Indian National Army

There were many Indian revolutionaries working abroad for the country’s cause. Among these Rash Behari Bose living as a fugitive since 1915 in Japan. Major Fujiwara, a Japanese army officer persuaded Captain Mohan Singh to work in collaboration with Japanese for India’s freedom. In March 1942 a conference of Indians was held in Tokyo and they formed the Indian Independence League. This was followed by a conference at Bankok where Rash Behari was elected as the President and a decision was taken to raise the Indian National Army[Azad Hind Fauj]. Captain Mohan Singh was appointed as the commander of I.N.A. this conference invited S.C.Bose to lead the movement. S Subhas Chandra Bose had escaped from India in March 1941 to go to Soviet Union for help. But when the Soviet Union joined with the allies in June 1941, he went to Germany. In February he left for Japan to organize an armed struggle against the British rule with Japanese help. He joined the INA at Singapore in July 1943. Rash Behari handed over the leadership to S.C.Bose and an Azad Hind Sarkar was formed.

The INA in a few months had three fighting brigades named Gandhi, Azad and Nehru. Soon other brigades namely Subhash brigade and Jhansi Rani brigade were formed. The slogans of INA were ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Delhi Chalo’. Subhas declared that, “ you give me blood, I will give you freedom”. The INA crossed the Indian frontier on 18 March 1944. The tricolour flag was hoisted on Indian soil. The INA fought heroically. With the collapse of Germany and setbacks to Japanese, the INA could not stand on its own. Subhas Chandra Bose disappeared and it is believed that he died in an air crash.

The INA made a significant impact on India’s freedom struggle. It became clear to the British that they could no longer depend on the loyalty of Indian soldiers. The INA demonstrated that those who waged an armed struggle against the British were not at all affected by communal divisions. The INA also demonstrated that the capabilities of Indian women in waging armed struggle against the British.