Why I think the Indian flag should be unfurled from Red Fort on October 21
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as the head of the provisional government of Azad Hind, declared:
Now, that the dawn of freedom is at hand, it is the duty of the Indian people to set up a provisional government of their own, and launch the last struggle under the banner of that government. But with all the Indian leaders in prison (in India) and the people at home totally disarmed – it is not possible to set up a provisional government within India or to launch an armed struggle under the aegis of that Government. It is, therefore, the duty of the Indian Independence League in East Asia, supported by all patriotic Indians at home and abroad, to undertake this task – the task of setting up a Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India), and of conducting the last fight for freedom, with the help of the Army of Liberation (that is, the Azad Hind Fauj or the Indian National Army) organised by the League.
The provisional government is entitled to, and herby claims, the allegiance of every Indian. It guarantees religious liberty as well as equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens. It declares its firm resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation equally and transcending all the differences cunningly fostered by an alien government in the past.
In the name of God, in the name of bygone generations who have welded the Indian people into one nation and in the name of the dead heroes who have bequeathed to us a tradition of heroism and self-sacrifice – we call upon them to launch the final struggle against the British and all their allies in India and to prosecute that struggle with valour, perseverance and full faith in final victory – until the enemy is expelled from Indian soil and the Indian people are once again a Free Nation.
(Proclamation of the provisional government of free India, October 21, 1943)
The Indian National Army, the Army of Liberation of India, or as it is popularly known, the INA, fought on the Indo-Burma front, and finally entered India in early 1944. In March 1944, the INA was able to cross the frontier of India and finally fight with the enemy on Indian soil. The thrust was towards the north-eastern gateway of India towards Imphal and Kohima. The high point came when the INA raised the Indian tricolour on Indian soil at Moirang in Manipur on April 14, 1944, when their march to Delhi was halted. The superior military might of the British, the joint Anglo-American forces and the torrential monsoons turned the tide against the INA and they had to beat a retreat.
In the military defeat of the INA lay the seed of their ultimate victory over British imperialism. As Netaji had predicted, once the news of the heroic exploits of the INA men and women with their ultimate sacrifice for the freedom would reach India, it would galvanise the people to rise against the British Raj. This miscalculation on the part of the British authorities helped it to happen in no small measure.
With Japan’s surrender on August 14, 1945, came the end of the war and the British began to repatriate the INA soldiers and officers to India. The British refused to give them the status of ‘prisoners of war’ and labelled them as traitors and deserters. Thousands of returning INA soldiers began to tell stories about their leader Subhas Chandra Bose. While the British authorities considered how and when to put these men on trial, popular adoration, respect and support spread like wildfire and the demand for the release of the INA men and women increased rapidly. Bose was the man of the hour and his dream and strategy unfolded dramatically even in his absence. When the three officers of the INA – Captain Shah Nawaz Khan, Captain PK Sahgal and Lieutenant GS Dhillon — were put on trial at the Red Fort, the British did not take long to realise that their game was over. The officers were released and they were hailed by their countrymen as heroes.
India finally attained independence on August 15, 1947, and there is no doubt about the role the INA and its leader Netaji played in this ultimate triumph of freedom over bondage. Netaji’s dream had been finally realised but it was only a pale reflection of his dream of a united, vibrant and prosperous India where there would be no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or religion and everyone would enjoy equality of opportunities. His dream is yet to be realised.
On July 8, 1945, Netaji laid the foundation stone of the INA War Memorial to commemorate the ‘unknown warriors’ of the INA. The words inscribed upon the memorial were the motto of the INA: Unity (Ittefaq), Faith (Etmad) and Sacrifice (Kurbani).
Paying homage to the martyrs of the INA, Netaji had said: ‘The future generation of Indians who will be born not as slaves, but as free men, because of your colossal sacrifice, will bless your names and proudly proclaim to the world that you, their forebears, fought and suffered reverses in the battle of Manipur, Assam and Burma. But, through temporary failure they paved the way to ultimate success and glory.”
After its foundation by Netaji, the Japanese built the memorial within a month. When the British returned to Singapore later in 1945, Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Southeast Asia Command of the British, ordered the INA War Memorial to be destroyed. Mountbatten’s intention was to remove all traces of rebellion against British imperialism.
In 1995, the site where the memorial once stood was marked by the National Heritage Board as a historical site and subsequently with financial donations from the Indian community in Singapore a new monument commemorating the original was erected by the Singapore government. The memorial was rebuilt by the Singapore government to honour the INA soldiers who gave up their lives to liberate India from the clutches of British imperialism.
We complete 75 years of the establishment of the Azad Hind government on October 21, 2018. Many programmes are being planned to mark the diamond jubilee celebrations, but the most essential demand from the people of our nation is to hoist the tricolour from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
The request has already been submitted to the Hon’ble Prime Minister- Narendra Modi on behalf of the Bose family, surviving members of the Azad Hind Fauj and Netaji’s admirers across the globe. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as the first head of state of United Free India and Supreme commander of the Azad Hind Fauj, was committed to hoist the national flag at the Red Fort.
Circumstances did not permit him to do so, but we the people of our great nation would like to fulfil his dream, setting a precedent to be followed every year.