Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose , 1897-1945?, Indian nationalist also known as Netaji. He began his political career in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and soon became the leader of the left wing of the Indian National Congress . He was president of the party in 1938-39 but was forced to resign after a dispute with Mohandas Gandhi ; he advocated militancy to achieve independence for India and believed in dictatorship to unify the country. Jailed by the British for his Axis sympathies in World War II, he escaped (1941) and fled to Germany. In 1943 he headed in Singapore a Japanese-sponsored "provisional government of India" and organized an "Indian national army." Although sympathetic to totalitarianism, his collaboration was principally directed toward freeing India from British rule and the establishment of an independent regime. He was said to have died in an airplane crash in Taiwan, but in 2005 the Taiwanese government said that an investigation showed that no crash had occurred.

Bibliography: See his collected writings and letters, ed. by J. S. Bright (2d ed. 1947); L. Gordon, Brothers Against the Raj (1990).

Bose, Subhas Chandra (1897–1945) Indian nationalist politician. With Jawaharlal NEHRU he founded the Indian Independence League in 1928. He became President of the Indian National CONGRESS Party (1938–39) but quarrelled with other leaders. He escaped from virtual house arrest (1941), went to Germany but failed to secure Nazi support and in 1943 went to Japan and Singapore. There he assumed command of the Indian National Army, recruited from Indian prisoners-of-war, and formed a provisional Indian government.