Subhas Chandra Bose Birth Anniversary: Five Slogans By Netaji That Continue To Inspire Youth

One freedom fighter and leader whose journey every young Indian should know by heart is Subhas Chandra Bose popularly known as ‘Netaji’. As the country celebrates his 123^rd birth anniversary today on January 23^rd, here are some of the most inspirational quotes from one of the greatest leaders our country has ever seen:

• It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom. Give me blood and I will give you freedom!
• One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives.
• We cannot sit still because we cannot, or do not , know the Absolute Truth.
• Reality is, after all, too big for our frail understanding to fully comprehend. Nevertheless, we have to build our life on the theory which contains the maximum truth.
• Life loses half its interest if there is no struggle-if there are no risks to be taken.
• The secret of political bargaining is to look more strong than what you really are.

Netaji’s freedom movement was not just exemplary but also a subject for debate in many aspects.

Netaji was highly patriotic since childhood, he was the 9th child of his parents. An exceptionally brilliant student Netaji was placed 4th in order of merit in the examination of Indian Civil Service. He had resigned from the coveted civil service career to join the freedom struggle. Netaji was imprisoned 11 times in various jails in India during the freedom struggle.

With the passage of time during the freedom struggle, he became critical of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent approach in attaining independence for India. In 1943, in Japanese occupied Southeast Asia he formed an army of about 40,000 troops.

On October 21, 1943 he announced the formation of the Indian National Army and along with Japanese troops proceeded to Rangoon, reaching Indian soil on March 18, 1944. However, his army was defeated, and a few days after Japan’s defeat in WW2, while trying to leave SouthEast Asia, Bose died in a hospital in Taiwan due to burn injuries from a plane crash.

On September 1, 2016, the Narendra Modi government declassified investigative reports of the Japanese government which concluded that Bose died in a plane crash in Taiwan. Many, however, continue to believe that Netaji survived the plane crash and lived in hiding.