Bose, Subhas Chandra (1897-1945), an important Indian nationalist who went on to lead the Indian National Army and form the provisional government of Azad Hind during World War II; he was popularly called Netaji ("revered leader"). Born a Bengali Kayasth, Bose was raised in Cuttack, and attended Presidency College, Calcutta. Expelled for complicity in beating a professor, Bose was allowed to enter Scottish Churches College a year later. He graduated, and, urged by his father, he went to England in 1919 and took the Indian Civil Service examination. Surprising all, Bose placed fourth in the examination, but then resigned and returned to India to enter the nationalist movement.

Bose found his political guru in Chittaranjan Dan and was given important posts including chief executive officer of the Calcutta Corporation in 1924. A few months later, Bose was imprisoned and from 1925 to 1927 held in Mandalay Prison. In ill health, he was released, whereupon he returned to politics. For a brief time he was the president of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. In 1928 he became a general secretary of the Indian National Congress and a widely popular leader of the younger leftists. He pressed Mohandas Gandhi to move more quickly and forcefully for complete independence.

Bose spent a good deal of the years 1933 to 1937 in Europe recovering his health. While in Europe he wrote The Indian Struggle, an account of Indian politics from 1920 to 1934, and An Indian Pilgrim, a brief, insightful autobiography. He also did propaganda work for Indian nationalism and visited many countries.

In 1938 Bose became president of the Indian National Congress with Gandhi's blessing. The next year he decided to run again, against Gandhi's wishes. He defeated Gandhi's candidate, P. Sitaramayya, but then was moved to resign his presidency after a controversy about the selection of the Working Committee. Bose formed the Forward Bloc, a pressure group working for more direct action against the Raj.

Imprisoned again in 1940, Bose fasted, was released, and on 16 January 1941, slipped out of his house, reached the frontier, and walked into Afghanistan. Receiving Italian and German help, he traveled to Berlin, where he set up the Free India Center and the Indian Legion, a small fighting force. In 1943 Bose reached Southeast Asia and, with Japanese aid, reconstituted the Indian National Army (INA) and set up the Provisional Government of Azad Hind. After the INA and Japanese were beaten in Burma, Bose fled and was killed in a plane crash in Taiwan in August 1945, although controversy surrounds his death.