Subhas Chandra Bose and INA

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After the Indian National Congress acted against Bose in August 1939, shunting him out of all offices including as president of the Bengal Congress Committee, Bose embarked upon a campaign trail, to mobilise support to his position, across India.
He was arrested by the British on July 3, 1940 under the Defence of India Act and kept under constant surveillance.
As the war progressed in Europe, Bose believed that Germany was going to win.
He began to nurture the idea that Indian independence could be achieved by joining hands with the Axis powers.
In the midnight of January 16-17, 1941, Bose slipped out of Calcutta, and reached Berlin by the end of March, travelling through Kabul and the Soviet Union on an Italian passport.
Bose met Hitler and Goebbels in Berlin but both the Nazi leaders were cold and the only concession they gave was to set up the Azad Hind Radio.
When Germany facing reverses, Bose found his way to Singapore in July 1943.

A considerably large contingent of the Indian Army was posted on the South East Asian countries that were part of the British Empire could not stand up to the Japanese army and leaving the ranks behind as Prisoners of War (POWs).
Mohan Singh, an officer of the British Indian Army in Malaya, approached the Japanese for help and started the Indian National Army with 40,000 men by the end of 1942.
On July 2, 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose, reached Singapore.
From there he went to Tokyo and after a meeting with Prime Minister Tojo, the Japanese leader declared that his country did not desire territorial expansion into India.
Bose returned to Singapore and set up the Provisional Government of Free India on October 21, 1943 and gave the slogan ‘Dilli Chalo’

Gandhi Brigade,
Nehru Brigade,
Jhansi Brigade – women’s brigade named after Rani of Jhansi and it was commanded by a medical doctor and daughter of freedom fighter Ammu Swaminathan from Madras, Dr. Lakshmi Sahgal

This Provisional Government declared war against Britain and the other allied nations.
On July 6, 1944, Subhas Bose addressed a message to Gandhi over the Azad Hind Radio from Rangoon and calling him the Father of the Nation, Bose appealed to Gandhi for his blessing in what he described as “India’s last war of independence.”

A battalion of the INA commanded by Shah Nawaz accompanied the Japanese army, in its march on Imphal.
This was in late 1944 and the Axis powers, including the Japanese forces, had fallen into bad times all over.
The Imphal campaign did not succeed and the Japanese retreated before the final surrender to the British command in mid-1945.
Shah Nawaz and his soldiers of the INA were taken prisoners and charged with treason.
The airplane carrying Subhas Chandra Bose crashed and he died on 18 August 1945.

INA Trial

The INA trials were held at the Red Fort in New Delhi.
The Congress set up a defence committee comprising Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Bhulabhai Desai and Asaf Ali.
Nehru, who had given up his legal practice as early as in 1920 responding to Gandhi’s call for non-cooperation, wore his black gown to appear in defence.
It was in this context that the colonial rulers sent up three prominent officers of the INA – Shah Nawaz Khan, P.K. Sehgal and G.S. Dhillon to trial.
The Muslim League, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Hindu Maha Sabha, all those who had stayed clear of the Quit India campaign, joined the protests and raised funds for their defence.
Although the trial court found Sehgal, Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan guilty of treason, the commander in chief remitted the sentences and set them free on January 6, 1946.
The INA trials, indeed, set the stage for yet another important stage in the history of the Indian National Movement in February 1946.

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