Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 114th birthday celebrated as Desh Prem Diwas.

Subhash Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa. His father Janaki Nath Bose was a famous lawyer and his mother Prabhavati Devi was a pious and religious lady. Subhash Chandra Bose was the ninth child among fourteen siblings.

Today is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 114th birthday. From 2011 onward, 23rd January is being celebrated as Desh Prem Diwas across West Bengal.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is one of the greatest patriots who fought for the Indian freedom. Bose believed that Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure India's independence, and advocated violent resistance. In contrary to Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent struggle, Netaji felt the need for armed struggle to actually evict the British from India.

Bose was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive terms, but had to leave the party due to ideological and methodological differences with the Gandhi faction and established the All India Forward Bloc. The British government first put him in jail and then under house arrest, but the Bengal brave heart managed to give the police a slip and escaped imprisonment.

Netaji ,left India and joined hands with the Allied forces of Italy, Germany and Japan during the 2nd world war to fight the British in India. After meetings with Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo, Netaji freed the Indian prisoners of war and aligned them together to set up the Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj on October 21, 1943. Subhash Chandra Bose led the INA, backed up by the Japanese army, into the Indian territory via Manipur.

Today is the 114^th birth anniversary of the brave soldier who was courageous enough to create his own army to challenge the British. All we can do is remember and honor the leader this day. West Bengal is all set to honor the hero for his contribution towards our independence struggle by a ceremonial march past today followed by a seminar on Netaji in Sisir Mancha to be graced by eminent speakers like Biman Bose the chairperson of Left front and a few others.

It is late but quite a commendable move by the West Bengal government to dedicate the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose as the “Desh Prem Divas”. The government of West Bengal has also requested the Central government to declare the day as National Patriotism Day (Desh Prem Diwas) to salute the contribution of the Bengal son in India's struggle for independence.