It does not matter who among us will live to see India free. It is enough that India shall be free and that we shall give our all to make her free Subhas Chandra Bose was one of the leaders at the forefront of India's independence movement. His ideology was at variance with Gandhi's; Bose believed Gandhi's policy of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure independence, and advocated violent resistance. During the Second World War, he travelled to Germany and Japan, striking up an alliance with the Axis Powers with the aim of attacking British India from the outside. He led the Indian National Army in an offensive against the British in Imphal and Burma, managing to plant the Azad Hind flag on British Indian soil.
This selection of Bose's speeches includes his presidential address at the Haripura Congress (1938) and several inspirational broadcasts from abroad. Together they reflect Bose's passion for freedom and his vision for a free India.
Introduction
Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945?), popularly known as Netaji, was one of the leaders at the forefront of India's Independence movement. Bose was elected president of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms at the end of the 1930s but had to resign from the post following ideological conflicts with Mahatma Gandhi. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's policy of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure independence, and advocated violent resistance. He established a separate political party, the All India Forward Bloc, and continued to call for full and immediate independence from British rule. His famous motto was 'Give me blood and I will give you freedom'.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Bose saw an opportunity to take advantage of the vulnerable position the British were in. Escaping from house arrest, he travelled in disguise to Germany and then Japan, seeking an alliance with the Axis Powers with the aim of attacking British India from the outside. With Japanese assistance, he organized and later led the Indian National Army (INA), formed from Indian prisoners of war and plantation workers from British Malaya, Singapore and other parts of South-East Asia. Bose spearheaded the INA's offensive against the British in Imphal and Burma, managing to plant the Azad Hind flag on British Indian soil. Soon after the surrender of the Axis Powers, Bose was reportedly killed in an air crash over Formosa, though this remains in dispute.
This selection of Bose's speeches includes his presidential address at the Haripura Congress (1938), a broadcast from Berlin, the INA pledge, an Azad Hind Radio broadcast on the Quit India movement (all 1942), an inspirational speech to the INA (1943), a warning against Partition delivered from Burma (1944), and his last speech, delivered two days before his disappearance in 1945. Together they reflect Bose's passion for freedom and his vision for a free India.
To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Indian Republic, the Words of Freedom series showcases the landmark speeches and writings of fourteen I visionary leaders whose thought animated the Indian struggle for Independence and whose revolutionary ideas and actions forged the Republic of India as we know it today. .