March 18, 1944 - Know why this date is historic in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's life

Pic Courtesy: Doordarshan

New Delhi: March 18, 1944 is one of the most historc day of India's independence struggle. On this day, Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose entered India crossing Burma border.

Ending decades of wait, the Narendra Modi government last month declassified the first set of 100 files on revolutionary leader Netaji, whose whereabouts after a reported air crash continues to be a mystery even after 70 years.

Born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Odisha, Bose stood fourth in the Indian Civil Service examination, but declined to join the coveted cadre as he did not want to serve the British masters. Instead, he plunged into the freedom movement.

The Faizabad district administration this month opened the first set of boxes belonging to ''Gumnami Baba'', who many believe was none other than the revolutionary freedom fighter Netaji in exile, containing a number of vintage articles.

The second tranche of 25 secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will be released after the conclusion of Budget session of Parliament.

While two commissions of inquiry had concluded that Netaji had died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945, a third probe panel, headed by Justice MK Mukherjee, had contested it and suggested that Bose was alive.