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Part 2

Subhas Chandra Bose

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10 views

Part 2

Subhas Chandra Bose

Uploaded by

dubeyanimesh57
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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 Early Adulthood

After arriving in Bombay in 1921, Bose went straight to meet


Gandhiji. When they met, Gandhiji was the leader of the non-
cooperation movement that had shook the British in India. Bose later
wrote about his meeting with Gandhiji, mentioning that his answers
were vague and his goals unclear, Bose also believed that non-violent
means would not work as effectively as other means which could
possibly use violence. Gandhiji sent Bose to work under C.R Das as
he was much more flexible and was more tolerant of Bose’s methods.
It was C.R Das who allowed Bose to become a prominent political
figure in the Congress. Bose became a youth educator, journalist and
leader of the Bengal Congress Volunteers. In 1923 he was appointed
the leader of the Indian Youth Congress and just a year later, he
became the chief executive officer of the Calcutta Municipal
corporation with Das as the Mayor. In 1924, during a protest, he,
Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi and other leaders were arrested and
imprisoned. He was later sent to Mandalay, Burma where he
contracted tuberculosis. He eventually came back in 1927, became
general secretary with Jawaharlal Nehru and also Mayor of Calcutta
in 1930. During the 1930s he travelled across Europe, meeting Indian
students and European politicians, including Benito Mussolini. He
observed communism and fascism in action. During this time, he also
researched and wrote the first part of his book The Indian Struggle,
which covered the country's independence movement from 1920 to
1934. Though it was published in London in 1935, the British
government banned the book in the colony out of fears that it would
cause public unrest. Bose and Emilie Schenkl met in 1934 and
developed a relationship while she worked as a secretary, helping him
with his book and writing it for him. They eventually got married in
December of 1937 and had a child in 1942. After coming back from
Europe, Bose had become very influential in the INC and was elected
President. He was re-elected in 1939 but there was a lot of opposition
to him. Even Gandhiji was against Bose being President, there was a
split in the Congress but Bose tried to unite everyone. There was a rift
between Bose and Nehru, who had previously worked together as
secretaries in the Congress. Eventually, Bose was forced to resign and
formed his own faction “All India Forward Bloc”.

 Political Career
Bose had a long and illustrious political career which started in 1921,
when he returned to India, and ended with his untimely death in 1945.
Arriving in Bombay in 1921, Bose immediately went to meet with
Gandhiji, who at the time had become the single most influential
leader of India’s struggle. In Bose’s account of the meeting, he
thought that Gandhiji’s methods were not thought through. They
differed on the question for the future of India, while Bose preferred a
totalitarian government, Gandhiji was strongly against it. Even though
they disagreed with each other, Gandhiji told Bose to work under
Chittaranjan Das, one of the most important nationalist leaders in
Bengal.
In 1927, after being released from prison, Bose rose through the ranks
of the INC, and became General secretary, working with Jawaharlal
Nehru. By 1938, Bose had become a renowned national leader and
was nominated for Congress President. Bose had criticised Gandhiji
for his conservative economics and suggested broad industrialisation,
which went against the Gandhian principles of promoting cottage
industries and use of Indian resources. Bose was also strongly in
favour of complete independence with use of force against the British.
This meant a confrontation with Gandhiji, who opposed Bose’s
presidency. This caused a split in the Congress between Gandhiji’s
supporters and Bose’s supporters. In 1939, Bose was elected as
president again and this time was strongly opposed by the Gandhian
faction in Congress, eventually he was forced to resign for the sake of
Congress’ unity. In May of 1939, Bose organised the “All India
Forward Bloc” a left-wing faction within the Congress. The first
conference was held in Bombay the same year and Netaji was
announced the President.
He was placed under observation in his home but managed to flee to
Afghanistan, from where he went to Nazi Germany. There he held
meetings with German officials and eventually realised that Germany
did not care about India’s Independence. Knowing that Germany was
of no use anymore, Netaji took a submarine to reach Japanese
occupied South-East Asia. In July 1943, at a meeting in Singapore,
Rash Behari Bose handed over control of the INA to Subhas Chandra
Bose. The INA was established in 1942 with Captain Mohan Singh as
it’s leader. The INA’s first movements were on the Manipur frontier,
where the groups of INA soldiers fought bravely. The Indian Tricolour
flag was raised for the first time in the town of Moirang, in Manipur,
in north-eastern India. The Japanese forces in Imphal and Kohima
were defeated and the INA was forced to retreat. Although the INA
continued to fight, they never could succeed as the Japanese had
surrendered, the INA had to be disbanded. Although Netaji is
regarded as one of the most important freedom fighters and
remembered as a brave man, some question his methods and wartime
alliances. However, Netaji’s contributions made a significant impact
on the Indian people and in one way or the other helped India gain
Independence.

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