Sarat Chandra Bose

Sarat Chandra Bose (September 1889 - February 20, 1950) was a barrister and Indian freedom fighter. He was the elder brother of Subhash Chandra Bose.

Early life

Born to Janakinath Bose and Bibhabati Bose (nee Dey), Sarat Bose studied in Presidency College, Calcutta and then went to England in 1911 to become a Barrister. He began a successful legal practice upon his return to India, but later abandoned it to join the Indian independence movement. He joined the Indian National Congress and participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was strongly influenced by the leadership of Chittaranjan Das, a leading Bengali nationalist.

Political career

In 1936, Bose became the president of the Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, and served as a member of the All India Congress Committee from 1936 to 1947. From 1946 to 1947, Bose would lead the Congress delegation to the Central Legislative Assembly. He strongly supported the formation of the Indian National Army by Subhash Bose, and actively participated in the Quit India movement. Following his brother's death in 1945, Bose would lead efforts to provide relief and aid to the families of INA soldiers through the INA Defence and Relief Committee. In 1946, he was appointed Member of the Interim Government for Works, Mines and Powers - the position of a minister in a national executive council led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and presided over by the Viceroy of India.

Bengal partition and later life

However, Bose resigned from the AICC in disagreement over the Cabinet Mission Plan's call to partition Bengal between Hindu-majority and Muslim-majority regions. He attempt to construct a bid for a united but independent Bengal with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the Bengali Muslim League leader, but this received no support from the Congress or the League, nor the common public. After India's independence, Bose would lead his brother's Forward Bloc and form the Socialist Republican Party, advocating a socialist system for Bengal and India. He died in 1950, in Calcutta.

Family

The Bose family has remained prominent in public life in Bengal. Sarat Bose married Bivabati Dey in 1910, who hailed from a prominent aristocratic family of North Kolkata. She was the grandniece of Shyama Charan Dey, a well known public figure of early 19th Century Bengal. Their marriage was attended by luminaries of the day, including Rabindranath Tagore, who also sang few songs on that occasion. They had a large family of eight children, including four sons and four daughters. Among his sons were Ashokenath Bose, who was a chemical engineer, Amiyonath Bose, who was a barrister, Dr. Sisir Kumar Bose, who was a well-known pediatrician and Member of Parliament, and Subrata Bose, who was an electrical engineer and is presently a Member of Parliament. All four brothers were actively involved in the national movement in the 1940s. Among his daughters are Mira Roy, Gita Biswas, Roma Roy Choudhury and Dr. Chitra Ghosh, a political scientist, academician and social worker, who is married to Subimal Ghosh, owner of a leading firm of builders and contractors.

Dr. Sisir Bose was a leading doctor and a freedom fighter, who is said to have driven his youngest uncle, Subhas Bose out of their house on Elgin Road and then out of the city in the family's Wanderer, which still stands as an exhibit at the Netaji Research Bureau. His wife, Prof. Krishna Bose, a niece of the author Nirad Chaudhuri, is an academic and was a Member of Parliament. His grandchildren are Sugata Bose and Sarmila Bose, both well-known Indian historians, and Sumantra Bose, who is a political scientist.

External links

* [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/B_0594.htm Bose biography]
* [http://www.archives.lib.soton.ac.uk/mbindex/index291.shtml Brief note]
* [http://www.indianpost.com/viewstamp.php/Issue%20Date/year/1988/month/9/SARAT%20CHANDRA%20BOSE?PHPSESSID=b5bd4fb0fbea197362b02cdf738d95b6 Bose stamp]