Subhash Chandra Bose
In 1943, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose announced the formation of a temporary government of Azad Hind in Japan-occupied Singapore, The Indian tricolor was hoisted on this occasion.
Major facts related to Subhash Chandra Bose:
- In the year 1921, Bose took over the editing of ‘Forward’, a newspaper published by Chittaranjan Das’s Swaraj Party.
- In 1925, he was sent to Mandalay prison due to his revolutionary activities.
- In the mid-1930s, Bose traveled to Europe and wrote the first part of a book called ‘The Indian Struggle’, in which he covered all the freedom movements of the country, taking place during the years 1920–1934.
- Bose constituted the National Planning Commission in 1938 after being elected as the President of the Haripura Session of the Indian National Congress. This policy was not compatible with Gandhian ideas.
- At the Tripuri session of 1939, Bose was re-elected president, but soon resigned from the presidency and formed the ‘All India Forward Bloc’, a faction within the Congress, aimed at strengthening the political left.
- Bose established the “Free India Center” in Berlin and formed the Indian Army with Indian prisoners of war, who fought for the British in North Africa before being imprisoned by the Axis powers(Axis Nations- Germany, Italy, and Japan)
- Azad Hind Radio was started in 1942 in Germany under the leadership of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The purpose of this radio was to propagate Indians to fight, to get freedom from the British.
- On this radio, Bose addressed Mahatma Gandhi as the ‘Father of the Nation’ on 6th July 1944.
Indian National Army (INA):
- Subhash Chandra Bose reached Japan-controlled Singapore from Germany in July 1943, from there he gave his famous slogan ‘Delhi Chalo’ and announced the formation of Azad Hind Sarkar and the Indian National Army on 21 October 1943.
- INA has first formed under the leadership of Mohan Singh and Japanese Major Iwi chi Fujiwara and it included Indian prisoners of war of the British-Indian Army captured by Japan in Singapore in the Malaya (present-day Malaysia) campaign.
- The INA included both an Indian prisoner in a Singapore prison and an Indian citizen of South-East Asia. Its military strength increased to 50,000.
- The INA fought allied forces within the Indian border at Imphal and Burma in 1944, however, with the fall of Rangoon, the Azad Hind government became an effective political entity.
- In November 1945, soon after the British government prosecuted the INA people, there were mass demonstrations across the country.
Effect:
The experience of the INA created a wave of discontent in the British Indian Army during the years 1945–46, culminating in a naval uprising of Bombay in February 1946 which forced the British government to leave India as soon as possible.
Structure of INA:
The INA was essentially a non-sectarian organization, as Muslims were in large numbers among its officers and ranks and it also started a women’s contingent named after the Rani of Jhansi.
Source: The Hindu
