Nethaji Subhas Chandra Bose

"As a Boy"
Photo Credit: WikimediaSubhas Chandra Bose was born on Jan 23, 1897 in a Bengali Kayasth family to Janakinath Bose and Prabhavathi Devi in Cuttack, Orissa. His father was an Advocate and he studied in an Anglo School (Stewart School) at Cuttack until 6th standard. He was shifted to Ravenshaw Collegiate School of Cuttack. After his school studies he went to the prestigious Presidency College where he studied briefly. Subhas Chandra Bose was expelled from that college for assaulting his Professor Oaten for his anti-India comments. From this incident his nationalistic temperament came to light.

As a brilliant student, he was later passed his matriculation examination of Calcutta province in 1911 and passed his B.A. in 1918 in philosophy from the renowned Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta.

Bose went to study in Fitzwilliam Hall of the University of Cambridge. He graduated BA by proxy on 4 November 1922. His high score in the Civil Service Examinations meant an almost automatic appointment in the Government Administrative Service. At that time, Indian nationalists were stunned and irritated because of the Amritsar massacre and the cruel Rowlatt legislation of 1919. He then took his first conscious step as a revolutionary and resigned the appointment.

Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms. Due to some ideological conflicts with Gandhi he left the Congress party. (Bose advocated complete independence for India at the earliest, whereas the AICC wanted it in phases) Bhagat Singh's martyrdom and the inability of the AICC leaders to save his life also infuriated him. He commenced a separate political party, the All India Forward Bloc and sedulously assiduous call for the full and immediate independence of India from British regime. He was jailed eleven times by the British authorities.

Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, his stance did not change which he visually perceived as a break to take gain of British regime. He left India, travelling to the USSR, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan seeking a coalition with each of them to assault the British regime in India. With the help of Imperial Japan he re-organised and later led the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) composed with plantation workers from Southeast Asian countries like British Malaysia, Singapore etc. against British forces. With Japanese monetary, political, diplomatic and military aid, he composed the Azad Hind Regime in exile and rearranged and led the INA in failed military campaigns against the allies at Burma and Imphal.

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Bose had anticipated that large numbers of soldiers would desert from the Indian Army when they would discover that INA soldiers were attacking British India from the outside. But, this did not materialize on an adequate scale. Instead, as the war situation deteriorated for the Japanese, troops began to abscond from the INA. At the same time Japanese funding for the army reduced. When the Japanese were beaten at the battles of Kohima and Imphal, the Netaji's Provisional Government's aim of creating a base in Indian main land was lost forever.

"Netaji's Last Photo"
Photo Credit: PhotobucketHowever, with the fall of Rangoon, Netaji's government concluded to be a successful political unit. A large proportion of the INA troops surrendered to British Indian Army when Rangoon fell. The remaining troops retreated with Bose towards Malaysia or made for Thailand. Japan's surrender at the end of the war also led to the eventual surrender of the Indian National Army.

A paper cutting showing the alleged death of Sidei and Netaji
Photo Credit: PhotobucketThe suspected death of Subhas Chandra Bose has long been the subject of dispute. Subhas Chandra Bose and Tsunamasa Shidei (a general of the Japanese army) were reported to be flying to Japan when the alleged plane crash occurred in northern Formosa at Matsuyama aerodrome near Taipei on August 18, 1945.

The news was withdrawn by Japanese regime for five days before it was promulgated by 'Domei' (Japanese news agency). The Allied forces took the Japanese news as a gambit. Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, then Viceroy of India, is reported to have noted in his diary that "I wonder if the Japanese declaration of Subhas Chandra Bose's death in an air-crash is true. I have doubts about it very much it is just what should be given out if he meant to go underground." The matter was looked into by a number of allied intelligence teams and soon holes in the Japanese version became evident.

The conclusion of the intelligence teams seems to have not established the Japanese promulgation. For as late as October 1946, the Regime of (British) India declined to approve the death of Subhas Chandra Bose. But, it has also been alleged at various times that the Government of India and political leadership was cognizant that Subhas Chandra Bose may have been alive, and according to one postulation, in captivity in USSR, but opted to overlook or actively collaborate to bottle up this information after Independence.

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Many people in Faizabad/Uttar Pradesh believed that 'Bhagwanji' (a hindu Sanyasi) or 'Gumnami Baba', who lived in the Ram Bhawan house, until the year 1985, was Subhas Chandra Bose. Following a court order the belongings of Baba were taken into possession after his death. The Justice Mukherjee commission came down against this belief, in the absence of any clear evidence". The independent probe by the Hindustan Times into the case however gave some clues that the monk was Bose himself. Some people believe that Gumnami Baba died on 16 September 1985, while some challenge this. It is alleged that he was cremated at Faizabad on the bank of River Sarayu in the dead of night, just under the light of a motorcycle's headlamp. His face was distorted by acid to shield his identity. Bengali community of Faizabad still pays homage at the memorial built at his cremation site on the anniversary of his birth. However, the life and behavior of Gumnami Baba remains a mystery even today.

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