Your Favorite Hero: Subhas Chandra Bose

Everyone has a hero whom he treasures in his heart, whom he seeks to imitate, whom he considers as an idol.

Some seek to emulate sportsmen; some consider film stars their hero. Ideas and attitude might vary, but one who has no hero of his own is completely indifferent to the universe. 

My hero is the great Indian nationalist and freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. I consider him as a true flag-waver, an idealist, a man of deeds, and a visionary of ideas. 

A study of his life seems like a romantic novelette, it seems implausible that a man so intrepid, so exploratory, so careless of consequences, and yet so extremely assertive and sensible was born and raised in our own India. 

He was the leader most dreaded by the imperial British government. It was Netaji who in opposition to Mahatma Gandhi openly declared that Independence was the only goal of India. 

After becoming the President of the Congress in 1937 he urged for more revolutionary politics and warned his colleagues of the impending was in Europe, and of the requirement of preparing the framework of a national fight for freedom. 

He also floated schemes of National Planning for modernizing the economic life of India and such was his popularity that in 1938 he was re-elected as the President of Congress, drubbing his opponent who was the choice the political stalwarts such as Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and other Pro-British innocuous Congress leaders. 

However, he was forced to resign after facing stiff non-cooperation from the Congress leadership and float his own party the Forward Bloc. He headed a successful movement for the removal of the controversial Black Hole Monument in Calcutta. 

He was imprisoned and later was put on house arrest due to ill-health. Then the country was astounded by the news that Netaji had dodged the immaculate surveillance of the British police and fled from India. He made his way to Kabul in the guise of a Pathan and from Kabul, he departed for Germany with the aid of the German embassy. 

Thereafter he took charge of the Indian National Army (INA) at the behest of revolutionary leader Rash Behari Bose and launched the armed offense against the British government with logistic help from Germany and Japan. 

However, following the defeat and surrender of Japan in the World War II, Bose advised the soldiers of INA to surrender and declared his objective of leading his country folk against the British government at a more auspicious moment. 

Netaji left Singapore in a Japanese aircraft on August 16, 1945, and then the country was shocked to learn that he had breathed his last in a Japanese hospital following a plane crash. 

However, no concrete evidence was found substantiate his death and the reports submitted by various inquiry commissions appointed by the Indian government failed to yield any result. 

It has been said about Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by his critics that his brilliance was similar to a lightning or a shooting star- dazzling for the moment, but without leaving behind any permanent imprint. This estimate is simply a blatant lie. His undaunted spirit, unquestionable patriotism and uncompromising attitude towards British Imperialism were key factors in keeping up the cadence of our freedom struggle at the right trajectory. 

Apart from that, his involvement in the development of the national mind was rock-solid. He envisioned and laid the base for national development by nation-wide planning and large-scale industrialization. 

He looked forward to a Pan-Asiatic unison as the need of the hour to counter the belligerent British power. 

His uncompromising struggle against the majestic British army made him immortal in the History of India. It displayed the flawless qualities of his leadership and organization. It revealed how he could amass people from across every religion and caste in the struggle for freedom. 

He was a mass leader who was ready to sacrifice even his life to attain Independence for his motherland. 

When scintillating stories of the INA’s success reached his country despite stringent censorship people comprehended his human qualities, his deep love for his country and his soldiers. 

Sadly, his selfless contribution in the freedom struggle of India has been depicted properly neither by the Congress party nor by the Pro-Left historians. 

However, the respect that he still enjoys in India by the common men is a true testimony of his greatness.