Every year on January 23, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti is observed to honour the memory of Subhas Chandra Bose, one of India’s most well-known independence fighters. The occasion is known as Courage Day, or “Parakram Diwas.” As of this year, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is 127 years old. He played a significant role in laying the groundwork for the current Indian state, from founding and directing the Indian National Army to creating coalitions against the British during World War II.
Life of Subhash Chandra Bose
On January 23, 1897, Subhas Chandra Bose was born in Cuttack, Odisha. He was Janakinath Bose and Prabhavati Devi’s tenth child. As a child, Subhas Chandra Bose excelled academically and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the Presidency College in Calcutta, which is now known as Kolkata. Additionally, his father sent him to England so he could take the Civil Services Exam. He placed fourth overall with the best English score.
He left the Indian Civil Service in 1921 and went back to his own country. The then-British government in India made him famous as a rebel due to his numerous run-ins with the law.
Prominent Congress leader Chittaranjan Das, who quit the Congress Party in 1922 to found the Swaraj Party with Motilal Nehru, served as Netaji’s mentor. In addition to starting the journal Swaraj, he was also the editor of the Forward, which Chittaranjan Das had founded.
Netaji was chosen to serve as the secretary of the Bengal State Congress and the president of the All India Youth Congress Committee in 1923. In 1930, he also had a brief mayoralty in Calcutta.
With the aid of Japan, Bose established the Indian National Army in Southeast Asia in 1942, using Indian soldiers that the British Indian army had captured during combat. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Netaji founded the Azad Hind, or provisional government of Free India, in 1943. Japanese forces later seized control of the islands.
Bose’s mysterious death
It is thought that Subhas Chandra Bose perished in an aircraft that crashed soon after takeoff. Owing to the enigma surrounding his demise, the Indian government has subsequently established several committees to look into the matter. Notably, the title ‘Netaji’, which means ‘Revered Leader’ in Hindi, was given to Subhas Chandra Bose by German and Indian officials at the Special Bureau of India in Berlin.
Some inspirational quotes by Subhash Chandra Bose
“Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!”
“Soldiers who always remain faithful to their nation, who are always prepared to sacrifice their lives, are invincible.”
“Freedom is not given, it is taken.”
“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.”
“One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives.”
By: Gursharan Kaur