shankarlal fromDelhi, as its
general secretary and Pandit B Tripathi and Khurshed Nariman from Bombay as secretaries. Other
prominent members were Annapurniah from Andhra Pradesh, Senapati Bapat, Hari Vishnu Kamnath
from Bombay, Pasumpon U. Muthuramalingam Thevar from Tamil Nadu and Sheel Bhadra
Yajee from Bihar. Satya Ranjan Bakshi, was appointed as the secretary of the Bengal Provincial
[3]
Forward Bloc.
In August the same year Bose began publishing a newspaper titled Forward Bloc. He travelled around
[3]
the country, rallying support for his new political project.
Subhash Bose believed that the Congress was strong enough to launch an immediate struggle and
that the masses were ready for such struggle. He was convinced , as he wrote later, 'that the country
was internally more ripe for a revolution than ever before and that the coming international crisis
would give India an opportunity for achieving her emancipation, which is rare in human history.'
He, therefore, argued in his Presidential address in Tripuri for a programme of immediately giving the
British Government a six-months ultimatum to grant the national demand of independence and of
launching a mass civil disobedience movement if it failed to do so. Gandhiji's perceptions were very
different. The internal strife reached its climax at the Tripuri session of the Congress, held from 8 to
12 March 1939. Bose had completely misjudged the faith of Congressmen. They were not willing to
reject Gandhiji's leadership or that of other older leaders who decided to bring this home to Subhash.
Bose could see no other way but to resign from the Presidentship. Nehru tried to mediate but to no
avail. Bose could also not get the support of the Congress Socialists and the Communists at Tripuri or
after. Subsequently in May, Subhash and his followers formed the Forward Bloc as a new party within
the Congress. And when he gave a call for an all-India protest on 9th July against an AICC resolution,
the Working Committee removed him from the Presidentship of the Bengal Provincial Congress
Committee and debarring him from holding any Congress office for three years.

After Bose was forced out of the Congress in 1939 for his radical economic ideas and political strategy
challenging British imperialism, he formed his own political forum, the Forward Bloc, to consolidate the antiimperialist, leftist forces in India. At the anti-Compromise Conference held in Ramgarh in 1940, he gave the
slogan: "All power to the Indian people". Later, in explaining the leftist character of the Forward Bloc, he said
that in post-independence India, leftism would mean national reconstruction on socialist lines. He made it plain
that socialist reconstruction would require "scientific and large-scale industrial production for the economic
regeneration of the country" and "social ownership and control of both production and distribution systems." As
a socialist, his goal was "swaraj for the people, for the workers and peasants."
To realise his goal of socialism, Bose preferred a well-integrated and disciplined political party which he called
the Samyabadi Sangh (Socialist Party). He desired such an ideologically committed political party to prepare
the new generation of Indians for social and economic reconstruction and regeneration of India.
In the mid-thirties, he hoped that it would be possible to form such a party with the progressive-minded and
left-oriented people within and outside the Indian National Congress, but the events following the Tripuri
Congress in 1939 destroyed all chances of forming such a party.
Just on the eve of Bose's escape from India, he received a secret letter from the CSP leader Jayaprakash
Narayan requesting Bose to take the lead in forming "a new revolutionary party. based squarely on MarxismLeninism, independent of all other political organizations and parties." But the message came too late for Bose.
By then (late 1940) he had made up his mind to leave India to organise an armed struggle against British from
outside India.

When Bose was on his way to Europe on his secret mission in 1941, he stayed for a few days in Kabul during
which he wrote down his ideas on India's freedom struggle and the tasks for his newly formed party, the
Forward Bloc. In this Kabul thesis, he observed that "..after attaining India's political freedom, the task would
be to complete the process of national reconstruction on socialist lines."

Conclusion

Use subhash chandra bose quotation in ur conclusion. Here is an example.

No real change in history has ever been achieved by discussions... Freedom is not given, it is taken..
One individual may die for an idea; but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand
lives. That is how the wheel of evolution moves on and the ideas and dreams of one nation are
bequeathed to the next...' Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose'
Or use some one else's words for him. Like
"...Subhash Chandra Bose's life was a beacon to me, lighting up the path I should follow. His
disciplined life and his total commitment and dedication to the cause of his country's freedom deeply
impressed me and served as my guiding light..." Velupillai Pirabakaran, 'How I Became a Freedom
Fighter', April 1994

On September 16th, 1985, in a dilapidated house in Faizabad, formerly the

capital of Oudh province in India, a reclusive holy man known as Bhagwanji or
Gumnami Baba (the saint with no name) breathed his last. Locals had long
suspected that he was none other than Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945), the
Indian quasi-Fascist leader who in the 1930s had advocated a violent revolution
against the British Empire to gain total independence for India.The Second World
War had enabled him to practise what he preached and his Indian National Army
had fought with the Japanese in Burma attempting to drive the British out of the
subcontinent.
Although Netaji (Great Leader) Bose was reported killed in an air crash in August
1945, while trying to escape to the Soviet Union, many believed then and
continue to believe now that, helped by his Japanese allies, he faked his death,
reached Russia and returned to India many years later to lead the secret life of a
hermit. Surprisingly for a poor sadhu(mystic) the saint with no name left
behind many trunks of possessions and in 1986, realising that these might
solve the mystery once and for all, Boses niece Lalita obtained a high court
order for an inventory to be made of their contents. Among the 2,673 items
indexed, Lalita claimed she saw letters in her uncles handwriting and family
photographs. Gumnami Babas belongings were re-packed in 23 boxes and sent
to the District Treasury.
This was the latest but by no means the last of the dramas attending the fate of
Bose. During the previous 40 years the Indian government had been forced to
set up two inquiries into his death (the Nawaz Khan Committee in 1956 and the

G.D. Khosla Commission 1970-74) and, although both confirmed the reported
story that he died in an air crash, the rumours persisted. In 1999, reluctantly,
but under pressure from Boses home state of Bengal in particular, the Indian
government appointed Justice M.K. Mukherjee to launch a vigorous inquiry ... to
end the controversy ... over the reported death of [Bose] in 1945.
On November 26th, 2001, Mukherjee drove up to the District Treasury in his
official white Ambassador car. A large crowd had gathered to watch the boxes
being opened. They included the Hindustan Times journalist Anuj Dhar who
described to me what happened: out came a pair of German binoculars, a
Corona typewriter, a pipe (taken away for DNA but without result), a Rolex watch
Netajis watch, gasped a spectator in awe a box of five teeth (also taken
away but found not to belong to Bose) and a pair of silver, round-rimmed
spectacles. Clearly, Gumnami Baba had been an extraordinary man. It was his
collection of books that was most thought-provoking. Bear in mind that Bose
had received an English education (finishing at Cambridge University) and, in the
eyes of the British, had committed war crimes against them possibly escaping to
the Soviet Union; then appreciate, for example, Gullivers Travels, P.G.
Wodehouses The Inimitable Jeeves, the scarcely available International Military

Tribunal for the Far East, The History of the Freedom Movement in India, The
Last Days of the Raj, Moscows Shadow Over West Bengal and Solzhenitsyns The
Gulag Archipelago. This could not be the bedtime reading of a typical sadhu.
Either he had been an obsessive collector of Bose memorabilia, or someone had
added to his possessions posthumously as a hoax, or he really was Bose. Some
of the books had writing in the margins that Anuj Dhar submitted to an expert.
He issued a certificate that the handwriting belonged to Bose, but the Indian
government promptly appointed an expert of its own who disagreed.
In his inquiry report, completed in 2006, Justice Mukherjee was categoric. He
concluded: Netaji Bose is dead [a safe bet as he would have been 109]. He did
not die in the plane crash as alleged and the ashes in the Japanese temple in
Tokyo [maintained by the Indian government since 1945] are not of Netaji. He
was more narrowly legalistic about the Faizabad connection:

In the absence of any clinching evidence to prove that Bhagwanji/Gumnami Baba

was Netaji the question whether he died in Faizabad on September 16th,1985,
as testified by some of the witnesses, need not be answered.
Nevertheless, caught off guard in a TV interview in January 2010, Mukherjee can
clearly be heard saying that he thinks Bhagwanji and Bose may well be the same
person. This probably did not impress the Indian government which had already
dismissed the Mukherjee Report as unreliable. Why have these rumours
persisted for so long? Why do they continue to divide well-educated Indians,
including Boses own extended family? And why for many less educated Bengalis
has Bose assumed the semi-divine status of a sadhu? There are several reasons.

In the first place, Bengal needs Netaji now more than ever. Bose, twice Mayor of
Calcutta (Kolkata) in the 1930s, was the one great Bengali national and
international politician of the last 75 years. A recent opinion poll of Indian
students ranked him second only to Gandhi and above Nehru as the greatest
Indian statesman of the 20th century. He has become a legendary figure. Taxi
drivers in Kolkata discussing the appalling roads or flooded pavements of their
town will say, If only Netaji was still alive! A play staged there last year was
based on the premise that Bose returned to India after Independence. Forward
Bloc, the political party he founded in 1939 after he was forced to resign the
presidency of the Indian National Congress for advocating violent revolution,
still exists under his name, campaigning for a form of national socialism.
Associations with Bose distract from the diminished status of Kolkata today: no
longer the political or economic capital of India but the centre of a partitioned
state.
The afterlife notion also persists because Netajis real life encourages
conspiracy theorists. When the story of Boses death in 1945 reached Viceroy
Wavell he said: I suspect it very much. It is just what should be given out if he
meant to go underground. In 1946 Gandhi claimed that inner voices were
telling him Subhas is still alive and biding his time somewhere. Bose certainly
had form as an escaper. He spent his life moving easily, sometimes secretly,
from country to country. In 1941 he escaped from British house arrest in
Calcutta and reached Afghanistan from where, aided by the Italian ambassador
and disguised as an Italian businessman Orlando Mazzota, he travelled up
through central Asia to Moscow and from there to Berlin. Soon Britons and
Indians could hear his propaganda broadcasts stirring up revolt against the
British Empire and boasting about his Indian Legion, a body of soldiers trained
by and intended to fight alongside the German Wehrmacht. In 1943,
discouraged by Hitlers lacklustre support for Indian independence and aware
that the theatre of war where he needed to pit his troops was now the Far East,
he travelled half-way round the world under water by first German and then
Japanese submarine to Japan. Admired there, he received official support and
set up his 50,000-strong Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army (INA),
recruited largely from Indian soldiers of the British Empire Army who had been
captured by the Japanese in their successful offensive of 1942.
If Netaji became a mystic in his afterlife then this too had a precedent in his
former life. Always ascetic and distant from personal relationships (although in
1937 he probably married his Austrian secretary with whom he had a child,
Anita, in 1942), he was a student of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century Bengali
mystic whose followers believe was an incarnation of God. As a student Bose left
home in search of the religious life. In his unfinished autobiography Indian

Pilgrim he wrote of this time: The desire to find a guru grew stronger and
stronger within me ... We looked up as many sadhus as we could and I returned
home a wiser man.

The enduring mystery of the death of Bose arises above all from the
circumstances of his disappearance. The facts are these. In May 1945 Slims
14th Army pushed the Japanese 33rd Army, supported by the INA, out of Burma.
For the INA (referred to dismissively by the British as JIFS Japanese Infiltrated
Soldiers) it was an ignominious rout, exposing Boses hopeless idealism as a war
leader. On August 10th a Russian army began its offensive through Manchuria.
From the seas and skies the American navy and air force pounded Japan,
culminating with the atomic bombs on August 6th and 9th. On August 14th
Japan surrendered.
Bose, whose political acumen was a lot sharper than his military knowledge,
realised that the Cold War was the new world war and that Russia could be
Indias one remaining ally in its fight for freedom. He had already made contact
with the Soviet embassy in Tokyo (in November 1944) and on August 16th at a
meeting in Bangkok, Major General Isoda Saburo, head of the Hikari Kikan, or
Japanese liaison with the INA, agreed to try to get Bose into Manchuria as the
first step to reaching Moscow. The last photo of Netaji alive or dead shows him
at Saigon airport on August 17th, 1945. Five days later, on August 23rd, the
Japanese News Agency announced the death of Bose:

He was seriously injured when his plane crashed at Taihoku airfield [Taipei, then
in Formosa, now in Taiwan] at 14.00 hours on August 18th. He was given
treatment in a hospital in Japan [sic] where he died at midnight.
On September 7th Colonel Habibur Rahman, Boses sole INA travelling
companion who said he had survived the plane crash and described how Netaji
had died, arrived in Tokyo carrying an urn of ashes. They were placed in Renkoji
temple and an announcement was made: Netaji chale gaye (Netaji has gone).
But in the absence of a body the controversy began. It intensified the following
year when an Indian journalist, Harin Shah, visited Taipei and obtained, so he
thought, the medical and police reports on the death of Netaji and the
certificate issued permitting cremation. When these were translated into English
all these documents referred to one Okara Ichiro who had died of heart failure
on August 19th and had been cremated. When Harin Shah pointed this out,
according to the Mukherjee report:

The Formosan clerks ... said the Japanese officer accompanying the dead body,
under whose instruction they acted, told them that for state reasons, the
particulars of the person had to be kept confidential.
Was the death of Netaji faked so that he could escape possible execution by the
British as a traitor and take his fight for Indian independence unimpeded to
Russia? There was a precedent. Subhas nephew Pradip Bose, a well-known
writer in Delhi, recalls meeting Dr Ba Maw, President of Burma, in Rangoon in
1962: He told me that the Japanese had announced his death in an air crash
[in early 1945], while he was actually hiding in Japan [to escape the British].

It was to resolve the question of a possible hoax and to quell rumours of

reported sightings of Bose in India and elsewhere that the first two inquiries
were launched in 1956 and 1970. What is convincing about their conclusions is
that the several Japanese eye-witnesses of the air crash and death of Bose who
gave evidence at both inquiries agreed about what they saw and stuck to their
version of events over nearly 20 years. As Justice Khosla said in his summing
up:

I am not prepared to accept the contention that the entire military organisation
of Japan had entered into a conspiracy to put forward a false story in order to
cover up Boses escape, still less 11 [and now 25] years later when the trial of
war criminals was over, when nothing could be gained by telling lies. Such a
hypothesis just does not make sense.
Conspicuous among the eyewitnesses was Dr Taneyoshi Yoshimi, first
interviewed in Stanley Gaol, in Hong Kong in 1946 by British Intelligence (the
document is in the British Library), who claimed that he treated Bose and signed
his death certificate, giving the cause of death as burns of the third degree.
However the death certificate, if it ever existed, has disappeared. That is the
trouble with long-held conspiracies; one fact begets a counter fact. Justice
Mukherjee reports that he was shown a death certificate for Chandra Bose
signed by Dr Yoshimi, but it was dated 1988, clearly a photocopy, and the aged
Dr Yoshimi said he did not have a good memory of it.
What is equally convincing about Justice Mukherjees report is that, taking a
rigorous approach that approves of primary documents and abhors
circumstantial evidence, he finds that there is absolutely nothing to go on.
There is no pictorial or written evidence of the crash in the Taipei airfield log, or
in the local newspapers or held by the Taiwan government; there are no death
certificates or cremation certificates for Bose and several others who are
supposed to have died with him. Attempts by Mukherjees team to remove some
of the ashes from Renkoji temple for DNA testing were unsuccessful, though it
is doubtful whether such tests would have worked anyway. Mukherjee
concluded:

a) There is no satisfactory evidence of the plane crash; on the contrary, the story
given out in that respect is rather improbable.
b) In the absence of any contemporaneous record in the hospital, the Bureau
and/or the crematorium, the oral account of the witnesses of Netajis death and
cremation cannot be relied on to arrive at a definitive finding; and
c) A secret plan was contrived to ensure Netajis safe passage, to which Japanese
military authority and Habibur Rahman were parties.
When the Congress Party has been in power it has always refused requests to
return the ashes to India. In fact Boses admirers believe the Congress Party will
never allow the truth about their hero to be known because it is the party of the

Nehru family and Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) and Subhas Bose were bitter
rivals. Some go further and believe that Prime Minister Nehru conspired with the
Russians to prevent Bose returning to India after Independence because he felt
threatened by him; hence the cover-up.

One thing is certain if Bose did die in the air crash then he succeeded
posthumously in his fight for Indias independence. Immediately after the war
the British put on trial for treason in the Red Fort of Delhi three leaders of the
INA, symbolically a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh. This caused uproar, not least
among soldiers of the British Indian Army who only a short time before had
been fighting their fellow Indians in the Burmese jungle. The war was over; it
was Indias time for freedom now. Netaji was hailed as a martyr. To avoid
further martyrs the British virtually acquitted the defendants, letting them off
with the lightest sentences, and concluded that the time had come for the
British to quit India too. On August 15th, 1947, almost two years after Boses
reported death, India and Pakistan became free nations.
Over the next few years rumours were rife that Bose had reached Russia. An
India Office document marked Secret of May 2nd, 1946 includes this report
from a Miss Hanchet:

The D.I.B. [Director of Intelligence Bureau in India] mentioned the receipt from
various places in India of information that Subhas Bose was alive in Russia. In
some cases circumstantial details have been added. Consequently he is not
more than 90 per cent sure that Subhas is dead.
A stenographer, Sham Lal Jain, deposed before the Khosla Commission that
Pandit Nehru asked him to make typed copies of a hand-written note that said
Bose had reached Russia via Dairen [Manchuria]. He also alleged that Nehru
asked him to type a letter to British Prime Minister Attlee that Bose, your war
criminal, has been allowed to enter Russian territory by Stalin. According to
the Hindustan Times of March 4th, 2001, Justice Mukherjee asked for this
correspondence (when on a visit to London) but was told that the British
Government will declassify Bose documents only after 2021 if the Indian
Government so desires.
Netaji watchers report further circumstantial evidence that Bose was sent to the
Gulag. In 2000, an Indian engineer, Ardhendu Sarkar, said he had worked in the
Ukraine in the 1960s for a German engineer, Zerovin, who had known Bose in
Berlin and had come across him again in 1948 after being sent to a camp in
Siberia for indoctrination. Sarkar reported the meeting between Zerovin and
Bose to the Indian Embassy in Moscow, after which he was suddenly recalled to
India. Others reported to the Khosla Commission that the Indian ambassador to
the USSR in the early 1950s, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, had seen Bose in
Siberia.

The most persistent voice of the Bose in Russia group belongs to a Professor
of International Affairs at Kolkatas Jadhavpur University, Dr Purabi Roy who
specialises in Indo-Russian relations. She is convinced that Bose arrived in
Russia and possibly died there because she dismisses any sadhuinFaizabad
connection. She also related to me word-of-mouth evidence, the most
plausible of which came from her colleague in the Russian Institute of Oriental
Studies, former USSR General Alexander Kolesnikov. He told her that he had
seen a file that noted the minutes of a Politburo meeting of August 1946 when
Voroshilov, Mikoyan, Molotov and others discussed whether Bose should be
allowed to stay in the Soviet Union. Dr Roys attempts to see this file ended in
failure, however. At her urging, the Mukherjee Commission went to the Russian
Federation, visited six archives and interviewed four witnesses though not
Kolesnikov who was ordered abroad on the eve of his appearance. The archives
drew a blank and the witnesses refuted what Dr Roy claimed they had told her.
Not surprisingly, Justice Mukherjee concluded that the assertion of Dr Roy
regarding Netajis presence in Russia cannot be acted upon. However, she
claims a book to be published this winter, will vindicate her position.
During the 1950s and 60s other stories about Netaji contended that he never
left India but remained in hiding disguised as a peripatetic sadhu. We are in a
position to judge the truth of these not only because of the evidence of the first
inquiries but also because of the research of Boses biographer Leonard Gordon.
He traced the supposed wanderings of Bose round India between 1948 and
1959 through the publications of the Subhasbadi Janata, a propaganda
organisation under Major Satya Gupta, a former political ally of Netaji. According
to this, Netaji attended Gandhis cremation in 1948 after which he roamed India
three times doing tapasa, or penance, to save mankind. Gordon has exposed
some of this account as fraudulent and believes the rest is myth. He is
convinced Bose died on August 18th, 1945. He has no time for the Mukherjee
report, though his biography was written some time before it came out, and he
also believes that Professor Roy should put up her evidence or shut up.
The mystery of what happened to Netaji Bose will remain until the Indian
Government opens some 100 classified files on the subject; and allows files in
Russia and Britain to be opened also. Anuj Dhar and the Hindustan Times,
convinced of a government cover-up, have been campaigning for this through
their website www. MissionNetaji.org. The response of the Indian Government is
revealing:

The disclosure of the nature and contents of these documents would hurt the
sentiments of the people at large and may evoke widespread reactions.
Diplomatic relations with friendly countries may also be adversely affected if the
said documents are disclosed.
Justice Mukherjee complained at length in his Report (itself hard to obtain)
about the lack of government disclosure and the many obstructions of officials

he encountered when he was conducting his inquiry. Pradip Bose agrees that the
only way to solve the Bose mystery is for the government censorship to end and
the files to be opened. He asks why, if his uncle did die in the air crash, the
government does not allow his ashes to be brought back from Japan with the
great national honour that he fully deserves?
Meanwhile, in Bengal a cult called the Santan Dal is still waiting for Netaji to
appear again. Its members rioted outside a cinema in Kolkata in 2005 when a
biopic of Netaji The Forgotten Hero showed, accurately, that Bose had a sexual
relationship with a western woman. There is no doubt that to many Bengalis, at
least, Bose has assumed a semi-divine persona. One of many letters discovered
in the Faizabad trunks said:

Crores [many millions] of Indians have put their eyes upon you. One day the
Lord will himself salvage the sorrow of the people, the evil will be destroyed and
God will prevail. You are our God in human form.
Bose saw his struggle as a moral crusade. The British Empire was evil and he
was fighting for the good, in epic terms that Indians love Give me your blood
and I will give you freedom, was his cry. In a country where the lines between
mortality, sainthood and the divine are finely drawn, why not bring back the
epic hero, Netaji, as a symbolic figure to achieve a Divine Age on earth?
Subhash Chandra Bose...Perhaps the most neglected episode of the Indian
Freedom Struggle.According the manufactured version of netaji's death
mystery he died in a an aircrash in FORMOSA(TAIHOKU) on 18th august
1945.But present investigations reveal a totally different story.Its the greatest
coverup in the history of India,the so called "LARGEST DEMOCRACY" of the
world.This documentary is based on truth and factuals.Hope you people will
like it.

Subhash Chandra Bose...His biographer Hugh Toye compared him with a

SPRINGING TIGER in his biography.The alleged death of Subhas Chandra Bose,
the supreme commander of Azad Hind Fauz and Free India Legion in a plane
crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945, has long been the subject of dispute.
Recently an Indian central commission of inquiry confirmed one popular
version, that Bose's death was staged to facilitate an escape to the
USSR.Subhash, a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement
against the British Raj in India and a general of the Imperial Japanese army
Tsunamasa Shidei were reported to be flying to Tokyo, Japan when the alleged
plane crash occurred at Matsuyama aerodrome in Taihoku, northern Formosa
(now the Republic of China, or Taiwan). The news was withheld by Japanese
government for five days before it was announced by Japanese news agency
Domei. The Allied forces took the Japanese news as a ploy. The then Viceroy of
India, Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, is reported to have noted in his diary that
"I wonder if the Japanese announcement of Subhash Chandra Bose's death in
an air-crash is true. I suspect it very much, it is just what should be given out if
he meant to go underground."

A newspaper clip reporting the death of Netaji and General ShideiThe matter

was looked into by several allied intelligence teams and soon holes in the
Japanese version became apparent. A crack team of Intelligence Bureau found
out that Bose was heading for the USSR with the Japanese assistance.
The findings of the intelligence teams seem to have not confirmed the Japanese
announcement. For as late as October 1946, the Government of British India
refused to confirm the death of Bose.
After India's independence, the matter was looked into by three official panels
formed by the government of India following the public demands. These panels
were: Shah Nawaz Committee, Justice GD Khosla Commission & Justice
Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry. The first two upheld the Taiwan crash
version, whereas the third negated it.
However, it has also been alleged at various times that the Indian government
and political leadership was aware that Bose may have been alive, and
according to one theory, in captivity in Soviet Union, but chose to ignore or
actively collaborate to suppress this information after Independence.
Subhas Bose's relations with Stalin's Russia were complex. Yet a restatement
of these is necessary. Without this, it would be difficult to understand the
meaning of the reports that Bose in 1944-45 was keen to have sanctuary in
Soviet Russia.
Subhas, a scholar of philosophy, had never accepted Marxism as the final
revealed truth on human affairs, as the orthodox Bolsheviks of his period
claimed. As was the case with many sensitive thinkers and leaders of his
generation, Marxism left a deep impression on him, but not to the exclusion of
other schools of thought.
He could not accept Jawaharlal Nehru's conclusion that humankind had to opt
for either communism or fascism. Knowing the infinite capacity of human mind
to evolve, Subhas considered it unscientific to limit India's future choice to
either communism or fascism.
Bose upheld the egalitarian philosophy of daridra-narayana, first articulated by
Swami Vivekananda and later propagated in the political field by C R Das. Thus
he was closer to Congress Socialists than the Communist Party of India. Though
as Congress president he created the first National Planning Committee with
Nehru as its chairman, he had a questioning mind on totalitarian planning.
He was a proud Indian nationalist. He appreciated the discipline of the Indian
communists he met; but he deprecated the subordination of the CPI to the
dictates of the Soviet Government. His relations with the Indian communists
were never tension-free.
Moscow viewed with deep suspicion his assertive nationalism.
After 1927-28, it became clear that the Soviets would prefer in the Congress
hierarchy Nehru to Bose.
The efforts Subhas made in 1939-40 to enlist Soviet help for India's freedom
struggle during the Second World War came to nothing. Bose saw in the HitlerStalin pact a combination of powers which could confront the European
imperial powers. He thought of this as an anti-status quo alliance whose
existence created opportunities for India's liberation. But his hope was dashed
when Hitler invaded Soviet Russia in 1941.The Soviets thereafter were aligned

with England and America, and Bose was forced to seek tripartite help for
India. The Soviets and the CPI thereafter did all they could to frustrate Bose's
wartime efforts.After Burma's General Aung San went over to the victorious
British side in 1945, Bose was obliged to seek a new base of operation before
the post-war situation cleared.He had never concealed his criticism of Japan's
war against China. In the autumn of 1944, he came to Tokyo to urge Japan to
befriend Chiang Kai-shek by ending the China war. The Japanese listened to
him, even seemed tempted by the idea. But it was by then too late for Japan to
change its China policy. Tokyo realistically did not see why Chiang should now
reciprocate Japan's overture when the latter faced defeat and crippling
devastation.The Japanese foreign office was even less responsive to Bose's
other proposal - that Japan intercede to secure Soviet sanctuary for Bose and a
part of the INA.This was before the former USSR declared war on Japan after
the US dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945.In sum, Soviet
Russia had not encouraged Subhas to count on Soviet help - neither in 1939-41
nor in 1944-45.If in spite of this Bose decided to enter Soviet territory, he must
have done so in the full knowledge of the risks entailed by his decision.
Stalin's paranoia periodically eliminated many communists. If Bose entered
Soviet territory in 1945, he clearly exposed himself to grave dangers.
It would truly have been "an adventure in the unknown". Subhas Bose was a
brave leader who did not however act without forethought. One does not
associate political adventure with him.
Its a shame for all indians that a person who contributed so much for the cause
of india donot even these days care to reckon this great patriot.Today's India
only reckons NEHERU..GANDHI and their FAMILY TREE for the independanceof
India.But present investigations throw new light on the MANUFACTURED
DEATH STORY of SUBHASH BOSE.Bose Didnt die in that Aircrash of Taihoku..so
what happened to him??why Govt of India even these days deny the very
existance of Bose related files??Based on truth and factuals this is something
different friends.Hope you people will like it.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was against rendering any kind of help to the British during
the World War II. He warned them so. The second World War broke out in September of
1939, and just as predicted by Bose, India was declared as a warring state (on behalf of the
British) by the Governor General, without consulting Indian leaders. The Congress party was
in power in seven major states and all state governments resigned in protest.
Subhash Chandra Bose now started a mass movement against utilizing Indian
resources and men for the great war. To him, it made no sense to further bleed poor
Indians for the sake of colonial and imperial nations. There was a tremendous response to
his call and the British promptly imprisoned him . He took to a hunger-strike, and after his
health deteriorated on the 11th day of fasting, he was freed and was placed under house
arrest. The British could do nothing except locking him in the prison.
It was in 1941, that Subhash Chandra Bose suddenly disappeared. The authorities did
not come to know for many days that he was not in his Barrack (the house in which he was
being guarded). He traveled by foot, car and train and resurfaced in Kabul (now in
Afghanistan), only to disappear once again. In November 1941, his broadcast from German
radio sent shock waves amongst the British and electrified the Indian masses who realized
that their leader was working on a master plan to free their motherland. It also gave fresh
confidence to the revolutionaries in India who were challenging the British in many ways.

The Axis powers (mainly Germany) assured Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose military and
other help to fight the British. Japan by this time had grown into another strong world power,
occupying key colonies of Dutch, French, and British colonies in Asia. Netaji Bose had struck
alliance with Germany and Japan. He rightly felt that his presence in the East would help his
countrymen in freedom struggle and second phase of his saga began. It is told that he was
last seen on land near Kiel canal in Germany, in the beginning of 1943. A most hazardous
journey was undertaken by him under water, covering thousands of miles, crossing enemy
territories. He was in the Atlantic, the Middle East, Madagascar and the Indian ocean.
Battles were being fought over land, in the air and there were mines in the sea. At one stage
he traveled 400 miles in a rubber dingy to reach a Japanese submarine, which took him to
Tokyo. He was warmly received in Japan and was declared the head of the Indian army,
which consisted of about 40,000 soldiers from Singapore and other eastern regions. These
soldiers were united by another great revolutionary Rash Behari Bose. Rash Behari handed
over them to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Netaji Bose called it the Indian National Army
(INA) and a government by the name "Azad Hind Government" was declared on the 21st of
October 1943. INA freed the Andaman and Nicobar islands from the British and were
renamed as Swaraj and Shaheed islands. The Government started functioning.
Subhash Chandra Bose wanted to free India from the Eastern front. He had taken care
that Japanese interference was not present from any angle. Army leadership, administration
and communications were managed by Indians only. Subhash Brigade, Azad Brigade and
Gandhi Brigade were formed. INA marched through Burma and occupied Coxtown on the
Indian Border. A touching scene ensued when the solders entered their 'free' motherland.
Some lay down and kissed, some placed pieces of mother earth on their heads, others
wept. They were now inside India and were determined to drive out the British! Delhi Chalo
(Let's march to Delhi) was the war cry.

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