“freedom is not given, it is taken”
Born to advocate Janakinath Bose in Odisha’s Cuttack on January 23, 1897, Netaji went on to play a key role in the freedom movement.
On Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 126th birth anniversary, here are some lesser-known facts about Netaji:
1. Netaji Subas Chandra Bose was born in Odisha on January 23 in the year 1897. He was an exceptionally brilliant student and secured top ranks. He completed his BA in Philosophy with a first class score in 1918.
2. He resigned from the Indian Civil Service on April 23, 1921 to join the freedom struggle in India.
3. Bose had been a leader of the younger, radical wing of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s, rising to become Congress President in 1938 and 1939. He was expelled from Congress leadership positions in 1939 following differences with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the Congress high command.
4. In the period from 1921-1941, he was imprisoned eleven times in various jails in India due to his stand for complete independence and advocating violent resistance.
5. At the outset of the Second World War, he left India, travelling to the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, seeking an alliance with each of them to attack the British government in India.
6. With Imperial Japanese monetary, political, diplomatic and military assistance, he formed the Azad Hind Government in exile, and regrouped and led the Indian National Army (INA) at Imphal and in Burma. They brought independence to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and came all the way to Manipur in India.
7. On August 23, 2007, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Subhas Chandra Bose memorial hall in Kolkata. Abe said to Bose’s family, “The Japanese are deeply moved by Bose’s strong will to have led the Indian independence movement from British rule.”
8. Bose also established the Azad Hind Radio Station in Germany and believed that the Bhagvad Gita was a great source of inspiration for the struggle against the British.
His famous slogan “Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe aazaadi dunga” (You give me blood, I’ll give you freedom) inspires us, till date to move forward in life and never look back, irrespective of the difficult circumstances