"Subhas Chandra Bose: The Relentless Warrior History Tried to Silence"

Dear Readers,

It is an honor to meet you once again. Today, I invite you to journey back into the depths of history. And trust me, this journey will not let you rest—not yet, at least.

The topic before us may seem straightforward at first glance. I was simply sitting in my lecture, absorbing the teachings on modern Indian political thinkers. The professor, with calm reverence, spoke of Gandhi—his philosophy, his ideals. But as Gandhi stands tall on one side of history, on the other, looms a figure who, for me, will forever remain his majesty's greatest and most relentless counterpart—Subhas Chandra Bose. His name you may know. Perhaps, that’s all you know.

But here lies the tragedy—Bose, the fearless warrior, the man whose very spirit shook empires, has been cast into the shadows of history. Not because he was unworthy of the spotlight, but because he did not chase it. For that, many pages of our history remain blank where his name should have thundered. His ideals, his vision for India’s future—now they gather dust in forgotten corners, neglected by the very nation he gave his life to defend.

Is there a single academic syllabus in India that dares to teach Bose as a political philosopher, as the nationalist he truly was? No. For to teach his truth would be to tear open the carefully constructed narrative of our past. Even the syllabus of my own department is silent on his legacy.

And yet, as I walked out of that lecture, something stirred within me. I knew I had to write. What follows is an article I wrote two years ago—now translated from Malayalam into English in a single sleepless night. I am unsure of the translation’s precision, but I trust you, my reader, to feel its pulse, its fire.

This, Mr. Bose, is for you. For the man who faced India’s enemies not just with words but with arms. For the man who gave everything—his life, his name, his very existence—to free this land. You may have been buried by the silence of history, but I promise you this: No force on earth can erase the indomitable courage you etched into our past. And this, dear reader, is what I offer—a humble tribute to a giant whose flame, though dimmed, can never be extinguished.

Today is January 23rd, a date that should echo through the halls of history, but instead, it falls quietly like an unnoticed whisper. Another Netaji Jayanti, cast into the shadows—no grand celebrations, no rallies filled with roaring chants, no lofty speeches to honor a man who bled for this land. While we endlessly sing praises of the freedom Gandhi and the Indian National Congress supposedly delivered, or when the freedom struggle of India is reduced to carefully polished icons of convenience, one towering figure remains cast aside, buried in the dustbin of history—Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. A patriot whose relentless fight for India’s independence, I dare say, burned fiercer than even Gandhi’s. For those who have truly sought the depths of India’s struggle for freedom, the answer to the question, “Why Subhas Chandra Bose?” is stark and undeniable.

Bose was a man who refused to bend, a man whose vision was too grand, too uncompromising to align with the Congress or Gandhi’s strategy of waiting, compromising, and withdrawing when the fight reached its peak. As the founder of the Forward Bloc and the Indian National Army, his legacy was not meant to be reduced to a footnote in the history of youth politics. No, Bose was a force that challenged the very heart of the British Empire with a fire unmatched by any before him. While others chose negotiation, Bose struck at the economic and military foundations of the British with the backing of German and Japanese forces, dismantling their defenses in a way the Empire had never before experienced.

Even in the face of the British proclamation in 1942, during the Quit India Movement, when they declared with iron certainty that India would never be free, their stance had dramatically reversed by 1946. And why? It was not just the cries of "Quit India" that changed the British mind. It was the fierce naval mutinies and uprisings sparked by Bose’s Indian National Army, stretching from Bombay to Calcutta, that shook the British to their very core. Yet, what do we remember as the crescendo of our freedom movement? The Quit India Movement, a moment of passive resistance, while the fierce and fiery revolts led by Bose are pushed to the margins of our memory.

Let it be known, it was not just the masses who recognized this truth. Even Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India, confessed that it was the INA-led mutinies that forced the British to grant India her freedom. Yet our history books remain shamefully silent on the matter. Where is the justice for a man who sacrificed everything for his country? Even Winston Churchill, in his autobiography, did not hesitate to admit, "One of the greatest warriors India has ever produced is surely Subhas Chandra Bose." And yet, we continue to relegate his contributions to the background.

Perhaps Bose had a vision for India's future that soared higher than even Nehru’s. As early as 1923, Bose stood before the Congress, not demanding Dominion status as others did, but full, unyielding independence. It would take Gandhi and the Congress another six long years to arrive at that very same conclusion. In 1929, at the Lahore Congress session, it was Bose again who passionately declared that India must have a parliament, a demand that would not see realization until Congress finally acknowledged its necessity in 1935. He was a man far ahead of his time, a visionary who was building a nation in his mind long before his contemporaries even grasped the concept. His book, *An Indian Pilgrim*, is a testament to his brilliance, a blueprint of the India he so fiercely dreamed of.

One of the boldest challenges to Gandhi's towering influence came from none other than Bose himself. At a time when no one dared stand against the Mahatma’s sway over the Congress, Bose not only stood but triumphed. He defeated Gandhi’s handpicked candidate, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, and rose to the presidency of the Indian National Congress by a sweeping majority. Bose did not just dream of the impossible—he made it a reality.

Yet, even today, decades after the dawn of India's independence, the details of Bose’s death remain cloaked in shadow. Did he truly perish in that fateful plane crash? Or did he live on, concealed by forces that sought to erase his legacy? The truth is buried deep, but one thing is certain—many were eager for his fall, and they succeeded in obscuring his fate. I do not wish to wade into the swirling controversy surrounding his demise, but let me leave you with this: When the truth of Subhas Chandra Bose’s death finally emerges, many of the idols we now worship may crumble.

I write these words today because I believe Subhas Chandra Bose demands remembrance, not just today but every single day we breathe the air of the freedom he fiercely fought for. Bose does not belong to a forgotten chapter in our history, nor should his memory be confined to dusty textbooks. I challenge you—dare to question the narratives you've been fed, dare to look beyond the pages that glorify the convenient, and dare to confront the uncomfortable truths buried in the annals of our past. Do not let the heroes of our textbooks remain mere four-letter words. Subhas Chandra Bose was more than just a name—he was a storm, and his legacy should ignite within us the relentless urge to question, to rebel, and to seek the truth.

And to those who dare to hijack Bose's legacy, twisting it to fit their divisive, self-serving agendas—you tread on dangerous ground. Do not make the grave error of reducing him to something he never was. Bose lived a life forged by fire and fury, bowing to no man, no ideology, no compromise. It is because of this very defiance, this unwillingness to bend, that history has so cruelly denied him his rightful place in the pantheon of our national heroes. He was not a man who knew submission, and in his final hours, he did not fall—he rose, carrying the weight of a nation’s dream on his shoulders, refusing to be bound by the chains of defeat. He lives on, not in the shadows of doubt, but as the beating heart of India’s unbroken will to fight.

May the fire of Subhas Chandra Bose blaze within us, a fire that refuses to be extinguished by the passage of time or the manipulation of history. May his spirit fuel our veins, compel us to rise against the forces that seek to divide, and remind us that the true essence of India lies not in submission, but in the unrelenting pursuit of freedom.

Jai Hind!

✍️ Athul Krishna