The Great Escape by Subhas Bose ~Part 1 🧵 from Calcutta to Kabul with illustrations by @horek_rokom
Subhas Bose great escape from Calcutta is a stuff of legend,though the broad story is known but there are fine details during the escape which makes it fascinating & thrilling.
Subhas Bose great escape from Calcutta is a stuff of legend,though the broad story is known but there are fine details during the escape which makes it fascinating & thrilling.
The back ground : In 1939, when Bose sought a 2nd term as Congress President ,Sardar Patel & Gandhi opposed him but Congress party’s majority delegates ignored Gandhi & Patel’s appeals & voted for Bose & he won the 2nd term by 205 votes
Bose wanted Congress to become a fighting force against British to pursue Total Independence as he believed “No real change in history has been achieved by discussions” ,while Gandhi & Patel didn’t see any merit in such confrontation , they where happy with Dominion status.
At the Tripuri session of the Congress, with Blessings of Gandhi ,Sardar Patel engineered a coup. The Congress working Committee resigned & it became impossible for Subhas Bose to work in the party, unwilling to compromise on his agenda he resigned.
The British were alarmed at the aggressive revolutionary pitch of Bose .In July, 1940 the imperial British govt invoked the draconian India Security Act & imprisoned him in the Presidency Jail in Calcutta.
On 19 Nov 1940, Subhash Chandra Bose started a hunger strike in Jail due to which his health deteriorated & the govt was forced to release him from jail on 5 Dec 1940 to avoid public outcry.
Subhas was kept under House arrest by British govt with a ring of of security & spies monitoring him 24X7 With no support from Congress & British govt restricting him with house arrest
Subhas decided if his aim to liberate India needs to fructify he needs to escape from clutches of British & give a mighty push from outside so as to force British to leave India
The Planning : On Dec 16, Mian Akbar Shah a NWFP Forward Bloc member had come meet Bose in his Calcutta home at Elgin Road & the plan to escape via Peshawar was put into action
Bengal Volunteers members Major Satya Gupta & Satya Ranjan Bakshi worked secretly to formulate a meticulous escape plan along with logistics .Bose's niece Ila also played a big role in executing the plan
During house arrest Bose started behaving as if he is on his way to become a Hindu monk - he started growing thick long beard, slept on floor & was sending letters to Rishi Aurobindo on Hindu philosophy with an aim to confuse the British .
British Governor Herbert was not amused & instead instructed his spies to keep a close watch on Subash,meanwhile Netaji's nephew Sisir Bose quietly conducted a test drive with the Wanderer till Burdwan .
The Escape : On the night of 16 th Jan ,1941 Subhas Bose dressed up as as Md. Zia Uddin, left his Elgin road house silently in a car with the help of his nephew Dr. Sisir Bose
Bose & his nephew quietly escaped from Calcutta where he travelled to Bararee in Bihar & rested in another of his nephew -Dr. Asoke Nath Bose's house.
Md. Zia-ud-Din was treated as a visitor in Asoke Nath's house in order to deceive the house helps.
Late at night Sisir, Asoke & his wife set out in Sisir's car & they picked him from the roadside & dropped him in the Gomoh Station from where Zia-ud-Din boarded Delhi Kalka Mail.
But as per noted Netaji researcher Jayanta Chowdhury he negates the above mentioned version,as per his research Bose was driven out by one of his close associates, Sardar Niranjan Singh Talib & not by Sisir Bose.Netaji’s great grandniece Rajyashree Chaudhuri endorses this version
The car then took GT Road to reach Bordhoman district from kolkata & from there he went to Shantiniketan to seek Tagore’s blessing & then cane back to Burdwan , from Burdwan he took Frontier mail to reach Delhi
As per researcher Jayanto Chowdhuri -Sisir Bose’s account of catching the Kalka Mail from Gomoh railway station is totally contradictory to the railways’ timetable of 1941
From Delhi, Netaji reached Peshawar on 20th Jan, 1941. Mian Akbar Shah led Md. Zia- ud-din to a Tonga which took him to the Taj Mahal Hotel.
From the hotel Bose quickly shifted to the house of Abad Khan & then transformed himself to a deaf mute Pathan (since he didn't speak Pushtu, the local dialect).
Akbar shah had chosen Bhagat Ram Talwar as the escort to Kabul. The cover was Bhagat Ram would be taking his elder relative Zia-ud-Din to Adda Sharif for a possible miracle to cure him.
Meanwhile the other accomplices, including Bhagat Ram Talwar who had by now taken the name of Rahmat Khan , arranged for his Afghan dress , Afghan currency , medicines and other daily articles of use .A guide was requested to take them across the tribal areas .
A trek through the rugged terrain & often deemed dangerous through the frontier tribal areas started with Bose & Talwar & a local guide .They often took shelters in mosque & shrines on their journey . Bose was full of praise for Pathan community’s warm hospitality
By 26 th jan Bose along with Talwar quietly crossed the last British check post & stepped into Afghanistan .
As one of Tagore’s short story aptly describes the sentiments
"আমারে বাঁধবি তোরা
সেই বাঁধন কি তোদের আছে"
“Do you possess the shackles for capturing me?”
As one of Tagore’s short story aptly describes the sentiments
"আমারে বাঁধবি তোরা
সেই বাঁধন কি তোদের আছে"
“Do you possess the shackles for capturing me?”
Meanwhile in Calcutta , the date of next hearing for the Bose’s case was fixed on Jan 27 & then Subhas's disappearance was discovered & this news exploded like a fire ball in entire India .The police swooped down on the house & interrogated the Bose family members
Meanwhile Bose & Talwar reached Kabul on 31 Jan , braving harsh winter & using all modes of transport from Tonga to trucks & sometimes by Foot , eating & resting in Mosques & shrines by night & travelling in Day time
British Viceroy Linlithgow was enraged with Governor Herbert. In a reactionary mode the administration became hyper active .
A Japanese ship which sailed from Calcutta on January 19 (1941) was diverted to a Chinese port to have it searched!
A Japanese ship which sailed from Calcutta on January 19 (1941) was diverted to a Chinese port to have it searched!
As Previously Bose had sent letters to Rishi Aurobindo in Pondicherry the then a french colony , British sleuths began manning Pondicherry border.Subhas Bose deception tactics sent the Brits into a wild goose chase !
Bose’s Mother Prabhavati Devi questioned the police & administration that despite huge police & sleuths deployed why none cud spot Subhas .Poet Rabindranath Tagore sent Telegram to Sarat Bose ~ "Deeply concerned over Subhas's disappearance."
Poet Rabindranath Tagore previously held a critical opinion on Subhas Bose , but seeeing Bose cornered in Congress he became more empathetic .
After Bose was forced to resign from Congress in January 1939 ,Tagore hailed Bose as “Deshnayak” (hero of the nation)
“I am a Bengali poet; on behalf of Bengal, I hail you as the leader of the nation”
“I am a Bengali poet; on behalf of Bengal, I hail you as the leader of the nation”
Tagore’s greatest tribute to Bose came in his short story ‘Bodnam’ , coincidently written almost at the same time as Bose’s disappearance. Did the poet know about Bose’s escape , this question has also been raised by Researcher Jayanto chowdhur
The protagonist is a freedom fighter named as Anil who is crossing Afghanistan like Bose & defiantly says
“আমারে বাঁধবি তোরা
সেই বাঁধন কি তোদের আছে"
“Do you possess the shackles for capturing me?”
“আমারে বাঁধবি তোরা
সেই বাঁধন কি তোদের আছে"
“Do you possess the shackles for capturing me?”
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