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Subhash Chandra Bose was born in 1897 in Cuttack, Odisha. He was one of 14 siblings. At the age of 16, he read the works of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna and was inspired by their teachings on social service and reform. This influenced Bose’s own political ideology, which was socialist in nature.
Subhash Chandra Bose was a brilliant student who consistently excelled in his studies. He stood second in his matriculation examination and graduated from the Scottish Church College in 1918 with first class honors in philosophy.
Subhash Chandra Bose’s first act of defiance against the British was at Presidency College, where he was expelled for assaulting Professor Otten, who had made anti-India comments and misbehaved with Indian students. Bose denied taking part in the attack, but the college did not believe him.
Subhash Chandra Bose was a brilliant student who stood fourth in the prestigious Indian Civil Services Examination in 1919. However, he decided to resign from this job to pursue his political ambitions. Bose was a leading figure in the youth wing of the Indian National Congress during the late 1920s and 1930s. He was a strong advocate of complete independence from British rule and often clashed with the more conservative leadership of the Congress. Bose’s popularity within the Congress grew steadily, and he was elected president of the party in 1938 and 1939. However, his disagreements with Gandhi and the Congress high command led to his expulsion from the party in 1939. Bose’s expulsion from the Congress was a major turning point in his career. He formed the Forward Bloc, a political party that advocated an armed struggle for Indian independence.
Subhash Chandra Bose was elected President of the All India National Congress twice in 1938 and 1939. However, in 1939 he fell out with the Congress leadership due to his differences with Mohandas Gandhi on the best way to achieve Indian independence. Gandhi advocated non-violent resistance, while Bose believed that armed revolution was necessary. As a result, Bose was expelled from the Congress.
Bose was married to Emilie Schenkl, an Austrian woman. They had a daughter named Anita Bose Pfaff, who is a famous German economist. He was born in 1942 in Vienna, Austria. Bose established the Azad Hind radio station in Germany in 1942. The station broadcast news and propaganda in India and became a symbol of the Indian nationalist movement.
Subhash Chandra Bose was a fiery revolutionary who coined the popular slogan “Jai Hind” and chose Rabindranath Tagore’s “Jana Gana Mana” as India’s national anthem. At the start of World War II, he traveled to the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan in search of allies to fight the British in India. With Japanese assistance, he reorganized the Indian National Army (INA), consisting of Indian prisoners of war and plantation workers from British Malaya, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia. The INA fought alongside the Japanese against the British and Bose established the Azad Hind government in exile. He also led the INA to victory in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Manipur.
Subhash Chandra Bose believed that Gandhi’s non-violent methods would not be enough to win India independence. He advocated armed resistance, believing that it was the only way to truly free India from British rule. Despite his differences with Gandhiji, Bose respected him greatly. He called Gandhi “the patriot of patriots”, an epithet that was fitting.