Public Figure Profiles

Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan left a legacy vexed by authoritarianism, anti-Semitism, and military failure. The honorific Netaji 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.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. 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. After the large majority of the Congress Working Committee members resigned in protest, Bose resigned as president and was eventually ousted from the party.In April 1941 Bose arrived in Nazi Germany, where the leadership offered unexpected but equivocal sympathy for India's independence. German funds were employed to open a Free India Centre in Berlin. A 3,000-strong Free India Legion was recruited from among Indian POWs captured by Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps to serve under Bose. Although peripheral to their main goals, the Germans inconclusively considered a land invasion of India throughout 1941. By the spring of 1942, the German army was mired in Russia and Bose became keen to move to southeast Asia, where Japan had just won quick victories. Adolf Hitler during his only meeting with Bose in late May 1942 offered to arrange a submarine. During this time, Bose became a father; his wife, or companion, Emilie Schenkl, gave birth to a baby girl. Identifying strongly with the Axis powers, Bose boarded a German submarine in February 1943. Off Madagascar, he was transferred to a Japanese submarine from which he disembarked in Japanese-held Sumatra in May 1943.With Japanese support, Bose revamped the Indian National Army (INA), which comprised Indian prisoners of war of the Indian Army who had been captured by the Japanese in the Battle of Singapore. A Provisional Government of Free India was declared on the Japanese-occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands and was nominally presided by Bose. Although Bose was unusually driven and charismatic, the Japanese considered him to be militarily unskilled, and his soldierly effort was short-lived. In late 1944 and early 1945, the Indian Army reversed the Japanese attack on India. Almost half the Japanese forces and the participating INA contingent were killed. The remaining INA was driven down the Malay Peninsula and surrendered with the recapture of Singapore. Bose chose to escape to Manchuria to seek a future in the Soviet Union which he believed to have turned anti-British. He died from third-degree burns received when his overloaded plane crashed in Japanese Taiwan on August 18, 1945. Some Indians did not believe that the crash had occurred, expecting Bose to return to secure India's independence. The Indian National Congress, the main instrument of Indian nationalism, praised Bose's patriotism but distanced itself from his tactics and ideology. The British Raj, never seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the INA trials, but eventually backtracked in the face of opposition by the Congress, and a new mood in Britain for rapid decolonisation in India. Bose's legacy is mixed. Among many in India, he is the muscular hero, his saga serving as a would-be counterpoise to the many actions of regeneration, negotiation, and reconciliation over a quarter-century through which the independence of India was achieved. His collaborations with Japanese Fascism and Nazism pose serious ethical dilemmas, especially his reluctance to publicly criticize the worst excesses of German anti-Semitism from 1938 onwards or to offer refuge in India to its victims.

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Some of their strengths

Subhas Chandra Bose has many admirable traits.

Based on spiritual traditions from around the world, they are someone who can be described as Passionate, Independent, Analytical, Innovative, Sophisticated, Kind, and Curious.

Idealistic and Altruistic

According to Mysticism’s Astrology tradition, Subhas Chandra Bose is someone who is an idealist and an altruist who possesses an innovative, intellectual, and analytical mind, and who approaches life in an optimistic and easygoing manner. A person who is ambitious and motivated.

Warm and Caring

Based on Daoism’s Ba-Zi or ‘Chinese Zodiac’ tradition, people who know Subhas Chandra Bose well know them as someone who can be warm, caring, and compassionate, like a lamp or torch.

Active and Ambitious

According to Hinduism’s Jyotisha or ‘Vedic Astrology’ tradition, many would also describe Subhas Chandra Bose as someone who is active, ambitious, bold, and courageous.

A person who is driven and organized, is wise with money, who knows how to tell a good story, likes physical activity, and who loves learning.

Charismatic and Instinctual

Based on the Mayan Tzolk’in or ‘Mayan Astrology’ tradition, Subhas Chandra Bose is someone who handles stress better than most people, and who tends to have a powerful charisma and convictions.

They are also someone who is creative, expressive, and insightful, and who has a pioneering spirit with self-determination and natural artistic expression.

Altruistic and Innovative

According to Judaism’s Kabbalah tradition, Subhas Chandra Bose tends to be someone who sacrifices things for the good of others and wants to do "good" in the world. Who is often thought of as an innovator or rebel who thrives when trying to chase a breakthrough of some sort, who has a clear and sound mind, and who can be charming and sociable.

Some of Subhas Chandra Bose's challenges

While Subhas Chandra Bose has many strengths, nobody is perfect. They also have some challenging traits they need to manage.

For example, Subhas Chandra Bose can be Rebellious, Emotionally Distant, Difficult, Perfectionist, Stubborn, Idle, and Impulsive.

Rebellious and Emotionally Distant

One of Subhas Chandra Bose's key challenges is that they are someone who can be rebellious and emotionally distant.

Impulsive and Aggressive

Subhas Chandra Bose is someone who can be impulsive, aggressive, and confrontational, can have difficulty listening to others, be moody and high strung, have conflict with authority figures, be too judgmental of others, and who can be overindulgent and extravagant.

Serious and Callous

Finally, Subhas Chandra Bose also can be too giving, come across as too "high and mighty", and can have a hard time expressing feelings.

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