SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE :THE LION IN THE JUNGLE
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
As Indians whenever we speak about freedom fighters the first two names that pop out of our minds are Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose ( I don't know why but this is how it has been recorded in most of our minds ). As I've already written in my other post Gandhi is surely overrated. But what about Subhas Chandra Bose? Is he overrated or underrated? Well, read this article completely and I guess you'll get your answer.
We remember Subhas Chandra Bose for two reasons
1. Indian National Army and
2. Because of his death mystery ( let's try to solve this at the end of this post )
THE ALIA BHAT SECTION
As always, this section is dedicated to all those who' have no idea who Subhas Chandra Bose was. (I should have named it dumb-ass section but I'm just trying to be nice )
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23rd January 1897 in Odisha ( Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal Presidency, British India ), he was a brilliant student who cleared ICS (Indian civil service examination) securing 4th rank and rejected the job offer as he was against the British rule in India. He was the founder of Indian National Army (INA) which was created to fight against the British rule, unlike other freedom fighters he had a different way of dealing with things, he always gambled with the minds of the British. Officially, it is said that he died in a plane crash, on 18th August 1945 in Taiwan but as you all know his death still remains a mystery.
ABOUT HIS PATRIOTISM AND HIS EARLY LIFE
Subhas Chandra Bose's father's name was Janakinath Bose, he was rich lawyer, so obviously Subhas Chandra Bose led a luxurious life in the early stage of his life, as I've already told he was a brilliant student.
WHAT MADE BOSE PATRIOTIC IN HIS CHILDHOOD?
In his childhood he started reading the writings of Swami Vivekananda and in no time he finished all volumes of Vivekananda's writings and without any doubt this is what seeded patriotism within Subhas Chandra Bose in fact in his early teenage he tried to join Ramakrishna Mission by visiting Ramakrishna Ashram, but Swami Bhramanandji considering his small age sent him back to his home.
During 1911 when he was in the Presidency College he assaulted a professor named Oaten for his anti-national comments for which Subhas Chandra Bose was rusticated from the college. Bose then continued his education in the University of Calcutta attaining a BA degree in 1918.
Bose's father knew that making Bose stay in India would have woken up the revolutionary within him, so he forced Bose to take the Indian Civil Service examination ( Similar to UPSC SSC examination but a lot harder ), which needed Bose to move to England, Bose agreed to crack the exam but he never wanted to serve the British government in India, which is why even though he got the fourth rank in ICS exam he never joined any job.
There are two things to observe here. Firstly, even though Bose had a rich family background he never wanted to just enjoy his life he clearly saw what was going around him and he decided to fight against it. Secondly, when he passed ICS exam he could've easily got a good government job in a higher position but again Netaji was Netaji for a reason, he stood for what he believed. It is not our abilities that define us, but it is our choices that define us, and Netaji's choice was crystal clear here.
Don't get me wrong for spreading negativity here, but most of the Indians lack this kind of attitude today, we lack vision, we don't dream for a country but we dream for ourselves, all we want is a settled life and a cool look in the society, people are ready to do anything just to look cool these days, if America wears a torn pant and say that it's fashion people in our country will blindly follow them saying that it's. westernization what's the problem with that. Honestly, westernization is not the problem but blindly following something just because it's the trend and thinking that it will make us look cool, well it's a serious problem. And above that, great people like Bose not just only fought against the British to get them out of here but they also fought against the British culture overshadowing the Indian culture, but the present generation in India is busy tearing their own pants just to follow the trend. Really, God bless India
NETAJI IN THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
He came back to India after finishing ICS examination, as I already mentioned he never wanted to serve the British Government, now he wanted to serve for the purpose of independence, so even though he knew that only Gandhi's way of non violence would never bring Independence, he still joined the younger radical wing of Indian National Congress in late 1920's, he soon became the leader of younger radical wing of Indian National Congress, But he wasn't able to contribute much as he was put into jail several times during this period,
Later in 1938, he stood for the Presidential election in Indian National Congress, Gandhi knowing that his ideologies are different and this could bring trouble within congress made Pattabhi Sitaramayya to stand opposite to Nethaji and openly supported Pattabhi Sitaramayya, but the support for Subhas Chandra Bose was so strong that he won the Presidential elections ( Remember this, we need this when we discuss about his death ).
( BOSE AS PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS 1938, ALONG WITH SARDAR PATEL AND JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU )
But unfortunately Gandhi took this personally, in a press statement he said that the defeat is more mine ( Gandhi's ) than Pattabhi Sitaramayya's. Gandhi also said that Bose should form his own committee and run the Congress. So many dramas happened between Gandhi and Nethaji during this period, and finally he was made to resign his position as President of Congress in 1939.
THE GREAT ESCAPE OF SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE :
It was like a yearly routine for Nethaji to goto jail, He was put in jail for more than ten times during the period of 1920-1940.
In the year 1941, Bose was put into house arrest ( he was first put into normal jail but due to issues with his health he was put into house arrest ), knowing the trouble that he could cause during the ongoing World War 2, Bose knew that it was a great time for India to achieve freedom by joining hands with the enemies of the British in the World War, but as he was in house arrest there was nothing much he could do about it, so he plotted a plan to escape from the house arrest.
HOW NETHAJI ESCAPED ?
Every time he met anyone in his house he spoke of getting retired and becoming a Saint ( Sanyaasi ), making the cops believe the he has changed, after some days he stopped speaking and used to meditate a lot, he used to be in his room with the doors shut, he made the cops believe that he was mentally transforming, on one fine night ( 16th Jan 1941 ), he escaped from the house arrest and went to Afghanistan, the British didn't even know that he had escaped till the tenth day of his escape.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER HIS ESCAPE
From Afghanistan he went to Soviet Union seeking help from Stalin thinking that Soviet Union was against British in the World War but by the time he went there, Stalin had switched his side. The Soviet Union was now supporting US and the British in the War, Stalin said that he couldn't help Bose, so Bose decided to seek the help of Adolf Hitler by going to Germany.
NETHAJI'S MEET WITH ADOLF HITLER :
What happened with Subhas Chandra Bose after his escape from house arrest is one of the important aspects that changed the future of this country.
Why did Nethaji meet Hitler ?
To know this we should first know about the participants in the Second World War, on one side it was U.S, British, France, China etc and on the other side it was Germany, Italy, Japan etc. Subhas Chandra Bose followed a simple rule that enemy of my enemy is my friend. So even though both Hitlers and Bose's ideologies differed in many ways Bose decided to seek the support of Adolf Hitler.
What did Hitler think of Indians ?
Hitler thought of Indians as equal to Jews and Africans, who he hated the most, he had also said that India is better under the rule of British than being under control of any other country, he had also refused to meet Subhas Chandra Bose in 1933 when Bose was in Germany.
But, now the situation was different in early 1940's. Germany wanted to defeat the British in order to increase their chances of winning the world war, but he knew that if Indians support British during the war, it would only strengthen the army of the British, which would have reduced the chances of Germany winning. So he accepted to meet Subhas Chandra Bose in early 1940's in the hope of remotely controlling the Indian army not to go with the British through Bose.
THE DAY NETHAJI MET THE FUHRER ( HITLER )
Finally, Bose met Hitler in May 1942 in Hitler's residence, and discussed about making an alliance with the Indians to fight against the British, but it was quite obvious that Hitler would not give any military assistance just to free India, Bose also asked for the release of Indian Prisoners who were arrested in North Africa, eventhough Hitler didn't agree to this at first, he surely did agree to this after a lot of efforts from Bose, an army of over 1000 men were built in the Germany to liberate India from the British rule which was called the Indian Legion or Azad Hind Fauj or Tiger Legion which was then made to join the Indian National Army.
Bose also ordered Indians not to support the British during the World War, which created confusions in the Indian Army of the British as Gandhi had agreed to support the British during the World War. ( I really don't understand Gandhi here, he says that he is against violence and he was against killing even our enimies but during world war, he extended his support to the British by agreeing to send the Indian Army to fight for the British, which resulted in the death of many of our own men, wasn't that violence ? )
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE'S VISIT TO JAPAN.
After he got the man power to build an army in Germany, the next big thing was getting arms for the army that he had built, this is where his visit to Japan played a major role.
After his visit to Germany, the Nazis helped him to goto Japan with their submarine, it is also said that he carried tons of gold in that submarine which was given by Hitler to build an army.
The Japanese welcomed Bose happily, where he got all the weapons that he needed to provide to the army. Japanese has always supported Indians throughout history, this is one of the solid examples of that.
Bose also freed many Indian prisoners who were in Malaya region and they volunteered to join the Indian National Army. His visit to Germany and Japan played a major role in the rebirth of Indian National Army ( INA )
SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE AND THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY.
The Indian National Army ( INA ) was formed in the year 1942, which consisted of more than 43,000 soldiers inside and outside India. As I've already told Bose always believed that only non violence was not enough to bring independence.
The INA was first formed in the year 1942 under the leadership of Mohan Singh, but due to the difference in opinion among the members, it got collapsed in December 1942. Subhas Chandra Bose reunited the army in 1943 and called it as the army of Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind ( Government created by Subhas Chandra Bose ).
THE FIRST MILITARY ATTACK ON THE BRITISH :
What this army did on April 14 1944 is breath taking and something that should be remembered annually.
On April 14 1944, the Indian National Army ( INA ) led by Subhas Chandra Bose marched to Moirang ( near Imphal ) and defeated the British Army in that region, the tricolor was first hoisted here in this region, our national anthem was first sung in this region, the heroic efforts of Subhas Chandra Bose along with his troops had finally made his dream come true, this was just the trailer and the movie was about to begin. The INA also captured many other parts of British ruled India.
If Gandhi had not existed, this is how we would have achieved freedom. IN A HEROIC WAY.
This incident is one of the major incidents which pressurised the British to leave India, but sadly eventhough the soldiers of Indian National Army ( INA ) put their life on the line to achieve freedom, they were not given the status of freedom fighters, just because they differ with the principles of Indian National Congress. Again, whom to blame ? You decide I'm tired of writing their name again and again.
THE DEATH OF SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE.
This is one of the biggest mystery in Indian history, there are many things surrounding the death of Subhas Chandra Bose, eventhough there is a official statement that he died of a plane crash in Taiwan, but there is no proof that he died there
Let's try to solve this logically
Let's begin from the official statement.
Officially it is said that he died of a plane crash near Taiwan on August 18th 1945. But the British Government in India as well as the British Intelligence agency never believed this.. And moreover the official records released by the West Bengal government doesn't support this.
(SOURCE AS WELL AS WORDS : REDIFF )And above this, A United States intelligence report, sent to the enquiry panel probing the disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, has corroborated the evidence provided by the Taiwan government that no air crash had occurred at Taipei airport or anywhere in that country on August 18, 1945, in which the Indian leader was supposed to have been killed. ( SOURCE AS WELL AS WORDS : REDIFF)
So, if he didn't die in the plane crash, when did he die ? Was he even in the plane crash ?
Let's collect all the pieces of the story and try to join it and let's see if we can get a clear picture.
STORY 1
( Based on Dhamble's conversation with Dr. Swamy )
During 1951, an ICS officer named J.R Dhamble who was on vacation in the U.S was sent a telegram telling him to goto Japan by the Indian Prime Ministers, he obeyed the orders and went to Japan, in Japan he was given two big trunks and was told to deliever it to the Prime Minister of India ( Nehru ), he flied from Japan to India carrying those two trunks in the plane, when he landed in India, Nehru personally met him to receive the trunk, the locks of both the trunks were broken as there were no keys and both the trunks were filled with Gold and Diamond.
Both these trunks belonged to Subhas Chandra Bose which were given as a donation by many Indians in Malaysia and Singapore regions, it was kept in Prime Minister's office till 1990's, but when the trunks were made to open during Morarji Desai's government both the trunks were filled with mud. Where did those golds and diamonds go ?. It was in the Prime Minister's office and for the majority of the period the government was ruled by one familly. Again, you decide.
STORY 2.
In 1970, a commission was set up by the Indian government which had only one member in it named G.D Khosla and the commission was named Khosla Commission for finding the mystery behind Nethaji's death, but again the commission said that Nethaji died in the plane crash in 1945 ( Obvisiously this commission lied, as the recent documents released the W.Bengal government doesn't support this incident, why did it lie ? Just look at the year it was formed you'll get your answer )
The testimony of Sham Lal Jain before Khosla Commision is something that was never considered seriously, here's what he had said.
Well. I guess this is enough to finish the puzzle, what Nehru had written to the Britain government made it quite clear that he never wanted Nethaji to come back, or he wanted him dead because British government saw Nethaji as a war criminal and the punishment for war criminals was sentence to death according to British law, so what was Nehru trying to prove by proving the existence of Nethaji ? Again, you decide.
As far as Subhas Chandra Bose's death is concerned, it was crystal clear from the above two letters that Nethaji was in Russia after his fake death incident, so what happened to Nethaji purely depends on what Stalin decided to do after he received the letter of British. He would have either killed him based on the indirect orders of Nehru through the British or he would have protected him in Russia giving respect to his friendship.
It is also said that Nethaji was in Russia during Lal Bahaddur Shashi's visit to Russia during 1966, if this is true then surely Stalin gave respect to his friendship with Nethaji and had saved him or if this evidence is not true then it's clear that Nethaji was killed during 1945 either by Stalin or by British government.
Even if we consider he was alive for a longer time than we thought, he surely didn't get what he deserved, he should've been the first Prime Minister of India. The INA that he reunited should've got the status of freedom fighters, after Independence. But none of this happened.
SOME KNOWN/UNKOWN FACTS ABOUT SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE, SOME OF HIS QUOTES AND ABOUT THE TITLE :
- Subhas Chandra Bose was first called as NETHAJI by the soldiers in the Indian Legion ( Nethaji means leader )
- From Russia to Japan he was sent through Submarine by the Russians, it was the only civilian exchange that happened during World War 2 via submarine.
- When he reunited the INA he gave a excellent motivational speech, he made many statements that day, one of the most effective one is.
" GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD AND I'LL GIVE YOU FREEDOM"
- Emilie Schenkl was the name of Subhas Chandra Bose's wife she was a Austrian, they had a daughter named Anita Bose 29th November 1942.
- He was put in jail for more than 11 times from 1930-1940
ABOUT THE TITLE : So many things happened during 1920-1940, if he wanted he could have led a risk less life in a luxurious way, but he knew what was his target, he was the most fearless leader who didn't even care to meet Hitler to get what he wanted, in this messed up world ( it was like jungle, as humans were barbaric during world war ) where things like World War was going on, he surely was a lion who was even willing to fight alone for his country.
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