Parakram Diwas 2023 celebrated as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Birth Anniversary.

• Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti or Netaji Jayanti is a national event celebrated in India as Parakram Diwas on January 23 to mark the birth of prominent Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
• This year nation celebrates 126th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
  • For the first time, Netaji Jayanti was celebrated as Parakram Divas in 2021 on the occasion of his 124th birthday. In West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, and Assam, it is a recognised holiday.

Importance of Parakram Diwas

• The purpose of the holiday is to recall and honour Netaji’s tremendous devotion to the country and his unwavering spirit. Netaji was a prominent nationalist, politician, and freedom fighter. This day has been designated to encourage Indians, especially young people, to aspire to his strength, perseverance, selflessness, and patriotic fervor despite oppression. He oversaw the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fouj). He was the founder-head of the Azad Hind Government.

About Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

• Netaji’ was born on January 23, 1897, in Cuttack in Odisha. He acquired a degree in philosophy and was later selected for the Indian Civil Services. He refused to join as he did not want to serve the British Government.
• Later, in 1919, he travelled to England to complete the Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.), finishing fourth in his class with the highest English score. He didn’t want to work for the British government; therefore in 1921 he resigned and went back to India.
• Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, who later served as his political mentor, encouraged Netaji to join the Indian National Congress (INC) when he returned to India.
  • Netaji joined the Indian National Congress in 1921.
• He regarded Swami Vivekananda as his spiritual guru and was greatly affected by his ideas.
• Bose was elected president of the All India Youth Congress in 1923 and later served as president of the Congress in 1938 and 1939.
• During World War II, in Southeast Asia, Netaji formed and led a 5,000-man force known as the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) under the slogan ‘Delhi Chalo’ In order to garner popular support in his home state of Bengal, he also founded a new political party.
• According to government reports, on August 18, 1945, a plane crash near Tohuku, Japanese Taiwan, caused Netaji to suffer third-degree burns. Although the authorities announced his death in 2017, there are still a number of rumors about his whereabouts
• Netaji started a newspaper called “Swaraj”.
• He wrote a book called “The Indian Struggle”. The book covers the Indian Independence movement between 1920 and 1942.
• The term “Jai Hind” was coined by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
• With the slogan “Give me blood and I will give you freedom”, he awakened the country towards fighting against the British.