Rash Behari Bose (1886-1945) was one of the great revolutionaries of the first half of the 20th century. Born on May 25, 1886 at Palarabighati (West Bengal), Bose joined the Revolutionary Party at an early age.
He organised several clandestine activities in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab. He came into limelight when he threw a bomb on Lord Hardinge’s (the then Viceroy of India) procession in Chandni Chowk, Delhi on December 23, 1912.
After throwing the bomb, Bose managed to escape arrest and went in hiding in Varanasi. With the help of the members of the Ghadr Party, he planned a simultaneous rebellion which would rock the whole of north India.
The British, however, foiled all attempts of Bose to create unrest and arrested several of Bose’s confidants; of which twenty- eight were hanged after trials under what came to be known as the Lahore Conspiracy Case. Bose managed to escape from India in 1915 and went to Japan where he lived as a fugitive.
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In March 1942, he organised a conference to set up an Indian Independence League, the first session of which was held in June 1942 at Bangkok. He was then elected President of the Council of Action for the formation of INA. He mobilised Indian soldiers taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese forces for an armed rebellion against the British rule. In 1943, he handed over the charge of INA to Subash Chandra Bose in Singapore. Bose died in Tokyo on January 21, 1945.