Subhas Chandra Bose

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Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose (/ʃʊbˈhɑːs ˈtʃʌndrə ˈboʊs/ ( listen) shuub-HAHSS CHUN-drə BOHSS;[12] 23
January 1897 – 18 August 1945[4][5]) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority
in India made him a hero among Indians,[h][i][j] but his wartime alliances with Nazi
Germany and Imperial Japan left a legacy vexed by authoritarianism,[16][k][l][m][n] anti-
Semitism,[o][p][q][23] and military failure.[r][26][27][s][t] The honorific Netaji (Hindustani: "Respected
Leader") was first applied to Bose in Germany in early 1942—by the Indian soldiers of
the Indische Legion and by the German and Indian officials in the Special Bureau for India in
Berlin. It is now used throughout India.[u]
Subhas Bose was born into wealth and privilege in a large Bengali family in Orissa during
the British Raj. The early recipient of an Anglocentric education, he was sent after college to
England to take the Indian Civil Service examination. He succeeded with distinction in the vital
first exam but demurred at taking the routine final exam, citing nationalism to be a higher calling.
Returning to India in 1921, Bose joined the nationalist movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and
the Indian National Congress. He followed Jawaharlal Nehru to leadership in a group within the
Congress which was less keen on constitutional reform and more open to socialism.[v] Bose
became Congress president in 1938. After reelection in 1939, differences arose between him
and the Congress leaders, including Gandhi, over the future federation of British
India and princely states, but also because discomfort had grown among the Congress
leadership over Bose's negotiable attitude to non-violence, and his plans for greater powers for
himself.[32] After the large majority of the Congress Working Committee members resigned in
protest,[33] Bose resigned as president and was eventually ousted from the party.

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