Background
Rash Behari Bose was born on 25th May 1886 in the Subaldaha Village of Burdwan District, West Bengal of British India. At the age of three, his mother passed away in 1889 and he was thus, brought up by his maternal aunt Vama Sundari.
Rash Behari Bose was born on 25th May 1886 in the Subaldaha Village of Burdwan District, West Bengal of British India. At the age of three, his mother passed away in 1889 and he was thus, brought up by his maternal aunt Vama Sundari.
His early education was under his grandfather, Kalicharan, in the village of Subaldaha itself.
He earned degrees in the medical sciences as well as in Engineering from France and Germany.
It was during the partition of Bengal (1905) that Rash Behari got involved in the revolutionary activities. Rash Behari Bose, along with Aurobindo Ghosh and Jatin Banerjee, led the public outburst against the British but had to flee from Bengal following an act gone wrong. The incident went on to be known as the Alipore Bomb case. In 1912, a plan was made to take down the Governor General and a Viceroy to India, Lord Charles Hardinge, in Delhi. On December 23rd 1912, when the possession of Lord Hardinge reached Chandni Chowk (Delhi), a bomb aimed at Hardinge ended up killing a man to his right and 20 other spectators. Basanta Kumar Bisbas, who threw the bomb disguised as a lady was arrested and hanged in Ambala jail. But Rash Behari, one of the conspirators, managed to avoid arrest owing to clever disguise. He was also one of the leading figures involved in the Ghadar Conspiracy, a plan by which Indian sepoy would infiltrate the British army and attack from the inside; loot the treasure and free the prisoners, all at the same time. However this plan could not transform into action following a spy who managed to pass the information to the police. Many of the suspects were arrested but Rash Behari managed to escape yet again.
It was on 12th May 1915 that Rash Behari left Calcutta and went to Japan. From 1915-1918, he changed his residence seventeen times and lived like a fugitive. In 1918, he married Tosiko, daughter of Pan-Asian supporters Soma Aizo and Soma Kotsuko, who were supportive of Rash Behari's efforts and became a Japanese citizen in 1923. Rash Behari and Tosiko had a son, Masahide, and a daughter, Tetaku. It was his relation with the Japanese that helped him in persuading the authorities to stand by Indian Nationalists and actively support India's freedom struggle from abroad. Following a conference held in Tokyo on 28th March 1942, it was decided to establish the Indian Independence League. After a few days it was decided to make Subhash Chandra Bose as its president. The Indian prisoners that were captured by the Japanese in Malaya and Burma were encouraged to join the Indian Independence League and the Indian National Army. It was the efforts of Rash Behari, along with Captain Mohan Singh and Sardar Pritam Singh, due to which Indian National Army came into existence on September 1, 1942. It was also known as Azad Hind Fauz.