Bose, Subhas Chandra

Bose, Subhas Chandra (b. 23 Jan. 1897, d. 18 Aug. 1945). Indian nationalist Born in Cuttack (Orissa) as a Bengali kayasth, he studied at Calcutta (where he was expelled for his Indian nationalism) and Cambridge. Popularly known as Netaji (‘revered leader’), he entered the Indian Civil Service, but resigned almost immediately in the wake of Gandhi's announcement of his non-cooperation campaign in 1921. Gandhi sent him almost immediately to Calcutta, where he came under the tutelage of Chittaranjan Das. In 1924, he became chief executive officer of the Calcutta Corporation, but was imprisoned later that year for his political activism (until 1927). In 1928 he became secretary of the Indian National Congress (INC). He was made president of the INC in 1938, but in 1939 he was forced to resign, largely because he was more radical than Gandhi himself. Imprisoned and then placed under house arrest early in World War II, he escaped and went to Germany. Having failed to gain support there, Netaji travelled to Japan, where he announced the formation of an Indian National Army to drive the British from India. He recruited Indian prisoners of war and formed a provisional government-in-exile, though his army was defeated in Burma. He was reported to have died in an air crash over Taiwan.