Subhash Chandra Bose was born to an affluent Bengali family in Cuttack, Orissa. His father, Janakinath Bose, was a public prosecutor who believed in orthodox nationalism and later became a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. With eight brothers and six sisters, Bose’s family was large, but disciplined. He loved to read and was fascinated with religion, discipline, and self-control. As a youth, he did social service and after reading Vivekananda’s writings, “selfless service” became the motto guiding his life. Recognizing his son’s intellect, Bose’s father was determined that Bose should become a high-ranking civil servant.
He attended the Protestant European School and the Ravenshaw Collegiate School in Cuttack and later graduated with honours from the Scottish Church College, Calcutta. He was placed second in his university examinations and participated as a member of the India Defence Corps, then a newly-formed military training unit at the University of Calcutta. Afterwards he travelled to England and attended Fitzwilliam Hall at the University of Cambridge.
In 1920, Bose took the Indian Civil Service entrance examination and was ranked second. However, he resigned from the prestigious Indian Civil Service in April 1921 despite his high ranking in the merit list, and went ahead to join the freedom movement. After returning to India, he joined the Congress party and was particularly active in its youth wing. Bose’s ideas did not match with that of Gandhi’s belief in non-violence. So he returned to Kolkata to work under Chittaranjan Das, the Bengali freedom fighter and co-founder (with Motilal Nehru) of the Swarajya (Self Rule) Party.
In 1921, Bose organised a boycott of the celebrations to mark the Prince of Wales’ visit to India. This led to his being imprisoned. In April 1924, Bose was elected the Chief Executive Officer of the newly constituted Calcutta Corporation. Later, in October that year, Bose was arrested as a suspected terrorist. First, he was in Alipore jail and later he was exiled to Mandalay in Burma. In June 1925, Bose was deeply struck by the sudden loss of his mentor Chittaranjan Das. At the end of 1926 he was nominated in absentia, as a candidate for the Bengal Legislative Assembly. On May 16, 1927 he was released from jail due to ill-health.
The two years in Mandalay increased his confidence and strength. By December 1927, Bose with Jawaharlal Nehru became the the General Secretary of the Congress. On January 23, 1930, Bose was once again arrested for leading an “Independence” procession. After being released from jail on September 25, he was elected as the Mayor of the City of Calcutta. He was incarcerated eleven times by the British over a span of twenty years, either in India or in Rangoon. He spent many years in various capacities as the Chief Executive Officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (where Chittaranjan Das had previously been Mayor), and later as Mayor himself.
With Jawaharlal Nehru he was one of the radical Left wing leaders of the Congress Party. He was exiled from India, during the mid 1930s to Europe, where he stated India’s cause for self-rule before gatherings and conferences (like the Second Communist International). After his father’s death the British authorities allowed him to land at Calcutta’s airport only for the religious rites, which would be followed by his swift departure. During this time he traveled extensively in India and in Europe before stating his political opposition to Gandhi. He became the president of the Haripura Indian National Congress in 1938, against Gandhi’s wishes.
He was elected for a second term in 1939 in Tripura Congress Session; Gandhi had supported Pattabhi Sitaramayya and commented “Pattavi’s defeat is my defeat” after learning the election results. Although Bose won the election, Gandhi’s continued opposition led to the resignation of the Working Committee. In the face of this gesture of no-confidence Bose himself resigned. Bose then formed an independent party, the All India Forward Bloc.
Death :- Bose is supposed to have died in a plane crash over Taiwan while flying to Tokyo. However, his body was never recovered, and conspiracy theories concerning his possible survival abound. One such claims that Bose actually died in Siberia, while in Soviet captivity. Mr. Harin Shah, an Indian journalist, visited Taipei and was shown a plane crash site (supposedly of Bose’s plane).
However, the Taiwan Government told an Indian journalist investigating into Bose’s death that Bose could not have died in a plane crash in the country, stating that there “were no plane crashes at Taipei between 14 August and 20 September 1945.”Despite this testimony three separate Indian government investigations have concluded that Bose died in the plane crash, although a fourth one-man board convened in 1999, the Mukherjee Commission, will not issue its conclusions until 14 May 2005.