Parakram Diwas: Let’s celebrate the most enigmatic hero of our country

Parakram Diwas: Let’s celebrate the most enigmatic hero of our country Kolkata As India celebrates the 125th birth anniversary of one of the most charismatic leaders of our country, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the government has decided to commemorate this day as Parakram Diwas. From now on every year January 23 would be celebrated as Parakram Diwas to honour Netaji’s “selfless service” to the nation. Let’s know more about this enigmatic leader… Mahatma Gandhi called Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as the ‘prince among patriots’. Bose was born in Cuttack, Bengal Province and had 14 siblings. He was academically brilliant securing second position in his matriculation exam in school. For higher education, he did his B.A in Philosophy at the Scottish Church College under the University of Calcutta. He even got selected in the Indian Civil Services (ICS) but resigned from his position in 1921 as he didn’t wish to serve the British government. At the age of 16, he became fascinated by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna after reading their works. Vivekananda’s emphasis on social services and reform had inspired Bose and influenced his socialist political ideology. In 1923, Bose became the President of the All India Youth Congress and then eventually became the Congress President in 1938. He had a falling out with Congress in 1939 and was expelled from his leadership position as Gandhiji and he had differences in their approaches to fighting the British. While he advocated for armed revolution against the British, Gandhiji was adamant on only using non-violent techniques to gain freedom from the colonizers. This legendary freedom fighter was imprisoned 11 times during the period from 1921 to 1941. He had assumed the post of mayor of Calcutta in 1930, while he was in prison. Before his presidency at INC, Bose had ventured into journalism and started the newspaper 'Swaraj' and later became the editor of the newspaper 'Forward' by Chittaranjan Das, a fellow nationalist from Bengal. Azad Hind Radio station in Germany was established by Netaji. Phrases such as ‘Jai Hind’, ‘Dilli chalo’, ‘Give me blood and I shall give you freedom’ were coined by Netaji. Netaji had met the then Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano in 1941 who had discussed the draft declaration of independence with him. Bose had stayed in Rome for around 6 weeks with his wife during that time. In Germany, he met Austrian woman Emilie Schenkl and married her. Together they had a daughter, Anita Bose, who is a renowned German economist. Netaji with the help of Japan organised the Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army (INA). The Azad Hind Fauj was formed with Indian prisoners-of-war and plantation workers from British Malaya, Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia, against the British forces. Commanded by Netaji, soldiers of the Indian National Army gallantly fought for an undivided and independent India. They were court-martialed and tried for treason by the British over 74 years ago. Netaji’s death remains shrouded in mystery. Following the much talked about news of the plane crash in Taiwan on 18th August, 1945, it was believed that Subhas Chandra Bose had taken the guise of a ‘sadhu’ and lived in UP. People knew him as Gumnami Baba. Messi’s last minute goals save Barca in Copa Granada Initially, it seemed Barca fans were in for a disappointment as they thought that this year too the football team would exit Le Copa without even entering the quarter finals. Granada already had scored 2 goals and Barcelona with nil goals in the first 88 minutes of the match. Then Messi happened, and the destiny changed! Lionel Messi played a cross to Antoine Griezmann who hit the goal. And just like that, Barcelona was back in the game! Messi then made a pass to Jordi Alba who scored the second goal for the team. Extra time let the score reach 5-3 and Barca beat Granada by two goals. Barcelona had failed to win a title last season, which hadn’t happened since 2007-2008. It was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Copa last year to end a streak of nine consecutive semi final appearances. Granada’s late collapse cost the team a chance to make it to the semifinals for a second straight season. The most successful club at the Copa del Rey has been Barcelona with 30 titles. The current champions are Valencia who have 8 titles to their credit. Did you know? The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Generalísimo, is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish football, organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation.