Subhas Chandra Bose

Bose was born in Cuttack in 1897 to Janakinath Bose and Prabhavati Bose. His father practised law in Cuttack. He completed a degree at the University of Calcutta and travelled to England to prepare for the Indian Civil Service. He subsequently chose political work in the independence movement over a career in colonial administration, joining the Indian National Congress after returning to India.

Bose became a prominent advocate of complete independence within Congress and was elected its president in 1938 and again in 1939. Differences with Gandhi and other Congress leaders over strategy led to his resignation. He subsequently formed the Forward Bloc. His political career involved imprisonment and restrictions under British rule. In 1941 he escaped house arrest and travelled outside India to seek support for the independence struggle.

During the Second World War, Bose sought assistance from the Axis powers, first in Germany and later in East Asia. In 1943 he took command of the Indian National Army, whose members included Indian prisoners of war and expatriates. The INA fought alongside Japanese forces in Burma and northeastern India. Its campaign ended following Japan’s defeat, and captured INA personnel subsequently faced trials under British authority.

Bose married Emilie Schenkl, with whom he had a daughter, Anita. Accounts of his reported death in Taiwan in August 1945 have remained disputed; the Ministry of Culture’s biography notes unresolved questions about the circumstances. The profile therefore gives no exact death date. In 2021 the Government of India began observing his birthday as Parakram Diwas, accompanied by commemorative exhibitions, a coin and a postage stamp.