Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti in India Date in the current year: January 23, 2024

Subhas Chandra Bose, also known as Netaji (“Respected Leader”), was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa to a well-to-do family. He was the ninth of fourteen children. Bose was a brilliant student, but he was expelled from the Presidency College after a conflict with a professor who frequently made anti-Indian remarks. He continued his education in another college and graduated in 1918 with a BA in philosophy.

Bose fully dedicated himself to India’s fight for independence in 1921. In 1923, he was elected President of the All-India Youth Congress and Secretary of Bengal State Congress. Two years later, Bose was arrested in a roundup of nationalists and spent two years in prison. Upon his release, he became active in the Indian National Congress. His biggest contribution to the Congress during this time was the organization of the Congress Volunteer Corps.

Bose spend the mid-1930s traveling in Europe, where he met with Indian students and local politicians, including Benito Mussolini. Having returned to India, he decided to run for President of the Indian National Congress. However, Bose’s disagreements with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru led to his founding of the All India Forward Bloc, a left-wing faction within the Congress. Bose believed that socialist authoritarianism, along the lines of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s rule in Turkey, would be the perfect regime for the newly independent India for at least two decades.

After the outbreak of World War II Bose became one of the leaders of a civil disobedience campaign against the Governor-General’s decision to enter the war on India’s behalf, which the latter had made without consulting the leaders of the Indian National Congress. Bose was arrested and released after a week-long hunger strike. Upon his release, he escaped to Germany via Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.

In Germany, Bose enlisted the support of Adolf Hitler, who promised him to help liberate India from the British, and initiated the formation of the Indian Volunteer Legion of the Waffen-SS. Bose also established contacts with the Japanese government and was subsequently appointed commander of the Indian National Army in Singapore.

Bose died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945. He is now remembered as one of the most controversial figures in the history of India. On the one hand, he was one of the most prominent Indian nationalists. On the other hand, his association with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan is frowned upon to this day. Nevertheless, Netaji’s birthday is an official holiday in several Indian states.

On the occasion of the holiday, schools and colleges organize various cultural programs, quizzes, and other events dedicated to Netaji’s legacy. Some cities and towns organize processions featuring children dressed up as Subhas Chandra Bose.