Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Unsung Patriots of Azad Hind Fauj

1857 British Consolidation states:

Sir John Seeley wrote: The mutiny was in great measure put down by turning races of India against each other. So long as this can be done the governance of India from England is possible .But if this were to change and should the population be molded in to a single nationality we would have to leave. The 1857 revolt had shaken the British .if all the diverse races caste and creed will unite in attempt to throw British out it will happen the British knows very well.

The British feared of the deep rooted Indian identities based on religion, they want to make sure the Indian society will remain desperate and fragmented and never ever come together again to stage a rebellion similar to 1857 uprising.

Ideological basis for foreign rule to persist in India and how Indians protect their Identity from 321 BCE to 1947 AD. 

Dr.Mithi Mukherjee writes: If the British empire had to survive in India it had to destroy and dismantle all sources of Indian unity identity cultural, political and historical facts and render the very idea of India as meaningless …Torn by internal conflicts, it was claimed that Indian was in desperate need of a neutral and impartial power at the helm of the state to secure justice and order. Given that Indian society was deeply divided in to communities in conflict with each other …only an alien foreign power could be trusted to be neutral and impartial. This was the ideological basis for foreign rule to persist in India.

After the political and military destruction of Hindu states in India from thirteen century on wards as a last way to protect its identity the Hindu states had fragmented themselves to over plus of localized caste and creeds with stringent systems thus preventing any attempt of  Proselytization from the invaders .Whenever any invaders tried to question and attack their localized systems they have united and reacted violently against the suppressors as mentioned in historical facts quoting the Sikh and marata revolt against Mughals.

 Azad Hind Fauj:

Rash Behari Bose

Indian National Army (INA): Rash Behari Bose participated in India’s struggle of Independence since he was the founder of INA. Singapore has been defeated by Japan and around 30,000 Indian soldiers who were working for british were taken as war prisoners by japan and was taken to Malaya .

Major Fujiwa who is charge of Japanese military over that area promised to Indians in Malaya and prisoners that if they give up their citizens ship they will give their support to fight against British peoples in India. In 1942 Rash Behari formed the Indian League of Independence to organize all expatriate Indians to fight for India’s freedom from outside India. Later he Invited Netaji to Bangkok to take leadership of Azad Hind Fauj to lead the freedom struggle .Around 60000 Indian soldiers who previously served for British army had joined INA. Netaji had accepted the Invitation and travelled to Tokyo from Germany and from there to Singapore .Later Rash Behari Retired from Army services and worked as an Advisor to INA.

Netaji's plans to free india which he shares with INC 

Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru

In 1938 Bose wrote to Jawaharlal Nehru “ What happened in Czechoslovakia is similar to Munich pact (The Munich Agreement or Munich Pact was an international agreement established in 1938 which was designed to avoid war between the powers of Europe by allowing Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler to annex the Sudetenland.) I have been telling Congress friends during the last six months, on the basis of information which I had been getting from Europe, that there will be a crisis in Europe in spring which would last till summer. I have therefore been pressing for a dynamic move from our side – for an ultimatum to the British Government demanding Purna Swaraj …there is no sign of any intention on your part to utilize the international situation for our benefit”. At the Tripura Congress session of 1939, he demanded giving the British Government a six-month deadline for granting independence and of launching a mass civil disobedience movement if it failed to do so.  Gandhi was not in agreement and shortly afterwards Bose resigned. After the failure of Crips mission(The Cripps Mission was a failed attempt in late March 1942 by the British government to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II. The mission was headed by a senior minister Sir Stafford Cripps) Gandhiji has called for Quit India Mission in 1942 ,Bose had asked for the same 3 years before Quit India Movement in 1939 and he left congress and India in order gather International support to lead the war for freedom against British. 

Why Bose Left Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress (INC) session

Subhas Chandra Bose was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1938. He sought re-election to the President ship of the party in 1939. Gandhi was supporting Pattabhi Sitaramayya for the Presidentship. However, due to the support given by radical elements within the party, Bose was re-elected as the president of the INC. Gandhi was not happy with his re-election and said that the defeat of Pattabhi Sitaramayya was his own defeat. Pained by Gandhi's agonies, 13 members of the Congress Working Committee resigned. At this time, several delegates who had supported Bose began supporting Gandhi. It was increasingly becoming difficult for Bose to work as the President and hence he resigned from the President ship in 1939. 

How Bose Escaped to Germany and what was his plans
In 1941 in disguise bose escaped from his Calcutta residence ,travelling via Kabul reached Moscow ,But Soviet’s response was disappointing. From their he flew to Germany and founded Indian League constituting 4500 Indian Soldiers who were taken as war prisoners from Rommels Afrika Korps under Britain in North Africa .He planned to train them under German standards for an Invasion in India via Afghanistan at the head of a combined force including USSR,Germany,Italian union .

Bose Meet Hitler for the first time

Hitler didnt give an appointment for the first one year and later when he met him, Hilter never give any assurance about backing Indian Independence .Later Hitler has mentioned in Mein kampf that he wanted India to be under British Domination.His Plans got ravaged when Hitler declared war on Soviet  . Bose waited till 1943 and then carefully evaluating the situation slipped secretly away aboard a submarine bound for Japan. Japan was nurturing the idea to raise an Indian army which would fight alongside the Japanese army.  Bose was able to mobilize, reorganize the army and organize massive support among the expatriate Indian population in south-east Asia.

The Epic Journey from Germany to Tokyo

Bose and his close aide Abid Hasan Safrani boarded a submarine, at the northern tip of Germany. Its mission was to deliver diplomatic mail for the German embassy in Tokyo, blueprints of jet engines and other technical material for the Japanese military.

Bose and his close aide Abid Hasan Safrani 

The Submarine crew had been briefed that their passengers were engineers headed for occupied Norway, to help build reinforced submarine docks. As a result, Bose and Safrani were permitted to sit up in the sunlight, in the conning tower, for as long as they were in German waters. The submarine set a course that took it  north along the Norwegian coast, then making a turn west towards the Faroe Islands.

The sea was rough, and the two Indians were often seasick. However, despite the airless confinement, it was an stimulating moment for Bose. He was on the move once again, working towards fulfilling his dream of one day arriving in free Delhi. At dawn on April 21, 1943, 400 miles southwest of Madagascar, the submarine met with a Japanese submarine and exchanged signals. As mountainous waves struck the German Submarine under dark and rolling skies, its captain emphatically advised Subhash Chandra Bose against leaving the vessel to board the Japanese submarine.

Disregarding the fact that he could not swim, Bose stepped into a raft with Safrani and crossed the stormy seas to board the Japanese vessel, anchored a 100 metres away to prevent the possibility of collision. The crossing was short, and only took minutes but it was a nautical feat without precedent in the war—the only sub-to-sub transfer of civilians in hostile waters.

Bose aboard Japanese Submarine 

Aboard Japanese Submarine the Japanese captain Teraoka gave his own cabin to the Indian guests; In the coming days, Bose would continue to Sabang on the tip of Sumatra, before moving to Singapore and finally to Tokyo. Here, he would take command of the Indian National Army.

Bose Meet Japanese PM at Tokyo

Bravery of Azad Hind Fauj and trials faced by INA Patriots:

Netaji's Address to INA soldiers.

"I assure you that I shall be with you in darkness and sunshine in sorrow and joy in suffering and victory for the present  I can offer you nothing except hunger ,thirst, want, forced marches and death .But if you follow me in life and death- as I am confident you will- I shall lead you to victory and freedom"

In the Provisional Govt.Bose was the head of the state ,the prime minister ,minister for war and foreign affairs ,Capt.Laxmi was the womens wing commander and S A Ayer headed the publicity and propoganda wing.

On Oct. 21, 1943, Bose proclaimed the establishment of a provisional independent Indian government, and his so-called Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj), alongside Japanese troops, advanced to Rangoon and thence overland into India, reaching Indian soil on March 18, 1944, and moving into Kohima and the plains of Imphal.

INA Kohima Camp

In a stubborn battle, the mixed Indian and Japanese forces, lacking Japanese air support, were defeated and forced to retreat. The two victories over the combined force of Japanese and INA were voted the winner of a contest run by the UK’s National Army Museum to identify “Britain’s Greatest Battle” in April 2013. In second place was D-Day and Normandy, in 1944 (25 per cent), ahead of Waterloo, in 1815, (22 per cent). This just shows the intensity of INA's fight.

Subhash Chandra Bose had to struggle a lot to get recruits in INA, and one of his primary successes were to get the Indians captured in war by the Germans motivated enough to fight for the county India under INA. After the Second world war the INA soldiers had been put in trial publicly at the Red fort for waging war against the King Emperor, Britishers did this to frighten the Indian army personnel but it got back fired entire country was enraged and riots broke out in all major cities in November 1945 with the help of local troops, which has shaken the roots of British empire The local soldiers come to know the patriotism of INA soldiers and realized they were on the wrong side.

Since the British troops are tired of the world war, around 2.5 million soldiers of Indian army who were being demobilized should have revolted against the British troops and their families in India around 90,000 Europeans and their families have been evacuated. 

Some of the Unsung Heroes of Azad Hind Fauj:

INA patriots who had faced legendary trials in Red Fort. 

Abid Hasan Safrani who escorted him on the submarine from Germany ,Shah Nawaz Khan, who, along with Dhillon and Prem Sehgal, faced the legendary INA trials at the Red Fort.

1.Capt.Amrik Singh Awarded Sardar e Jung ,Second highest gallentry award ,attained martyrdom in burma.

2.Capt.Krishna Bahadur Mukhiya 

3.Col.Gulzara Singh
4.Capt.Shangara singh mann : Netaji honored him with Sardar-e-jung and Vir-e-Hind for his valor in INA Assam war. 

Capt.Shangara singh mann

4.Major Shingara singh : Tried in court at Red fort ,later charges were dropped due to intervention from patriots all over India.His excerpts during the trial were famous it goes like this "My only crime is patriotism We were Indians ,one and all ,first and last".

Trials on INA soldiers infuriated Local Army Troops in India.

Royal Indian Navy Revolt

The event catalyzed the Royal Indian Navy Revolt that results in a total strike and subsequent revolt by Indian sailors on board ship and shore establishments at Bombay harbor on 18 February 1946 Mutiny broke out in the Royal Indian Navy, incorporating ships and shore establishments of the RIN throughout India from Karachi to Bombay and from Vizag to Calcutta.

The most significant if disconcerting factor for the Raj was the significant militant public support that it received. At some places, NCOs in the British Indian Army started ignoring orders from British superiors. In Madras and Pune, the British garrisons had to face revolts within the ranks of the British Indian Army.

Another Army mutiny took place at Jabalpur during the last week of February 1946, soon after the Navy mutiny at Bombay. This was suppressed by force, including the use of the bayonet by British troops. It lasted about two weeks. After the mutiny, about 45 persons were tried by court martial. 41 were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment or dismissal. In addition, a large number were discharged on administrative grounds. While the participants of the Naval Mutiny were given the freedom fighters' pension, the Jabalpur mutineers got nothing. They even lost their service pension. 

Britain Decides to Leave India.

British weekly intelligence summary issued on 25 March 1946 admitted that the Indian army, navy and air force units were no longer trustworthy, and, for the army, "only day to day estimates of steadiness of decline could be made". The situation has thus been deemed the "Point of No Return."

Reflecting on the factors that guided the British decision to relinquish the Raj in India, Clement Attlee, the then British prime minister, cited several reasons, one of which was the INA activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which weakened the Indian Army - the foundation of the British Empire in India - and the RIN Mutiny that made the British realize that the Indian armed forces could no longer be trusted to prop up the Raj. Although Britain had made, at the time of the Cripps' mission in 1942, a commitment to grant dominion status to India after the war this suggests that the INA and the revolts, mutinies, and the public resentment they germinated were an important factor in the complete withdrawal of the Raj from India.

Royal Indian Navy Mutiny:

February 1946 there erupted wide spread mutiny in Indian Navy,20,000 sailors and 79 ships took part ,the bruisers were forced to negotiate .The INA trials, the stories of Subhash Chandra Bose ("Netaji"), as well as the stories of INA's fight during the Siege of Imphal and in Burma were oozing into the blazing public-eye at the time. These, received through the wireless sets and the media, fed discontent and ultimately inspired the sailors to strike. Unfortunately power never went to the hands of Bose or INA but to the people who virtually collaborated with British. 

1946 Feb: Mutiny in Indian Navy

Aftermath of INA war How Independent India treated INA patriots and Veteran Soldiers who took part in India's freedom struggle:

Around 26000 INA soldiers lost their life during the war of independence even the repatriated INA soldiers who fought for Indian struggle has not been taken to Indian Army ,they were considered as traitors and there war time pensions have been blocked. They were not allowed to participate in Republic day parade.

If INA was integrated into the army, the story of Indian Nation Army would have compelled every Indian to think in terms of Nation rather than other ideas which is being destroying our integrity in our present scenario.

General J N Chaudhuri ,5th May 1973 wrote : The Indian National Army men were not reinstated and though some benefits were paid to them and a very few political appointments having no connection with the armed forces were made available to some of them, their treatment was in fact surprisingly cool after all the adulation they had received just one year earlier.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Vision of India , What he might have done if INA succeed in bringing Independence for India:

No attempts have been made to homogenize Indian population and to maintain the cultural difference with purity. Govt has tried to encourage caste and creed coalition, they never tried to bring unity but to keep the diversity. Bose wanted to industrialize India and make it a major military power but congress wanted India to be demilitarized .The Indians were subjected to 10 centuries of defeat and humiliation still the ruling parties at that time want India to be without military as per their ideology police force will be enough to maintain security of the country, Remember just one century of humiliation make china second largest military power.

Bose's achievement in integrating women and men from all the regions and religions of India in the Indian National Army. Bose wanted to utilize the international situation in favor of Indian Independence and was not in a mood to let go the opportunity. Bose wanted freedom for India at the earliest opportunity, and to some extent, he didn't care who he had to approach for assistance.

Present Situation of INA Veteran Freedom Fighters:

Indian National Army monument in Singapore

Netaji had a memorial built in Singapore for those in the INA who had lost their lives, with the words: ‘Coming generations will remember and honor you for your sacrifice’. The edifice was destroyed following instructions from Lord Mountbatten, who did not want to leave any tinctures of the freedom struggle.

However, despite petitions and letters, the government refuses to give freedom fighters’ pension to the surviving INA members in Southeast Asia, there are a very small number of INA members left in Burma (Myanmar) who are without citizenship of either India or Myanmar and for other’s who fought for the freedom of India without having set a foot on the Indian soil – they are indeed stateless. Those Old Veteran Patriots expecting support from the nation whom they helped to make free  are left with no hopes of recognition and support over the years they are not having Indian citizenship and need monetary supports (pensions) , knowingly or unknowingly everyone had forget their unsung sacrifices. Their sufferings and martyrdom for India remain hidden intentionally. Remember they have lived their lives keeping the memories of the valor and endurance's they undergo during the struggle for freedom, Words from Netaji and National Anthem sung during those days still reverberates in their ears and hearts and that motive force enables them to raise their generations with honor. A country that cannot honor its freedom fighters might have no one left to fight for its freedom.