Topic
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose won the Congress presidency twice, was forced out of the party, escaped British house arrest and led the Indian National Army against the Raj. How he died is still disputed. Here is everything Itiha has published on Netaji, in the order the story unfolds.
Documentaries
Why Gandhi Forced Netaji Out of the Congress
From Cuttack and Cambridge to Mandalay jail, exile in Europe and the 1939 clash with Gandhi at Tripuri. Part 1 of the Netaji series.
Netaji’s Great Escape and the Indian National Army
The 1941 escape from house arrest in Calcutta, Berlin, the submarine journey to Asia and the Azad Hind Fauj. Part 2.
Did Netaji Die in the Taihoku Plane Crash?
The 1945 crash, three Indian inquiries and the files released since. Part 3.
The CPI, Netaji and the Quit India Movement
How the Communist Party of India turned on Bose and opposed the 1942 Quit India movement.
Essays
The Great Escape of Netaji
How Bose slipped past British watch in January 1941 and reached Germany overland. With full sources.
The Vanishing of Subhas Chandra Bose
British intelligence files, missing documents and the mystery of the Taipei crash. With full sources.
Communist Party of India: Betrayal, Bose and the Quit India Movement
The CPI’s People’s War line and its campaign against Netaji. With full sources.
Shorts
Frequently asked questions
When and where was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose born?
On 23 January 1897 in Cuttack, in present-day Odisha. He studied in Calcutta and at Cambridge, and passed the Indian Civil Service examination in 1920 before resigning in 1921 to join the freedom movement.
Why did Netaji leave the Congress?
Bose was elected Congress president in 1938 and again in 1939 at Tripuri, defeating Pattabhi Sitaramayya, the candidate Gandhi backed. Gandhi called the result his own defeat, most of the Working Committee resigned, and Bose stepped down in April 1939. He then formed the Forward Bloc.
How did Netaji escape from British house arrest?
In January 1941 he left his Elgin Road home in Calcutta at night, disguised as a Muslim insurance agent, and was driven to Gomoh by his nephew Sisir Kumar Bose. He travelled through Peshawar and Kabul and reached Berlin in April 1941.
What was the Indian National Army?
A force of Indian soldiers, many of them prisoners of war taken by Japan in Malaya and Singapore. It was first raised in 1942. Bose took command in 1943, proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India in October that year, and the INA fought alongside Japan at Imphal and Kohima in 1944.
Did Netaji die in the 1945 plane crash?
Two Indian inquiries, the Shah Nawaz Committee (1956) and the Khosla Commission (1974), concluded that he died after the crash at Taihoku on 18 August 1945. The Mukherjee Commission (2005) concluded he did not die in the crash, but the government rejected its report. The question is still disputed.
What were the INA trials?
In late 1945 the British put INA officers Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon on public trial at the Red Fort. The trials provoked protests across India. The three were convicted, but their sentences were remitted, and historians link the unrest to the naval mutiny of February 1946.