One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives.
– Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
There is a variety of opinions about whose political or revolutionary architectural actions in the pre-independence past led to the genesis of staircases that uplifted India to breathe above in the auspicious air of freedom. The formation of all fibres happened distinctly in the vicinity of different kinds of environments. They ultimately bundled up together spirally, strengthening the most common cause that stirred in the mind of every enlightened Indian striving for mother India’s freedom. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was one of those indomitable fibres in the noose whose mere sight drove away from the Britishers back to England.
In 1956, when Clement Richard Attlee visited India & stayed with P.B. Chakraborty (The then governor of West Bengal & Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court). He asked Attlee about the primary reason which accelerated the haste of Britishers in signing the decision of freedom to India. He replied, “It was the actions of the pursuit of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose which led to the attrition of loyalty of Indian soldiers in the British Army & Navy which ignited the spectrum of apprehensions in the British government.
EARLY LIFE OF BOSE
Subhash was earlier admitted for studies in Stewart high school where baptist philosophical bent teachings didn’t interest him much. He went on to join Ravenshaw college from where he secured 2nd position in materials in 1913. Aside from conventional surveys, his mental influence came from the teachings of Swami Vivekananda & Ramakrishna Paramhansa at the tender age of 16. After 1914 when World War I broke out, the environment around him immensely influenced his thinking.
EDUCATION IN ENGLAND
In the Presidency college, he was part of the group that passively had their hand in the revolutionary activities. Subhash was outraged by the conduct of a professor towards Indian students. He once turned violent at Professor Oaten, who misbehaved with Indian students & who also uttered anti-India comments. In the same purview, authorities dismissed him from the college. He subsequently moved on to join Scottish Church college at the University of Calcutta & completed B.A. Philosophy in 1918. At that time, he had already made up his mind about the future course of events.
Subhash left India for Europe in 1919 & reached London in October that year. He was strongly driven & wanted to get the ICS exam. Late though, Bose took admission to the University of Cambridge. He studied mental & moral sciences & prepared for ICS. The memory & intelligence eliteness led him to secure the 4th position in the ICS exam. Later on, he resigned from the apprentice in 1921 because of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (the same case that led Sardar Bhagat Singh to take up revolutionary activities in the future).
Thus he brought to the light his intensity of loyalty towards the pursuits of the Indian people. On the same note, he shocked the authorities with intense tremors. After his resignation, he wrote to his brother Satish Chandra Bose, who was training for bar exams in London only, about his thoughts & feelings. He wrote, “Only on the soil of sacrifice & suffering can we raise our national edifice.” After that, he came back to India & indulged in political affairs.
POLITICAL CAREER OF BOSE
In 1923, Congress elected him as the president of AIYC (All India Youth Congress) & Secretary of Bengal Congress. He also popped out a newspaper named SWARAJ.
In 1930, Britishers jailed him during the Civil disobedience movement. Later the Gandhi Irwin pact took place. He was not in favour of the treaty, the hangings of Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguru being the main reason. Afterwards, in 1938, Congress elected him as president but removed him from office in 1939. Due to the ideological differences with Mahatma Gandhi & the congress council that arose out of the extremist nature of Bose. Although the difference of opinions in the ideologies remained, Bose always looked upon Mahatma Gandhi as his mentor. Gandhiji praised him as a disciple too & told him if his extremist activities bring India to the shore of Independence in the future. He would be the 1st to pat his back, but also made clear that he didn’t endorse the violence backed protests & activities.
FORMATION OF INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY
British authorities put him under house arrest because of his further activities, but he escaped in 1940. After escaping, he started deliberations with Stalin to serve in the liberation of India (according to some bright bulbs). In April 1941, he looked his way forward towards Germany and influenced the strategy “Enemy of the enemy is a friend.” Netaji established the Free India Centre in Berlin with German funds. He also set up Free India Radio & broadcasted for the 1st time. The whole of the Indian public was in exaltation about hearing him talking about Independence from Berlin.
In May 1942, he met Adolf Hitler & proposed his plan to raise the Indian National Army & demanded all help from him. He came up to him about Japanese victories in southeast Asia & told him it was the right time to hit the shore. Hitler insisted on the same & arranged a submarine for him to reach Sumatra. In the same year, his baby girl was born to the Austrian Emilie Schenkl, whom he met in 1934.
PRISONERS OF WAR
He brought up an Army of strength 3000 from the Indian POWs in Germany, whom the Germans caught in the North African campaign. The same Indian legion gave him the title of ‘Netaji’ in 1942. He held in his hand a Special bureau in India who would mobilize Indian troops thereafter. Netaji proclaimed the words “JAI HIND” on the same Free India radio. The word ‘JAI HIND’ is prevalent everywhere in the defence forces and almost every demeanour in India.
He boarded a German submarine in February 1943 & reached Madagascar from where he took the Japanese submarine & reached Sumatra in May 1943. Netaji revamped Indian National Army from the British Indian Army soldiers captured in the battle of Singapore with financial funding from Japan. In summation, a batch of Indian civilians from Singapore & Malaysia joined the same stream of nationalism. Yet, Japanese authorities regarded him as unskilled, militarily. They also stated that the INA force was short-lived.
During a rally of Indians in Burma in July 1944, he proclaimed one of his most famous quotes “Give me blood & I shall give you freedom”. These words penetrated through every hurdle orchestrated by Britishers in India & reached everywhere. It was set in motion by every British Indian Army & Navy soldier to join the cause of free India.
Netaji has given the war cry “Chalo Delhi” to summon all the liberation forces of INA to reach Delhi & capture the seat of power.
RANI JHANSI REGIMENT
In the INA, he decimated every constraint towards liberation irrespective of the sectarian, racial, caste, religious doctrine, or sexual deviations & called for the spirit of nationalism. The formation of Regiment Rani Jhansi took place to empower the sense of liberation in Indian women. This regiment is self-explanatory about the moral bearing of the formation.
British Indian Army devastatingly reversed the Japanese attack on India. This attempt led to the killing of Half of the INA & Japanese soldiers in action in 1944 & 1945. Netaji had framed the provisional government of free India already at that fourth dimension.
Only later, INA had to give up as the conditions turned unfavourable diplomatically & because of other peripheral reasons. Netaji had earlier decided not to surrender as the Soviet Union was becoming anti-British, but the same couldn’t happen. Subsequently, British authorities declared INA soldiers as traitors. 300 INA soldiers were also charged with treason & trials continued in the Lal Quila at Delhi.
DEATH MYSTERY OF BOSE
It said that he lost his life during third-degree burns to which he succumbed in the overloaded plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. There have been many speculations regarding the same. The formation of many commissions took place to investigate the matter. The Mukherjee commission reported that there was no plane crash on that day according to the information they gathered from Taiwan authorities. Yet, the household members have denied the credibility of the same. The ashes of Netaji were preserved in the Renkoji temple in Tokyo in Japan. Its credibility has also remained in question. There were talks about Gumnaami Baba. The people affected & understood him as Bose altered his identity & appearance & lived in solitude. The Gumnaami baba theory has also been in the questions whose genuineness is also a mystery to this date.
The comment of Clement Richard Atlee in 1956 about apprehensions from Netaji depicts the substantial reason for Britishers leaving India. At last, the collective sacrifices of every soul involved in the fight for freedom have pushed our way forward. It was Netaji whose actions did act as an inoculum & arose as ultimate intimidation. Britishers really couldn’t face it in the same wave. They were thrown back to their bay. Netaji rightly said, “Freedom is taken, not given.”
Composed By: Ajay Bhanwala
Also, check out Shashi Tharoor’s book ‘Why I am a Hindu?’ which was inspired by many philosophers.
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