1.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Date of Birth : Oct 2, 1869 Date of Death : Jan 30, 1948 Place of Birth : Gujarat
Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) was born into a Hindu
Modh family in Porbandar, Gujarat, India in 1869. He was the son of
Karamchand Gandhi, the diwan (Chief Minister) of Porbandar, and
Putlibai, Karamchand’s fourth wife (his previous three wives had died in
childbirth), a Hindu of the Pranami Vaishnava order. Growing up with a
devout mother and surrounded by the Jain influences of Gujarat, Gandhi
learned from an early age the tenets of non-injury to living beings,
vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and mutual tolerance
between members of various creeds and sects. He was born into the
vaishya, or business, caste.
In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his
parents’ arrangement to Kasturba Makhanji (also spelled “Kasturbai” or
known as “Ba”), who was the same age as he. They had four sons: Harilal
Gandhi, born in 1888; Manilal Gandhi, born in 1892; Ramdas Gandhi, born
in 1897; and Devdas Gandhi, born in 1900. Gandhi was a mediocre student
in his youth at Porbandar and later Rajkot. He barely passed the
matriculation exam for the University of Bombay in 1887, where he joined
Samaldas College. He was also unhappy at the college, because his
family wanted him to become a barrister. He leapt at the opportunity to
study in England, which he viewed as “a land of philosophers and poets,
the very centre of civilization.” Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a major
political and spiritual leader of India, and the Indian independence
movement. He was the pioneer and perfector of Satyagraha – the
resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience strongly founded
upon ahimsa (total non-violence) – which led India to independence, and
has inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
Gandhi is commonly known and addressed in India and across the world
as Mahatma Gandhi and as Bapu. Though his elders objected, Gandhi could
not be prevented from leaving; and it is said that his mother, a devout
woman, made him promise that he would keep away from wine, women, and
meat during his stay abroad. Gandhi left behind his son Harilal, then a
few months old. In London, Gandhi encountered theosophists, vegetarians,
and others who were disenchanted not only with industrialism, but with
the legacy of Enlightenment thought. They themselves represented the
fringe elements of English society. Gandhi was powerfully attracted to
them, as he was to the texts of the major religious traditions; and
ironically it is in London that he was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita.
Here, too, Gandhi showed determination and single-minded pursuit of his
purpose, and accomplished his objective of finishing his degree from the
Inner Temple.
He was called to the bar in 1891, and even enrolled in the High Court
of London; but later that year he left for India. After one year of a
none too successful law practice, Gandhi decided to accept an offer from
an Indian businessman in South Africa, Dada Abdulla, to join him as a
legal adviser. Unbeknown to him, this was to become an exceedingly
lengthy stay, and altogether Gandhi was to stay in South Africa for over
twenty years. The Indians who had been living in South Africa were
without political rights, and were generally known by the derogatory
name of ‘coolies’. Gandhi himself came to an awareness of the
frightening force and fury of European racism, and how far Indians were
from being considered full human beings, when he thrown out of a
first-class railway compartment car, though he held a first-class
ticket, at Pietermaritzburg. From this political awakening Gandhi was to
emerge as the leader of the Indian community, and it is in South Africa
that he first coined the term satyagraha to signify his theory and
practice of non-violent resistance. Gandhi was to describe himself
preeminently as a votary or seeker of satya (truth), which could not be
attained other than through ahimsa (non-violence, love) and brahmacharya
(celibacy, striving towards God). Gandhi conceived of his own life as a
series of experiments to forge the use of satyagraha in such a manner
as to make the oppressor and the oppressed alike recognize their common
bonding and humanity: as he recognized, freedom is only freedom when it
is indivisible. In his book ‘Satyagraha in South Africa’ he was to
detail the struggles of the Indians to claim their rights, and their
resistance to oppressive legislation and executive measures, such as the
imposition of a poll tax on them, or the declaration by the government
that all non-Christian marriages were to be construed as invalid. In
1909, on a trip back to India, Gandhi authored a short treatise entitled
‘Hind Swaraj’ or Indian Home Rule, where he all but initiated the
critique, not only of industrial civilization, but of modernity in all
its aspects.
Gandhi returned to India in early 1915, and was never to leave the
country again except for a short trip that took him to Europe in 1931.
Though he was not completely unknown in India, Gandhi followed the
advice of his political mentor, Gokhale, and took it upon himself to
acquire a familiarity with Indian conditions. He traveled widely for one
year. Over the next few years, he was to become involved in numerous
local struggles, such as at Champaran in Bihar, where workers on indigo
plantations complained of oppressive working conditions, and at
Ahmedabad, where a dispute had broken out between management and workers
at textile mills. His interventions earned Gandhi a considerable
reputation, and his rapid ascendancy to the helm of nationalist politics
is signified by his leadership of the opposition to repressive
legislation (known as the “Rowlatt Acts”) in 1919.
His saintliness was not uncommon, except in someone like him who
immersed himself in politics, and by this time he had earned from no
less a person than Rabindranath Tagore, India’s most well-known writer,
the title of Mahatma, or ‘Great Soul’. When ‘disturbances’ broke out in
the Punjab, leading to the massacre of a large crowd of unarmed Indians
at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar and other atrocities, Gandhi wrote
the report of the Punjab Congress Inquiry Committee. Over the next two
years, Gandhi initiated the non-cooperation movement, which called upon
Indians to withdraw from British institutions, to return honors
conferred by the British, and to learn the art of self-reliance; though
the British administration was at places paralyzed, the movement was
suspended in February 1922 when a score of Indian policemen were
brutally killed by a large crowd at Chauri Chaura, a small market town
in the United Provinces.
Gandhi himself was arrested shortly thereafter, tried on charges of
sedition, and sentenced to imprisonment for six years. At The Great
Trial, as it is known to his biographers, Gandhi delivered a masterful
indictment of British rule. Owing to his poor health, Gandhi was
released from prison in 1925. Over the following years, he worked hard
to preserve Hindu-Muslim relations, and in 1924 he observed, from his
prison cell, a 21-day fast when Hindu-Muslim riots broke out at Kohat, a
military barracks on the Northwest Frontier. This was to be of his many
major public fasts, and in 1932 he was to commence the so-called Epic
Fast unto death, since he thought of “separate electorates” for the
oppressed class of what were then called untouchables (or Harijans in
Gandhi’s vocabulary, and dalits in today’s language) as a retrograde
measure meant to produce permanent divisions within Hindu society.
Gandhi earned the hostility of Ambedkar, the leader of the untouchables,
but few doubted that Gandhi was genuinely interested in removing the
serious disabilities from which they suffered, just as no one doubt that
Gandhi never accepted the argument that Hindus and Muslims constituted
two separate elements in Indian society.
These were some of the concerns most prominent in Gandhi’s mind, but
he was also to initiate a constructive programme for social reform.
Gandhi had ideas — mostly sound — on every subject, from hygiene and
nutrition to education and labor, and he relentlessly pursued his ideas
in one of the many newspapers which he founded. Indeed, were Gandhi
known for nothing else in India, he would still be remembered as one of
the principal figures in the history of Indian journalism. In early
1930, as the nationalist movement was revived, the Indian National
Congress, the preeminent body of nationalist opinion, declared that it
would now be satisfied with nothing short of complete independence
(purna swaraj). Once the clarion call had been issued, it was perforce
necessary to launch a movement of resistance against British rule. On
March 2, Gandhi addressed a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, informing
him that unless Indian demands were met, he would be compelled to break
the “salt laws”.
Predictably, his letter was received with bewildered amusement, and
accordingly Gandhi set off, on the early morning of March 12, with a
small group of followers towards Dandi on the sea. They arrived there on
April 5th: Gandhi picked up a small lump of natural salt, and so gave
the signal to hundreds of thousands of people to similarly defy the law,
since the British exercised a monopoly on the production and sale of
salt. This was the beginning of the civil disobedience movement: Gandhi
himself was arrested, and thousands of others were also hauled into
jail. It is to break this deadlock that Irwin agreed to hold talks with
Gandhi, and subsequently the British agreed to hold a Round Table
Conference in London to negotiate the possible terms of Indian
independence. Gandhi went to London in 1931 and met some of his admirers
in Europe, but the negotiations proved inconclusive. On his return to
India, he was once again arrested. For the next few years, Gandhi would
be engaged mainly in the constructive reform of Indian society.
He had vowed upon undertaking the salt march that he would not return
to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, where he had made his home, if India
did not attain its independence, and in the mid-1930s he established
himself in a remote village, in the dead center of India, by the name of
Segaon (known as Sevagram). It is to this obscure village, which was
without electricity or running water, that India’s political leaders
made their way to engage in discussions with Gandhi about the future of
the independence movement, and it is here that he received visitors such
as Margaret Sanger, the well-known American proponent of birth-control.
Gandhi also continued to travel throughout the country, taking him
wherever his services were required. One such visit was to the Northwest
Frontier, where he had in the imposing Pathan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
(known by the endearing term of “Frontier Gandhi”, and at other times as
Badshah Khan), a fervent disciple. At the outset of World War II,
Gandhi and the Congress leadership assumed a position of neutrality:
while clearly critical of fascism, they could not find it in themselves
to support British imperialism. Gandhi was opposed by Subhas Chandra
Bose, who had served as President of the Congress, and who took to the
view that Britain’s moment of weakness was India’s moment of
opportunity. When Bose ran for President of the Congress against
Gandhi’s wishes and triumphed against Gandhi’s own candidate, he found
that Gandhi still exercised influence over the Congress Working
Committee, and that it was near impossible to run the Congress if the
cooperation of Gandhi and his followers could not be procured. Bose
tendered his resignation, and shortly thereafter was to make a dramatic
escape from India to find support among the Japanese and the Nazis for
his plans to liberate India. In 1942, Gandhi issued the last call for
independence from British rule. On the grounds of what is now known as
August Kranti Maidan, he delivered a stirring speech, asking every
Indian to lay down their life, if necessary, in the cause of freedom.
He gave them this mantra: “Do or Die”; at the same time, he asked the
British to ‘Quit India’. The response of the British government was to
place Gandhi under arrest, and virtually the entire Congress leadership
was to find itself behind bars, not to be released until after the
conclusion of the war. A few months after Gandhi and Kasturba had been
placed in confinement in the Aga Khan’s Palace in Pune, Kasturba passed
away: this was a terrible blow to Gandhi, following closely on the heels
of the death of his private secretary of many years, the gifted Mahadev
Desai. In the period from 1942 to 1945, the Muslim League, which
represented the interest of certain Muslims and by now advocated the
creation of a separate homeland for Muslims, increasingly gained the
attention of the British, and supported them in their war effort. The
new government that came to power in Britain under Clement Atlee was
committed to the independence of India, and negotiations for India’s
future began in earnest. Sensing that the political leaders were now
craving for power, Gandhi largely distanced himself from the
negotiations. He declared his opposition to the vivisection of India.
It is generally conceded, even by his detractors, that the last years
of his life were in some respects his finest. He walked from village to
village in riot-torn Noakhali, where Hindus were being killed in
retaliation for the killing of Muslims in Bihar, and nursed the wounded
and consoled the widowed; and in Calcutta he came to constitute, in the
famous words of the last viceroy, Mountbatten, a “one-man boundary
force” between Hindus and Muslims. The ferocious fighting in Calcutta
came to a halt, almost entirely on account of Gandhi’s efforts, and even
his critics were wont to speak of the Gandhi’s ‘miracle of Calcutta’.
When the moment of freedom came, on 15 August 1947, Gandhi was nowhere
to be seen in the capital, though Nehru and the entire Constituent
Assembly were to salute him as the architect of Indian independence, as
the ‘father of the nation’. The last few months of Gandhi’s life were to
be spent mainly in the capital city of Delhi. There he divided his time
between the ‘Bhangi colony’, where the sweepers and the lowest of the
low stayed, and Birla House, the residence of one of the wealthiest men
in India and one of the benefactors of Gandhi’s ashrams. Hindu and Sikh
refugees had streamed into the capital from what had become Pakistan,
and there was much resentment, which easily translated into violence,
against Muslims. It was partly in an attempt to put an end to the
killings in Delhi, and more generally to the bloodshed following the
partition, which may have taken the lives of as many as 1 million
people, besides causing the dislocation of no fewer than 11 million,
that Gandhi was to commence the last fast unto death of his life. The
fast was terminated when representatives of all the communities signed a
statement that they were prepared to live in “perfect amity”, and that
the lives, property, and faith of the Muslims would be safeguarded.
A few days later, a bomb exploded in Birla House where Gandhi was
holding his evening prayers, but it caused no injuries. However, his
assassin, a Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin by the name of Nathuram Godse, was
not so easily deterred. Gandhi, quite characteristically, refused
additional security, and no one could defy his wish to be allowed to
move around unhindered. In the early evening hours of 30 January 1948,
Gandhi met with India’s Deputy Prime Minister and his close associate in
the freedom struggle, Vallabhai Patel, and then proceeded to his
prayers. That evening, as Gandhi’s time-piece, which hung from one of
the folds of his dhoti (loin-cloth), was to reveal to him, he was
uncharacteristically late to his prayers, and he fretted about his
inability to be punctual. At 10 minutes past 5 o’clock, with one hand
each on the shoulders of Abha and Manu, who were known as his ‘walking
sticks’, Gandhi commenced his walk towards the garden where the prayer
meeting was held. As he was about to mount the steps of the podium,
Gandhi folded his hands and greeted his audience with a namaskar; at
that moment, a young man came up to him and roughly pushed aside Manu.
Nathuram Godse bent down in the gesture of an obeisance, took a revolver
out of his pocket, and shot Gandhi three times in his chest.
Bloodstains appeared over Gandhi’s white woolen shawl; his hands still
folded in a greeting, Gandhi blessed his assassin: He Ram! He Ram! As
Gandhi fell, his faithful time-piece struck the ground, and the hands of
the watch came to a standstill. They showed, as they had done before,
the precise time: 5:12 P.M.
2. Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Date of Birth : Nov 14, 1889 Date of Death : May 27, 1964 Place of
Birth : Uttar Pradesh Political party : Indian National Congress Took
Office : Aug 15, 1947 Left Office : May 27, 1964 Successor : Lal Bahadur
Shastri
Jawaharlal Nehru also called Pandit Nehru, was an important leader of
the Indian Independence Movement and the Indian National Congress, and
became the first Prime Minister of India when India won its independence
on August 15, 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889, to
Swaroop Rani, the wife of Motilal Nehru, a wealthy Allahabad based
barrister and political leader himself. He was Nehru’s only son amongst
three younger daughters. The Nehru family is of Kashmiri lineage and of
the Saraswat Brahmin caste. Educated in the finest Indian schools of the
time, Nehru returned from education in England at Harrow, Trinity
College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple to practice law before following
his father into politics. By his parents’ arrangement, Nehru married
Kamala Nehru, then seventeen in 1916. At the time of his wedding on 8
February 1916, Jawaharlal was twenty-six, a British-educated barrister.
Kamala came from a well-known business family of Kashmiris in Delhi. His
father Motilal Nehru was already a prominent figure in the Indian
National Congress and had served as its president. Nehru did not share
Motilal’s moderate-liberal line.
He began to draw closer to the rising leadership of Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi, a former barrister who had won battles for equality
and political rights for Indians in South Africa, and had emerged a
national hero with the successful struggles in Champaran, Bihar and
Kheda in Gujarat. Nehru was instantly attracted to Gandhi’s commitment
for active but peaceful, civil disobedience. Gandhi himself saw promise
and India’s future in the young Jawaharl Nehru. The Nehru family
transformed their lifestyle according to Gandhi’s teachings. Jawaharlal
and Motilal Nehru abandoned western clothes and tastes for expensive
possessions and pastimes, and adopted Hindi, or Hindustani as their
common language of use. Young Jawaharlal now wore a khadi kurta and a
Gandhi cap, all white – the new uniform of the Indian nationalist. Nehru
was first arrested by the British during the Non-Cooperation Movement
(1920-1922), but released after a few months. After Gandhi suspended
civil resistance in 1922 as a result of the killing of policemen in
Chauri Chaura, thousands of Congressmen were disillusioned.
When Gandhi opposed participation in the newly created legislative
councils, many followed leaders like Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru
to form the Swaraj Party, which advocated entry but only to sabotage
government from within, as a tool to extracting concessions from the
British to ensure stability. But Nehru did not join his father and
stayed with Gandhi and the Congress. Jawaharlal was elected President of
the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924, and served for two years
as the city’s chief executive. Upon his release from prison in 1924,
Gandhi succeeded in re-uniting the Congress Party and increasing
discipline of Congressmen by expanding activities for social reform and
the alleviation of India’s poor. From 1926 to 1928, Jawaharlal served as
the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, an important
step in his rise to Congress national leadership. With the Bardoli
Satyagraha of 1928, led by the rising nationalist leader Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel, the Congress was back in the business of revolution.
In 1928-29, the Congress’s annual session under President Motilal Nehru
considered the next step. Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose backed a call
for full political independence, while Motilal Nehru and others wanted
dominion status within the British Empire.
To resolve the point, Gandhi said that the British would be given two
years to grant India dominion status. If they did not, the Congress
would launch a national struggle for full, political independence. Nehru
and Bose reduced the time of opportunity to one year. The British did
not respond. When the Congress convened its session in 1929, Gandhi
backed the young Jawaharlal for the Congress presidency. Although
confessing embarrassment at his hurried ascent, President Nehru declared
India’s independence on January 26, 1930 in Lahore, raised free India’s
flag in a large public convention on the banks of the Ravi and
inaugurated the struggle. Nehru was arrested in 1930, and during the
Salt Satyagraha of 1931 for a number of years. The revolt was an
astounding national success. Millions of Indians had participated, and
the British were ultimately forced to acknowledge that there was a need
for major political reform. When the British promulgated the Government
of India Act 1935, the Congress Party decided to contest elections.
Nehru stayed out of the elections, but campaigned vigorously nationwide
for the party.
The Congress formed governments in almost every province, and won the
largest number of seats in the Central Assembly, which the Congress had
denounced as powerless. But it was able to exercise control of
provincial affairs, giving India its first taste of democratic
self-government. Nehru was elected again to the Congress Presidency in
1936, and again in 1937. In his famous speech to the session in Lucknow
in 1936, he pushed the passage of the Avadi Resolution which committed
the Congress to socialism as the basis of the future agenda of a free
India’s government. But the effort was strongly criticized by major
Congress leaders, including Gandhi and Sardar Patel, though for
different reasons. Nehru transformed his position to commit that the
resolution did not in fact bind Congress to socialism, and that the
Congress Party’s main goal was independence, not socialism. However,
Nehru had grown politically closer to Congress socialists like Jaya
Prakash Narayan, Narendra Dev and the liberal-socialist Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad. During this period, Nehru also wrote his autobiography in
which he vividly describes his struggle for (political) freedom, noting
that ‘This book was written entirely in prison’.
It is a very readable and honest account that contains many anecdotes
and insights in the political and social circumstances of pre-war
India. When World War II broke out, Nehru and the Congress condemned the
unilateral decision made by the British viceroy to enter India, but
were divided as to what to do about it. Nehru and Patel made an offer of
cooperation with the British, promising whole-hearted support if after
the war, the British would deliver India’s political freedom. This was
opposed by Gandhi, but marked the first occasion when Nehru, and indeed a
majority of Congress leaders went against his advice. Several British
politicians and British officials backed the offer, considering Indian
support valuable, but the bid failed when the British ruled out any
political reform. The Congress Party ordered all of its elected members
in the Central and provincial assemblies to resign, and another national
struggle seemed inevitable. Nehru and Maulana Azad were lukewarm to
Gandhi’s call for revolt, still considering it a good possibility that
the British would ultimately concede independence for Indian support.
Although many other Indian political parties opposed the call, Gandhi
and Sardar Patel convinced Nehru and Azad, and the entire Indian
National Congress to a final showdown with the British Empire.
The Quit India Movement was launched on August 13, 1942. The Congress
made an open call for complete independence immediately. Only an
independent India would decide whether India would participate in the
war. The Congress asked all Indians to boycott British goods, the
institutions and factories run by the British, public services and
government programs. Major strikes, protests and demonstrations broke
out all over India, and although other political parties did not
participate, it proved to be the most forceful revolt in the history of
British rule. Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were
immediately arrested. The Committee was imprisoned in a
fort-turned-prison in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, separate from Gandhi, who
was imprisoned in Pune. The British had made arrangements to deport the
leaders if necessary, but felt that then any chance of regaining order
would be lost due to public outrage. Outside, hundreds of thousands of
Indian freedom fighters were imprisoned, and thousands were killed in
police firings. Upon the end of the war, Nehru and the Congress
leadership were released. The new Labour Party government of Clement
Attlee in the United Kingdom was preparing plans for India’s
independence. Imprisoned for a total of over 13 years, he was President
of the Congress in 1929, 1936, 1937 and 1947.
He became the Vice President of the Interim Government on September
2, 1946 and later the Prime Minister of Independent India on August 15,
1947. Jawaharlal Nehru served as India’s Prime Minister from August 15,
1947, to May 27, 1964 – the day he died. Nehru loved children; therefore
his birthday is observed as Children’s Day. For children, he was Chacha
(uncle) Nehru. In 1946, Nehru had moved into the former residence of
the British Commander in Chief of the Indian Army on York Road, in
Delhi. With independence, this became the official residence of the PM,
and after Nehru’s death in 1964, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
Nehru lived alone initially, but was later joined by his daughter Indira
Gandhi, who despite having a young family of her own felt a need to
take care of her father’s personal needs. Over the years she became his
virtual chief of staff – managing his schedule and appointments,
instructing the staff of the residence and often accompanying him on
foreign trips and in meetings with world leaders. Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru’s administration created the policies that formed the
backbone of India’s social and economic development, national defense
and position in world affairs for decades, although many times are
criticized as very much wrong policies. Nehru also sired the most
powerful political dynasty in India’s modern history. His daughter
Indira Gandhi would become Prime Minister within two years of his death
in 1966, and would serve for 15 years and 3 terms.
His grandson Rajiv Gandhi would hold that office from 1984 to 1989. Today, Rajiv’s widow Sonia Gandhi is Congress President.
3. Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Date of Birth : Dec 3, 1884 Date of Death : Feb 28, 1963 Place of
Birth : Zeradei, Bihar Tenure Order : 1st President Took Office : Jan
26, 1950 Left Office : May 13, 1962 Successor : Dr.S Radhakrishnan
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. Rajendra Prasad
was a great freedom-fighter, and the architect of the Indian
Constitution, having served as President of the Constituent Assembly
that drafted the Constitution of the Republic from 1948 to 1950. He had
also served as a Cabinet Minister briefly in the first Government of
Independent India. He was a crucial leader of the Indian Independence
Movement. Prasad was born in Jiradei, in the Siwan district of Bihar.
His father, Mahadev Sahay, was a Persian and Sanskrit language scholar;
his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout lady who would tell stories
from the Ramayana to her son. At the age of 5, the young Rajendra Prasad
was sent to a Maulavi for learning Persian. After that he was sent to
Chapra Zilla School for further primary studies.
He was married at the age of 12 to Rajvanshi Devi. He then went on to
study at R.K. Ghosh’s Academy in Patna to be with his older brother
Mahendra Prasad. Soon afterward, however, he rejoined the Chapra Zilla
School, and it was from there that he passed the entrance examination of
Calcutta University, at the age of 18. He stood first in the first
division of that examination. He then joined the Presidency College,
Calcutta. He was initially a student of science and his teachers
included J.C.Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy. Later he decided to switch
his focus to the arts. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, who was impressed
by his intellect and dedication asked him on the occasion “Why have you
deserted your class?.” Prasad lived with his brother in the Eden Hindu
Hostel. A plaque still commemorates his stay in that room. He had been
initiated into the Swadeshi movement by his brother. He then joined the
Dawn Society run by Satish Chandra Mukherjee, and Sister Nivedita. In
1911, he joined the A.I.C.C. However, his family estate was in bad
condition. He was looked upon as the provider. But he sought permission
from his brother in a letter to join the Indian freedom movement. He
wrote, “Ambitions I have none, except to be of some service to the
Motherland”. The shock of his brother, however, held him to the family.
In 1916, Rajendra Prasad joined the High Court of Bihar, and Orissa.
Such was his intellect and his integrity, that often when his adversary
failed to cite a precedent, the judges asked Rajendra Prasad to cite a
precedent against himself. After meeting Mahatma Gandhi, he quit as a
Senator of the University, much to the regret of the British
Vice-Chancellor.He also responded to the call by the Mahatma to boycott
Western education by asking his son Mrityunjaya Prasad, a brilliant
student to drop out of the University and enroll himself in Bihar
Vidyapeeth, an institution he had along with his colleagues founded on
the traditional Indian model. He wrote articles for Searchlight and the
Desh and collected funds for these papers. He toured a lot, explaining,
lecturing and exhorting. When the earthquake of Bihar occurred on
January 15, 1934, Rajendra Prasad was in jail. He was released two days
later. He set himself for the task of raising funds. The Viceroy had
also raised a fund. However, while Rajendra Prasad’s fund collected over
38 Lakhs (Rs. 3,800,000), the Viceroy could only manage one-third of
that amount. The way relief was organized left nothing to be desired.
Nationalist India expressed its admiration by electing him to the
President of the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress.
After India became independent he was elected the President of India.
As President, he used his moderating influence so silently and
unobtrusively that he neither reigned nor ruled. His sister Bhagwati
Devi died on the night of 25 January 1960. She doted on her dearly-loved
younger brother. It must have taken Rajendra Prasad all his will power
to have taken the Republic Day salute as usual, on the following day. It
was only on return from the parade that he set about the task of
cremation. In 1962, after 12 years as President, he announced his
decision to retire. He was subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the
nation’s highest civilian award. Within months of his retirement, early
in September 1962, his wife Rajvanshi Devi passed away. In a letter
written a month before his death to one devoted to him, he said, “I have
a feeling that the end is near, end of the energy to do, end of my very
existence”. He died on 28 February 1963 with ‘Ram Ram Ram’ on his lips.
Because of the enormous public adulation he enjoyed, he was referred to
as Desh Ratna or the Jewel of the country. His legacy is being ably
carried forward by his great grandson Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad, a
psychiatrist and a scientist of international repute who introduced
sodium valproate as a safer alternative to lithium salts in the
treatment of bipolar disorders.
4.Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Date of Birth : Oct 2, 1904 Date of Death : Jan 11, 1966 Place of Birth : Uttar Pradesh
Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of independent
India and a significant figure in the struggle for independence.
Shashtriji was born in Mughalsarai, in Uttar Pradesh. To take part in
the non-cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1921, he began
studying at the nationalist, Kashi Vidyapeeth in Kashi, and upon
completion, he was given the title Shastri, or Scholar, Doctor at Kashi
Vidyapeeth in 1926. He spent almost nine years in jail in total, mostly
after the start of the Satyagraha movement in 1940, he was imprisoned
until 1946. Following India’s independence, he was Home Minister under
Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant of Uttar Pradesh. In 1951, he was
appointed General Secretary of the Lok Sabha before re-gaining a
ministerial post as Railways Minister. He resigned as Minister following
a rail disaster near Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu. He returned to the Cabinet
following the General Elections, first as Minister for Transport, in
1961, he became Home Minister. After Jawaharlal Nehru’s death in May 27,
1964, he became the prime minister. Shastri worked by his natural
characteristics to obtain compromises between opposing viewpoints, but
in his short tenure was ineffectual in dealing with the economic crisis
and food shortage in the nation.
However, he commanded a great deal of respect in the Indian populace,
and he used it to advantage in pushing the Green Revolution in India;
which directly led to India becoming a food-surplus nation, although he
did not live to see it. His administration began on a rocky turf. In
1965 Pakistan attacked India on the Kashmiri front and Lal Bahadur
Shastri responded in kind by punching toward Lahore. In 1966 a
cease-fire was issued as a result of international pressure. Lal Bahadur
Shastri went to Tashkent to hold talks with Ayub Khan and an agreement
was soon signed. Lal Bahadur passed away in Tashkent before returning
home. All his lifetime, he was known for his honesty and humility. He
was the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna and a
memorial “Vijay Ghat” was built for him in Delhi. The slogan ‘Jai Jawan,
Jai Kisan’ is attributed to Shastri. ‘If one person gives up one meal
in a day, some other person gets his only meal of the day.’: made during
the food crisis to encourage people to evenly distribute food.
5. Chandrashekhar Azad
Chandrashekhar Azad
Date of Birth : Jul 23, 1906 Date of Death : Feb 27, 1931 Place of Birth : India
Chandrasekhar Azad was a great Indian freedom fighter and
revolutionary thinker. Revered for his audacious deeds and fierce
patriotism, he was the mentor of Bhagat Singh, the famous Indian martyr.
Chandrasekhar Azad is considered one of the greatest Indian freedom
fighter along with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Ram Prasad Bismil,
and Ashfaqulla Khan. Chandrasekhar Azad’s parents were Pandit Sita Ram
Tiwari and Jagrani Devi. He received his early schooling in Bhavra
District Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh). For higher studies he went to the
Sanskrit Pathashala at Varanasi. Young Azad was one of the young
generation of Indians when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation
Movement. But many were disillusioned with the suspension of the
struggle in 1922 owing to the Chauri Chaura massacre of 22 policemen.
Although Gandhi was appalled by the brutal violence, Azad did not feel
that violence was unacceptable in the struggle, especially in view of
the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, where Army units killed hundreds of
unarmed civilians and wounded thousands in Amritsar. Young Azad and
contemporaries like Bhagat Singh were deeply and emotionally influenced
by that tragedy. As a revolutionary, he adopted the lastname ‘Azad’,
which means “Free” in Urdu.There is an interesting story that while he
adopted the name “Azad” he made a pledge that the Police will never
capture him alive. Azad and others had committed themselves to absolute
independence by any means. He was most famous for The Kakori Rail
Dacoity in 1925 and the assassination of the assistant superintendent of
Police John Poyantz Saunders in 1928.
Azad and his compatriots would target British officials known for
their oppressive actions against ordinary people, or for beating and
torturing arrested freedom fighters. Azad was also a believer in
socialism as the basis for a future India, free of social and economic
oppression and adversity. Bhagat Singh joined Azad following the death
of Lala Lajpat Rai, an Indian leader who was beaten to death by police
officials. Azad trained Singh and others in covert activities, and the
latter grew close to him after witnessing his resolve, patriotism and
courage. Along with fellow patriots like Rajguru and Sukhdev, Azad and
Singh formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, committed
to complete Indian independence and socialist principles of for India’s
future progress. Betrayed by an informer on 27 February 1931 Azad was
encircled by British troops in the Alfred park, Allahabad. He kept on
fighting till the last bullet. Azad is a hero to many Indians today.
Alfred Park was renamed Chandrasekhar Azad park, as have been scores of
schools, colleges, roads and other public institutions across India.
6. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Date of Birth : Oct 31, 1875 Date of Death : Dec 15, 1950 Place of Birth : Gujarat
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was born at his maternal uncle’s house
in Nadiad, Gujarat. His actual date of birth was never officially
recorded – Patel entered October 31st as his date of birth on his
matriculation examination papers. He was the fourth son of Jhaverbhai
and Ladba Patel, and lived in the village of Karamsad, in the Kheda
district. Somabhai, Narsibhai and Vithalbhai Patel (also a future
political leader) were his elder brothers. He had a younger brother,
Kashibhai, and a sister, Dahiba. Patel helped his father in the fields,
and bimonthly kept a day-long fast, abstaining from food and water – a
cultural observance that enabled him to develop physical tougheness. He
entered school late – parental attention was focused on the eldest
brothers, thus leading to a degree of neglect of Patel’s education.
Patel travelled to attend schools in Nadiad, Petlad and Borsad, living
self-sufficiently with other boys. He took his matriculation at the late
age of 22; at this point, he was generally regarded by his elder
relatives as an unambitious man destined for a commonplace job. But
Patel himself harbored a plan – he would pass the Pleader’s examination
and become a lawyer. He would then set aside funds, travel to England,
then train to become a barrister.
During the many years it took him to save money, Vallabhbhai – now a
pleader – earned a reputation as a fierce and skilled lawyer. He had
also cultivated a stoic character – he lanced a painful boil without
hesitation, even as the barber supposed to do it trembled. Patel spent
years away from his family, pursuing his goals assiduously. Later, Patel
fetched Jhaverba from her parent’s home – Patel was married to Jhaverba
at a young age. As per Indian custom at the time, the girl would remain
at her mother’s house until her husband began earning – and set up his
household. His wife bore him a daughter, Manibehn, in 1904, and later a
son, Dahyabhai, in 1906. Patel also cared for a personal friend
suffering from Bubonic plague when it swept the state. After Patel
himself came down with the disease, he immediately sent away his family
to safety, left his home, and moved into an isolated house in Nadiad (by
other accounts, Patel spent this time in a dilapidated temple); there,
he recovered slowly. Patel took on the financial burdens of his
homestead in Karamsad even while saving for England and supporting a
young family. He made way for his brother Vithalbhai Patel to travel to
England in place of him, on his own saved money and opportunity. The
episode occurred as the tickets and pass Patel had applied for arrived
in the name of “V. J. Patel,” and arrived at Vithalbhai’s home, who bore
the same initials. Patel did not hesitate to make way for his elder
brother’s ambition before his own, and funded his trip as well. In 1909,
Patel’s wife Jhaverba was hospitalized in Bombay to undergo a major
surgical operation for cancer. Her health suddenly worsened, and despite
successful emergency surgery, she died. Patel was given a note
informing him of his wife’s demise as he was cross-examining a witness
in court. As per others who witnessed, Patel read the note, pocketed it
and continued to intensely cross-examine the witness, and won the case.
He broke the news to others only after the proceedings had ended. Patel
himself decided against marrying again. He raised his children with the
help of his family, and sent them to English-medium schools in Mumbai
(then Bombay). At the age of 36, he journeyed to England and enrolled at
the Middle Temple Inn in London. Finishing a 36-month course in 30
months, Patel topped his class despite having no previous college
background. Patel settled in the city of Ahmedabad, and became one of
the city’s most successful barristers. Wearing European-style clothes
and urbane mannerisms, he also became a skilled bridge player at the
Gujarat Club. His close friends would include his neighbours Dr.
Balwantray and Nandubehn Kanuga, who would remain dear to him, and a
young lawyer, Ganesh Vasudev Mavlankar. He had also made a pact with his
brother Vithalbhai to support his entry into politics in Bombay, while
Patel himself would remain in Ahmedabad and provide for the family.
According to some of Patel’s friends, he nurtured ambitions to expand
his practise and accumulate great wealth, and to provide his children
with modern education.
Vallabhbhai Patel was a major political and social leader of India
and its struggle for independence, and is credited for achieving the
political integration of independent India. In India and across the
world, he is known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, where Sardar stands for
Chief in many languages of India. Patel organized the peasants of Kheda,
Borsad, and Bardoli in Gujarat in non-violent civil disobedience
against the oppressive policies imposed by the British Raj – becoming
one of the most influential leaders in Gujarat. He rose to the
leadership of the Indian National Congress and at the forefront of
rebellions and political events – organizing the party for elections in
1934 and 1937, and leading Indians into the Quit India movement. He was
imprisoned by the British government on numerous occasions, especially
from 1931 to 1934, and from 1942 to 1945. Becoming the first Home
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organized relief and
rehabilitation efforts in the riot-struck Punjab and Delhi, and led
efforts to restore security. Patel took charge of the task to forge a
united India from a plethora of semi-independent princely states,
colonial provinces and possessions. Patel employed an iron fist in a
velvet glove diplomacy – frank political negotiations backed with the
option (and the use) of military action to weld a nation that could
emancipate its people without the prospect of divisions or civil
conflict. His leadership obtained the peaceful and swift integration of
all 565 princely states into the Republic of India. Patel’s initiatives
spread democracy extensively across India, and re-organized the states
to help transform India into a modern federal republic. His admirers
call him the Iron Man of India. He is also remembered as the “patron
saint” of India’s civil servants for his defence of them against
political attack, and for being one of the earliest and key defenders of
property rights and free enterprise in independent India.
On 29 March 1949, a plane carrying Patel and the Maharaja of Patiala
lost radio contact, and Patel’s life was feared for all over the nation.
The plane had made an emergency landing in the desert of Rajasthan upon
an engine failure, and Patel and all passengers were safe, and traced
by nearby villagers. When Patel returned to Delhi, members of Parliament
and thousands of Congressmen gave him a raucous welcome. In Parliament,
MPs gave a thunderous ovation to Patel – stopping proceedings for half
an hour. Till his last few days, he was constantly at work in Delhi.
Patel’s health worsened after 2 November 1950, and he was flown to
Bombay to recuperate. After suffering a massive heart attack – his
second – he died in Bombay on December 15th, 1950. In an unprecedented
gesture, more than 1,500 officers of India’s civil and police services
congregated at Patel’s residence in Delhi on the day after his death to
mourn him – they pledged “complete loyalty and unremmitting zeal” in
India’s service. His cremation in Sonapur, Bombay, was attended by large
crowds, Nehru, Rajagopalachari, President Prasad and many Congressmen
and freedom fighters.
7. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Date of Birth : Jul 23, 1856 Date of Death : 1920 Place of Birth : Maharashtra
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was an Indian nationalist, social reformer and
freedom fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian
Independence Movement. Tilak sparked the fire for complete independence
in Indian consciousness, and is considered the father of Hindu
nationalism as well. Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it! This
famous quote of his is very popular and well-remembered in India even
today.
Reverently addressed as Lokmanya (meaning “Beloved of the people” or
“Revered by the world”), Tilak was a scholar of Indian history,
Sanskrit, Hinduism, mathematics and astronomy. He was born on July 23,
1856, in a village near Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, into a middle class
Chitpavan Brahmin family. Tilak was an avid student with a special
aptitude for mathematics. He was among India’s first generation of youth
to receive a modern, college education. After graduation, Tilak began
teaching mathematics in a private school in Pune and later became a
journalist. He became a strong critic of the Western education system,
feeling it demeaning to Indian students and disrespectful to India’s
heritage. He organized the Deccan Education Society to improve the
quality of education for India’s youth. Tilak founded the Marathi daily
Kesari (The Lion) which fast became a popular reading for the common
people of India. Tilak strongly criticized the government for its
brutalism in suppression of free expression, especially in face of
protests against the division of Bengal in 1905, and for denigrating
India’s culture, its people and heritage. He demanded the British
immediately give the right to self-government to India’s people. Tilak
joined the Indian National Congress in the 1890s, but soon fell into
opposition of its liberal-moderate attitude towards the fight for
self-government. Tilak opposed the moderate views of Gopal Krishna
Gokhale, and was supported by fellow Indian nationalists Bipin Chandra
Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. In 1907, the Congress Party
split into the Garam Dal (literally, “Hot Faction”), led by Tilak, Pal
and Lajpat Rai, and the Naram Dal (literally, “Soft Faction”) led by
Gokhale during its convention at Surat in Gujarat. When arrested on
charges of sedition in 1906, Tilak asked a young Mohammad Ali Jinnah to
represent him. But the British judge convicted him and he was imprisoned
from 1908 to 1914 in Mandalay, Burma. Upon his release, Tilak re-united
with his fellow nationalists and re-united the Indian National Congress
in 1916. He also helped found the All India Home Rule League in 1916-18
with Annie Besant and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Tilak proposed various
social reforms, such as a minimum age for marriage, and was especially
keen to see a prohibition placed on the sale of alcohol. His thoughts on
education and Indian political life have remained highly influential –
he was the first Congress leader to suggest that Hindi, written in the
devanagari script, should be accepted as the sole national language of
India, a policy that was later strongly endorsed by Mahatma Gandhi.
However, English, which Tilak wished to remove completely from the
Indian mind, remains an important means of communication in India. But
the usage of Hindi (and other Indian languages) has been reinforced and
widely encouraged since the days of the British Raj, and Tilak’s legacy
is often credited with this resurgence. Another of the major
contributions relates to the propagation of Sarvajanik (public) Ganesh
festival, over 10-11 days from Bhadrapada Shukla (Ganesh) Chaturthi to
(Anant) Chaturdashi (in Aug/Sept span), which contributed for people to
get together and celebrate the festival and provided a good platform for
leaders to inspire masses. His call for boycott of foreign goods also
served to inspire patriotism among Indian masses. Tilak was a critic of
Mahatma Gandhi’s strategy of non-violent, civil disobedience. Although
once considered an extremist revolutionary, in his later years Tilak had
considerably mellowed. He favored political dialogue and discussions as
a more effective way to obtain political freedom for India, and did not
support leaving the British Empire. However, Tilak is considered in
many ways to have created the nationalist movement in India, by
expanding the struggle for political freedoms and self-government to the
common people of India. His writings on Indian culture, history and
Hinduism spread a sense of heritage and pride amongst millions of
Indians for India’s ancient civilization and glory as a nation.
Tilak was considered the political and spiritual leader of India by
many, and Gandhi is considered his successor. When Tilak died in 1920,
Gandhi paid his respects at his cremation in Bombay, along with 200,000
people. Gandhi called Tilak “The Maker of Modern India”.
Tilak is also today considered the father of Hindu Nationalism. He
was the idol of Indian revolutionary Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who
penned the political doctrine of Hindutva.
8. Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Date of Birth : May 9, 1866 Date of Death : 1915 Place of Birth : Maharashtra
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born on May 9, 1866, in Ratnagiri,
Maharashtra, and he became one of the most learned men in India, a
leader of social and political reformists and one of the earliest,
founding leaders of the Indian Independence Movement. Gokhale was a
senior leader of the Indian National Congress and the Servants of India
Society. The latter was committed to only social reform, but the
Congress Party in Gokhale’s time was the main vehicle for Indian
political representation. Gokhale was a great, early Indian champion for
public education. Being one of the first generations of Indians to
receive college education, Gokhale was respected widely in the nascent
Indian intellecutal community and acoss India, whose people looked up to
him as the least elitist of educated Indians. Coming from a background
of poverty, Gokhale was a real man of the people, a hero to young
Indians discovering the new age and the prospects of the coming 20th
century; he worked amongst common Indians to encourage education,
sanitation and public development. He actively spoke against ignorance,
casteism and untouchability in Indian society. Gokhale was also reputed
for working for trust and friendship between Hindu and Muslim
communities. It should be remembered that Gokhale was a pioneer in this
work, never done before in Indian history by Indians. Along with
distinguished colleagues like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji,
Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Annie Besant, Gokhale fought for
decades to obtain greater political representation and power over public
affairs for common Indians. He was moderate in his views and attitudes,
and sought to petition the British authorities, cultivate a process of
dialogue and discussion which would yield greater British respect for
Indian rights. In 1906, he and Tilak were the respective leaders of the
moderates and extremists (now known by the more politically correct
term,’aggressive nationalists’) in the Congress. Tilak advocated civil
agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire, and the
Congress Party split into two wings. The two sides would patch up in
1916. Gokhale did not support explicit Indian independence, for such an
idea was not even understood or expressed until after the World War I.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale’s biggest contribution to India was as a
teacher, nurturer of a whole new generation of leaders conscious to
their responsibilities to a wider nation. Gokhale was famously a mentor
to a young barrister who had been blooded in the work of revolution in
South Africa a few years earlier. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi received
great warmth and hospitality from Gokhale, including personal guidance,
knowledge and understanding of India, the issues of common Indians and
Indian politics. By 1920, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become known
as Mahatma Gandhi, and ad the leader of nationalist Indians and the
largest non-violent revolution in the history of the world. However,
Gokhale himself died in 1915. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale
his mentor and guide, while Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the future founder of
Pakistan, in 1912 wanted to become the “Muslim Gokhale,” “Ambassador of
Hindu-Muslim Unity.”
9. Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh
Date of Birth : Sep 27, 1907 Date of Death : Mar 23, 1931 Place of Birth : Jalandhar
Bhagat Singh (September 27, 1907 – March 23, 1931) was an Indian
revolutionary, considered to be one of the most famous martyrs of the
Indian freedom struggle. For this reason, he is often referred to as
Shaheed Bhagat Singh (the word shaheed means “martyr”). Bhagat Singh was
born into a Sikh family to Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati in the
Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in the Jalandhar district of Punjab.
His uncle, Sardar Ajit Singh, as well as his father, were great freedom
fighters, so Bhagat Singh grew up in a patriotic atmosphere. Ajit Singh
established the Indian Patriots’ Association, along with Syed Haidar
Raza, to organize the peasants against the Chenab Canal Colony Bill. He
also established the secret organization, the Bharat Mata Society. At an
early age, Bhagat Singh started dreaming of uprooting the British
empire. Never afraid of fighting during his childhood, he thought of
“growing guns in the fields,” so that he could fight against the
British. The Ghadar Movement left a deep imprint on his mind. Kartar
Sing Sarabha, hanged at the age of 19, became his hero. The massacre at
Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919 drove him to go to Amritsar, where he
kissed the earth sanctified by the martyrs’ blood and brought back home
a little of the soaked soil. He studied in the D.A.V. School in Lahore.
At the age of 16, he used to wonder why so many Indians could not drive
away these fistful of invaders. In search of revolutionary groups and
ideas, he met Sukhdev and Rajguru. Bhagat Singh, along with the help of
Chandrashekhar Azad, formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army
(HSRA). The aim of this Indian revolutionary movement was now defined as
not only to make India independent, but also to create “a socialist
India.” During the Simon Commission, Sher-e-Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai was
wounded and died later. To avenge his death, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru
killed Mr. Saunders (one of the deputy officers in connection with the
Simon Commission).
When the British government promulgated the two bills “Trade Union
Dispute Bill” and “Public Safety Bill” which Bhagat Singh and his party
thought were Black Laws aimed at curbing citizens’ freedom and civil
liberties, they decided to oppose these bills by throwing a bomb in the
Central Assembly Hall (which is now Lok Sabha). However, things changed,
and the Britishers arrested Bhagat Singh and his friends on April 8,
1929. He and his friends wanted to be shot dead, since they were termed
as prisoners of war. Their request was not fulfilled, and on March 23,
1931, Bhagat Singh, Shivram Rajguru, and Sukhdev were hanged to death.
This man’s only mission in life was to see his country free from British
rule. He did his best and when he was being led to the gallows, he was
satisfied that he had lived up to his principles, irrespective of the
consequences. The only thing that made him sad was that he couldn’t do
more for his country.
10. Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhash Chandra Bose
Date of Birth : Jan 23, 1897 Date of Death : Aug 18, 1945 Place of Birth : Orissa
Subhash Chandra Bose (January 23, 1897 – August 18, 1945?), also
known as Netaji, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian
Independence Movement against the British Raj. Subhas Chandra Bose was
born to an affluent family in Cuttack, Orissa. His father, Janakinath
Bose, was a public prosecutor who believed in orthodox nationalism, and
later became a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. His mother was
Prabhavati Bose, a remarkable example of Indian womanhood. Bose was
educated at Cambridge University. In 1920, Bose took the Indian Civil
Service entrance examination and was placed second. However, he resigned
from the prestigious Indian Civil Service in April 1921 despite his
high ranking in the merit list, and went on to become an active member
of India’s independence movement. He joined the Indian National
Congress, and was particularly active in its youth wing. Subhas Chandra
Bose felt that young militant groups could be molded into a military arm
of the freedom movement and used to further the cause. Gandhiji opposed
this ideology because it directly conflicted with his policy of ahimsa
(non-violence). The British Government in India perceived Subhas as a
potential source of danger and had him arrested without any charge on
October 25, 1924. He was sent to Alipore Jail, Calcutta and in January
25, 1925 transferred to Mandalay, Burma. He was released from Mandalay
in May, 1927 due to his ill health. Upon return to Calcutta, Subhas was
elected President of the Bengal Congress Committee on October 27, 1927.
Subhas was one of the few politicians who sought and worked towards
Hindu-Muslim unity on the basis of respect of each community’s rights.
Subhas, being a man of ideals, believed in independence from the social
evil of religious discord. In January 1930 Subhas was arrested while
leading a procession condemning imprisonment of revolutionaries. He was
offered bail on condition that he signs a bond to refrain from all
political activities, which he refused. As a result he was sentenced to a
year’s imprisonment. On his release from jail, Subhas was sworn in as
Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation. In 1931 the split between Gandhiji
and Subhas crystallized. Although the two never saw eye to eye on their
view of freedom and the movement itself, Subhas felt that Gandhiji had
done a great disservice to the movement by agreeing to take part in the
Second Round Table Conference. Subhas viewed freedom as an absolute
necessity, unlike the freedom which Gandhiji was “negotiating” with the
British. Subhas was arrested again while returning from Bombay to
Calcutta, and imprisoned in several jails outside West Bengal in fear of
an uprising. His health once again deteriorated and the medical
facilities diagnosed him with tuberculosis. It was recommended that he
be sent to Switzerland for treatment. Realizing that his avenues abroad
were greater with the restrictions of the British, Subhas set sail for
Europe on February 23, 1933. Subhas stayed in various parts of Europe
from March 1993 to March 1936 making contacts with Indian
revolutionaries and European socialists supporting India’s Struggle for
Independence. Subhas met Mussolini in Italy and made Vienna his
headquarters. Subhas was opposed to the racial theory of Nazism but
appreciated its organizational strength and discipline. On March 27,
1936 he sailed for Bombay and but was escorted to jail immediately after
disembarking. After lying low for a year, he was able to work actively.
He attended the All India Congress Committee Session in Calcutta, the
first one he attended after a lapse of nearly six years. Time had healed
the tensions between Subhas and Gandhiji, and Gandhiji supported Subhas
in his efforts to become the President of the next Congress session,
1938. He went to England for a month in 1938 and rallied for the Indian
freedom cause amongst Indian students and British labor leaders
sympathetic toward India’s cause. It was a bold move since he was
constantly under British surveillance. Upon his return to India in
February 1938, Subhas was elected President of the Indian National
Congress. An excerpt from his Presidential address read, “I have no
doubt in my mind that our chief national problems relating to the
eradication of poverty, illiteracy and disease and the scientific
production and distribution can be tackled only along socialistic lines…
.” Subhas emphasized that political freedom alone would not be
sufficient, as the ills of the British reign would continue to haunt
post-Independent India. He stressed the need to solve linguistic and
religious prejudices and to achieve a high literacy rate amongst
Indians. Gandhiji found Subhas’s ideologies far too leftist and strongly
disagreed with Subhas’s criticism of village industries and stress on
competing with the rest of the world in the Industrial age. Opposition
from Sardar Vallabhai Patel, lack of support from Gandhiji and Nehru’s
indecision marked Subhas’s year as the President of the Congress. One of
Subhas’ major contributions was setting up of a National Planning
Committee, for the development of an economic program running parallel
to the national movement. Differences between Gandhiji and Subhas led to
a crisis when Gandhiji opposed Subhas’ idea that the Bengal Government
(a coalition between the Krishak Praja Party & Muslim League) be
ousted and the Congress take charge in coalition with the Krishak party.
The idea was criticized by Gandhiji and Nehru, which resulted in the
strengthening of the Muslim League in Bengal and ultimately partition of
India. It is obvious today that had Subhas been able to carry out his
plans, Bengal would be a different entity on the atlas. Despite
opposition from the Congress brass, Subhas was a favorite amongst the
majority as he was re-elected for a second term in March 1939. Gandhiji
considered Subhas’s victory as his personal defeat and went on a fast to
rally the members of the Working Committee to resign. Subhas resigned
and Dr. Rajendra Prasad assumed the Presidency of the Congress. In May
1939, Subhas formed the Forward Bloc within the Congress as an umbrella
organization of the left forces within the Congress. Gandhiji and his
supporters accused Subhas of breach of Congress party discipline and
drafted a resolution removing Subhas from the Congress Working Committee
and restrained him from holding any office for three years. On
September 3, 1939 Subhas was informed that war had broken out between
Britain and Germany. Subhas discussed the idea of an underground
struggle against the British with members of the Forward Bloc. Subhas
pressurized the Congress leaders to get a Declaration of War Aims from
the Viceroy; he declined. Subhas was elected President of the West
Bengal Provincial Congress. In December the Congress Working Committee
subverted the Provincial Committee’s authority and appointed its own ad
hoc committee. The Forward Bloc progressively became militant and by
April 1940 most of its senior members were arrested. Subhas was
convinced that the only way he could bring about India’s Independence
was by leaving the country and fighting from foreign territories. He had
made contact with radical Punjab and Pathan activists who had contacts
in Afghanistan and Russia to organize a militia. Subhas knew that
Britain was in a vulnerable position following the surrender of France
in June 1940. He announced the launch of Siraj-ud-daula Day on July 3,
in memory of the last king of Bengal who was defeated by Clive. His plan
was to hold a procession and to unify Hindu and Muslim nationalists.
The Government interceded and imprisoned Subhas on July 2, 1940 in
Presidency Jail, Calcutta. Netaji believed that foreign assistance was a
must to free India from British rule. In 1939, when the Second World
War broke out, Subhas sought assistance from Germany, Italy, and Japan
as they were enemies of Britain and thus would be natural allies. In
1941, he evaded a house-arrest in Calcutta by disguising himself as a
Maulavi and going to Kabul, Afghanistan. Later, he procured an Italian
passport and fled to Berlin, Germany. There he met Hitler and discussed
his plans and sought his assistance to free India. He also sought
assistance from Mussolini. From time to time, he aired his speeches on
the Azad Hind Radio from Berlin to communicate his intentions to fellow
Indians and to prove that he was still alive. After the defeat of
Germany, Netaji realized that he could not continue his struggle from
Germany anymore. Ultimately, Netaji reached Japan in June, 1943. He
established the Indian National Army (INA) with some 30,000 Indian
soldiers. He also set up a radio network in South East Asia in order to
appeal to the people, both in India and outside, for support. The INA
declared war against Britain and America. However, the INA had to
retreat from the Indo-Burmese border after a heavy defeat of the
Japanese troops there. The British defense was impenetrable. Though the
“Delhi Chalo” mission failed, Netaji proved to the world that his
determination was strong and his attitude was positive in his dream to
free India from the clutches of the British.
On August 16, 1945 Netaji boarded a plane from Singapore to Bangkok.
Netaji was scheduled to fly in a Type 97-2 bomber ‘Sally’ from Bangkok
to Saigon. The plane made a stopover in Taipei and crashed within
minutes of take-off from Taipei. Netaji’s body was cremated in Taipei on
August 20, 1945 and his ashes were flown to Tokyo on September 5, 1945
where they rest in the Renkoji Temple. To this day, many believe that
Netaji escaped from the air crash and went into hiding.
Netaji wanted unconditional and complete freedom. He dreamed of a
classless society with no caste barriers, social inequalities or
religious intolerance. He believed in equal distribution of wealth and
destruction of communalism. His slogan “Jai Hind” still acts as a great
binding force today
1. Uzbekistan:
2. Eritrea:
3. Laos:
4. Afghanistan
5. Equatorial Guinea:
6. Belarus:
7. Democratic Republic of Congo:
8. Swaziland:
9. Iran:
10. Ethiopia: