Chapter 1: A Flaming Sword Forever Unsheathed

Admiration for "Netaji" Bose was widespread in India directly after WWII.

Mahatma Gandhi described Bose's impact via his attempt to free India from British rule

B.

from 1943-1945 by saying, "the whole country has been roused," towards independence.

Gandhi wrote his patriotism was second to none.

U.S. journalist Louis Fischer interviewed Gandhi in 1942 to see why India was not supporting the Allies.

Gandhi stated the UK had elements of Fascism in its colonial rule.

3.

He asked if the Four Freedoms included the "freedom to be free?'

C.

He said the focus was on freedom for India and its own "fight for democracy."

Aug. 1942 - The Indian National Congress (INC) passed a resolution calling on the UK to "quit

India."

1.

2.

Gandhi asked followers to "do or die" for independence.

3.

By 1943, INC leaders were imprisoned and independence attempts were stifled.

Three million people would die in Bengal from man-made famine pushing food supplies to the war effort.

D.

In 1941, Bose had escaped British custody to rally support for Independence abroad.

1. Gandhi's disciple, Sister Kurshed, told Fischer that if Bose entered India leading an army. he would rally the entire country because he was more popular than Nehru and even Gandhi in some ways.

2. On July 4, 1943, Bose became the head of the army of the Indian Independence League in Japanese-occupied Singapore.

1. He spoke of the goal of reaching Delhi's famous Red Fortress.

2. The next day he rallied in front of the Indian National Army (INA).

3. Their battle cry was Chalo Delhi (On to Delhi) recalling the 1857 rebellion.

4. He introduced a national greeting for all to use (Jai Hind - Victory to India).

5. A parade was held in Rangoon on Sept. 26, 1943, leading to the tomb of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar.

E. On Oct. 21, 1943, Bose founded the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India) in Singapore. The HQ was moved to Rangoon the following January.

1. By March, they had crossed the Burmese border into India near Imphal.

2. A three-and-a-half-month siege attempt was finally broken by Allied air support.

3. The INA retreated through 1945 into Thailand

4. A women's regiment had been created named for a female hero of 1857, Rani of Jhansi.

5. With the end of WWIl on Aug. 15, 1945, Bose stated, "the roads to Delhi are many." and "India shall be free before long.”

6. It would become independent exactly two years later.

   The UK held a public trial at the Red Fort for three former INA leaders. Prem Kumar Sahgal (Hindu), Shah Nawaz Khan (Muslim, and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (Sikh) were tried for treason.

   The trail went into 1946 as Bose remained in command in spirit since he had been reported killed in a Japanese bomber crash in Taipei on Aug. 18, 1945. Many refused to believe he was dead since he had disappeared from UK control before. The UK pressed to prove his death.

   1. He had previously escaped to Germany via the Soviet Union in 1941 and used a Japanese sub in 1943 to reach Southeast Asia.

   2. His association with the Axis had tarnished his reputation in Western countries, but he was wildly popular in India.

   3. Gandhi has used non-violence as a spiritual, but also necessary means of pressure due to the disarmament of India in 1857. Bose's actions made him a "warrior-hero."

   4. The trial led to widespread news of the INA which spread their story past the previous censorship of the war. The publicity was a huge error for British rule.

   G

   Bose was elected president of the INC in 1938 and 1939. He had Gandhi's support in 1938, but defeated his preferred candidate the next year.

   1 4

   He had supported Gandhi, but differed with him in approach by 1939.

   1. He supported Gandhi's Quit India Movement in 1942.

   2. The INC defended the INA at trial with Bhulabhai Desai and even Nehru acted as an attorney.

   3. The defendants were found guilty of forsaking their oath to the British king-emperor. The defense argued they were fighting to defend their country under Bose's government which had declared war via international law.

   H.

   Bose had been an independence activist since he refused his appointment to the Indian Civil Service in 1921.

   1. His soldiers became loyal to him and his government after they had been POWs taken by the Axis while fighting for the British a)
      Shah Nawaz Khan had met Bose in Singapore. He had come from a Punjabi family of a warrior clan (Janjua Rajputs) in Rawalpindi.
      b)

   2. c)
      He had served like his father for the British.
      He had never considered politics until meeting Bose and claimed loyalty to his country over his king.
      d)
      The accounts of the INA and Bose via the trial captivated India.

   3. During a break in the trial, the Indian press printed Bose's speeches and tales of the INA from the war. When the trial went back in session in Nov. 1945 protests erupted in several major cities.
      A UK soldier was killed and 188 were wounded.
      b)
      Vehicles and property were destroyed
      c)

   32 protestors were killed and nearly 200 wounded by police fire.

   d) The Royal Indian Air Force praised those on trial and the Royal Indian Navy had a major mutiny in Feb. 1946.

   3. The trial ended on the last day of 1945 with the three accused sentenced to exile for life (just like the final Mughal emperor).

   1. The sentence was commuted a few days later and they were set free

   2. The British commander-in-chief of the British Indian Army believed he had no choice because enforcing the sentence would have led to chaos and perhaps the end of the army.

      Bose was influenced by Swami Vivekananda and Deshbandhu chittaranjan Das and focused on

      Hindu-Muslim unity.

      1. The INA showed that unity was possible.

      1. He also worked to bridge the gaps between classes and castes in India.

      2. He leaned towards an Indian form of socialism, but he dealt with communists and fascists

      to achieve his goal of independence.

      1. He was not a nationalist and denounced the racism of the Nazi regime.

      2. He sought to elevate India economically through industry to help alleviate poverty;

      3. Though he died just before India began independence he is now honored as one of its architects. On the 50th anniversary of independence at a midnight session of India's parliament he received more applause than Gandhi or Nehru.

      J.

      Some Kashmir and Naga separatists today still use Bose as an icon. The founding leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman claimed him as an inspiration and even Nelson Mandela honored him when he first visited india in 1990 after being freed from prison in South Africa claiming him as an inspiration to young blacks fighting apartheid.

      K.

      In 1958, Japan returned a ceremonial sword awarded to Bose when he founded the Provisional Government of Free India.

      1. Crowds gathered across the country to see the train that transported the sword to Delhi and then to the Red Fort.

      2. Then President Indira Gandhi spoke in his honor at the ceremony.

      3. The sword and the INA lead people to forget Bose's main philosophy of inspirational love as a binding component for people.

      L.

      The devotion to Bose led to rejection of his death, but his birthday has become a popular festival in India. (Jan. 23, 1897)

Chapter 2: A.

Subhas Bose Was born as the sixth son and ninth child to Janakinath and Prabha Bose in Cuttack, Orissa. His name means "One of Good Speech." His family was well-off.

B.

Indian Famine Relief was employing over 1.75 milied bcople in 1897 with the largest groups in

Bengal and the North-West Provinces.

1. The year was Queen Victoria's diamond iubilee (75th year as queen).

2. It was the 20th year as Empress of India.

3. The famine While the great eslebrations occured across the empire highlighted the
extreme poverty of India. It was the widest spread yet seen.

4.

ireme poverty of india., It was the widest spread y 16 million people died from famine in 1897 alone.

5.

6.

The famine would continue largely unabated through 1903.

Famines were not endemic to the subcontinent and Indian's tried to show how colonial rule was the cause of such extreme poverty.

C. CUTTACK

1. Cuttack was a town of around 45,000 that acted as an administrative center near the Mahanadi River about 300 miles southwest of Calcutta.

2. Calcutta was the center of British rule and boat was the main source of travel to it due to thieves located via land routes.

3. Bose's father had moved from Calcutta to Cuttack in 1885. Their ancestors went back to southern Bengal as a Hindu upper caste (Kayastha). His predecessors were skilled in literature and administration.

Janakinath was well-educated and became an attorney. He followed the religious leader

Keshub Chunder Sen that preached Brahmo Samaj with a focus against discrimination

1. Prabhabati was born in 1869 in Calcutta and was considered the Queen Victoria of the
   "Bose Empire."

2. Subhas' early education was in English only. He was too young to be influenced by the Swadeshi (Own Country) movement that started in Calcutta in 1905.

3. Curzon (British viceroy) had issued a partition in 1905 of Bengal into eastern (Muslim-majority) and western (Hindu-majority) provinces.

4. a)
   Anti partition groups immediately resisted.
   b)
   Bengali nationalism grew and literary works were inspired.

5. Eventually Bose realized his schooling did not match his surroundings and he left the
   Protestant European school in 1909

6. Ravenshaw Collegiate School had Bengali teachers and Subhas had to overcome his earlier instruction in English to earn top marks.

7. As a teen, he struggled with suppressing worldly and physical desires. He was drawn to the works of Swami Vivekananda.

8. a)

Swami had died in 1902 at age 39. He preached self-sacrifice and service to others.

b).

He had a modern interpretation of ancient scriptures. He had a "rational philosophy" that sought to reconcile science and religion.

c) d)
He pushed for equality amongst the castes.
Subhas was inspired to do volunteer work in villages that would push aside older traditions of social separation.

11. Politics was not discussed in the Bose house growing up. He began writing letters to his mother about his new ideas about religion and purpose a)
He began writing to his brother, Sarat, about the wider world and formed a tight bond.

b) Sarat was in England in 1912 to study law.

12. Bose's time in Cuttack put him in close contact with Muslim families and teachers who had natural and positive relations with them.

D. CALCUTTA

1. Bose moved to Calcutta in 1913 to attend college at the western-style Presidency College.
   The British had moved their center of operations to Delhi in 1911

2. Subhas became associated with students that followed the beliefs of Ramakrishna and

3. Vivekananda led by Suresh Banerjee.

4. He began to move from individual yoga (finding unity with the divine through service) to a border social service.

5. He met esteemed writer Rabindranath Tagore in 1914 and talked about village renewal plans.

6. During vacations back to Cuttack, he worked with cholera patients which exposed him to the poverty of the villages. This early exposure affected him like Nehru's experience would later in his life.

1. In 1914, he and a few friends searched for a guru by traveling to holy sites across the
   country.

2. He came back disillusioned by the caste prejudice and religious rivalries he witnessed.

6. The outbreak of WWI led to a new political awareness.

a) He had dealt with racism from Englishmen in Calcutta and he was unsure of how he could be loyal to a foreign entity.

b)

He became active in many groups in college including the debating society. He became life-long friends with Dilip Kumar Roy, the son of the famous poet Dwiiendralal Roy.

4.
5.

He loved the relative freedom aforded by Cambridge despite its conservative leanings.

He mainly studied for his exams, but enjoyed his political science, history, and economics courses the most.

1. The support by the British for General Dyer's actions at the Amritsar Massacre in 1919 was disheartening. Nearly 400 men, women, and children were Killed. Dyer was made a
   hero.

2. Subhas and others petitioned the government to allow Indians into Cambridge's Officers Training Corps, but the military did not want them seeking commissions as officers where they might command white soldiers.

3. He spent time with the Dharmavir family led by a Puniabi doctor and his European wife.
   His friends, including Dilip Roy, would stay there and have lively discussions.

4. He continued to focus on entering the ICS AKA the "heaven-born service." The exams took a month in the summer of 1920.

5. He was surprised to have qualified for the ICS ranking fourth overall.
   a)
   For the next seven months he wrestled with the idea of joining the ICS.
   b)
   He wrote to his brother about his belief that life needs struggle and that obedience to the ICS went against his commitment to India.
   c)
   His appointment led to several offers of marriage through matchmakers (ghataks), but Subhas had no interest.

6. Subhas sought approval from his parents to follow the path of C. R. Das, who would later become a father figure to him in politics. He was known as Deshbandu (Friend of the Country). Subhas wanted to give up everything to focus on his service to his country. He reached out to Das for advice.
   a He even pointed out problems with the Congress leadership to Das.

1. He wanted more action to help the depressed classes and create a constitution.

2. He officially decided to deny his appointment to the ICS in Feb. 1921

3. He reached out to Sarat to help him convince his father who believed the slight government changes of 1919 afforded Subhas the ability to have his philosophy and serve in the ICS.

e)

Their father believed home rule would come in 10 years, but Subhas believed it could only happen with sacrifice.

1. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had returned to India from South Africa in 1915 and during WWI had led non-violent protests in his home province of Gujarat and against
   European indigo planters in Bihar.

2. a)
   He launched his quest for truth (satyagraha) which resulted in numerous imprisonments without trials.
   b)
   He gained support from Muslims and was the de facto leader of Congress by 1920. A massive boycott against British textiles and institutions was launched.

3. On April 22, 1921, he sent in a letter of resignation to E.S. Montagu, the Secretary of State for India, despite his brother counseling against it and his father forbidding it.

a) The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India tried to get Subhas to reconsider.
Others from Cambridge tried to convince him as well.