Azad Hind
Provisional Government of Free India ʻĀrẓī Ḥukūmat-e-Āzād Hind | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1943–1945 | |||||||||
Motto: Ittehad, Itmad aur Qurbani (Hindustani) "Unity, Faith and Sacrifice" | |||||||||
Anthem: Subh Sukh Chain (Hindustani) "Auspicious Happiness" | |||||||||
Status | Puppet state of the Empire of Japan[1][2] | ||||||||
Capital | New Delhi (de jure) Singapore (de facto) Port Blair (provisional) | ||||||||
Demonym(s) | Indian | ||||||||
Government | Provisional government | ||||||||
Head of the state | |||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Subhas Chandra Bose | ||||||||
Historical era | World War II | ||||||||
• Established | 21 October 1943 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 18 August 1945 | ||||||||
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The Provisional Government of Free India or, more simply, Azad Hind,[3][4] was a short-lived Japanese-supported provisional government in India.[5] It was established in Japanese occupied Singapore during World War II in October 1943 and has been considered a puppet state of the Empire of Japan.[6][7][8]
It was a part of the political movement originating in the 1940s outside India with the purpose of allying with the Axis powers to liberate India from British rule. It was established by Indian nationalists in exile during the latter part of the World War II in Singapore with monetary, military and political assistance from Imperial Japan.[8]
Founded on 21 October 1943, the government was inspired by the concepts of
The legacy of Azad Hind is, however, open to judgment. After the war, the Raj observed with alarm the transformation of the perception of Azad Hind from traitors and collaborators to liberators.
Establishment
The direct origins of Azad Hind can be linked to two conferences of Indian expatriates from across Southeast Asia, the first of which was held in Tokyo in March 1942.[20] At this conference, convened by Rash Behari Bose, an Indian expatriate living in Japan, the Indian Independence League was established as the first move towards an independent Indian state politically aligned with the Empire of Japan. Rash also moved to create a sort of independence army that would assist in driving the British from India – this force would later become the Indian National Army. The second conference, held later that year in Bangkok, invited Subhas Chandra Bose to participate in the leadership of the League. Bose was living in Germany at the time and made the trip to Japan via submarine.[21]
Rash Behari Bose, who was already ageing by the time the League was founded, struggled to keep the League organised and failed to secure resources for the establishment of the Indian National Army. He was replaced as president of the Indian Independence League by Subhas Chandra Bose; there is some controversy as to whether he stepped down of his own volition or by pressure from the Japanese who needed a more energetic and focused presence leading the Indian nationalists.[22]
Bose arrived in Tokyo on 13 June 1943 and declared his intent to make an assault against the eastern provinces of India in an attempt to oust the British from control of the subcontinent. Bose arrived in Singapore on 2 July, and in October 1943 formally announced the establishment of the Provisional Government of Free India at the Cathay Cinema Hall. In defining the tasks of this new political establishment, Subhas declared: "It will be the task of the Provisional Government to launch and conduct the struggle that will bring about the expulsion of the British and their allies from the soil of India."[23] Bose, taking formal command of the demoralised and undermanned Indian National Army from Rash Bose, turned it into a professional army with the help of the Japanese. He recruited Indian civilians living in Japanese-occupied territories of South-east Asia and incorporated vast numbers of Indian POWs from British forces in Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong to man the brigades of the INA.[24]
Ministers
The Provisional Government of Free India consisted of a Cabinet headed by Subhas Chandra Bose as the Head of the State, The Prime Minister and the Minister for War and Foreign Affairs.[citation needed]
Captain Dr.
Other public administration ministers of the Provisional Government of Free India included:
- Lakshmi Swaminadhan– The Minister in Charge of Women's Organization
- S. A. Ayer – The Minister of Broadcasting and Publicity
- Lt. Col. A. C. Chatterji – The Minister of Finance
The Indian National Army was represented by Armed Forces ministers, including:
- Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmed[25]
- Lt. Col. N. S. Bhagat
- Lt. Col. J. K. Bhonsle
- Lt. Col. Guizara Singh
- Lt. Col. M.Z. Kiani
- Lt. Col. A. D. Loganathan
- Lt. Col. Ehsan Qadir
- Lt. Col. Shahnawaz Khan
The Provisional Government was also constituted and administered by a number of Secretaries and Advisors to Subhas Chandra Bose, including:
- Capt. Dilip Singh Siwach
- A. M. Sahay – Secretary
- Karim Ghani
- Debnath Das
- D. M. Khan
- A. Yellapa
- J. Thivy
- Sardar Ishar Singh Narula
- A. N. Sarkar – the government's official Legal Advisor
All of these Secretaries and Advisory officials held Ministerial rank in the Provisional Government. The extent of the Provisional Government's day-to-day management of affairs for Azad Hind is not entirely well-documented, so their specific functions as government officials for the state outside their positions as support ministers for Subhas Chandra Bose is not entirely certain.
Recognition
Azad Hind was recognised as a legitimate state by only a small number of countries limited solely to Axis powers and their allies.
Government administration and World War II
The same night that Bose declared the existence of Azad Hind, the government took action to declare war against the United States and Britain. The government consisted of a Cabinet ministry acting as an advisory board to Subhas Bose, who was given the title "Netaji" (translating roughly to "leader") and was no doubt the dominant figure in the Provisional Government. He exercised virtual authoritarian control over the government and the army. With regards to the government's first issuances of war declarations, the "Cabinet had not been unanimous about the inclusion of the U.S.A. Bose had shown impatience and displeasure – there was never any question then or later of his absolute authority: the Cabinet had no responsibility and could only tender advice..."[citation needed]
At the end of October 1943, Bose flew to Tokyo to participate in the Greater East Asia Conference as an observer to Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; it could not function as a delegate because India had technically fallen outside the jurisdiction of Japan's definition of "Greater East Asia", but Bose gave speeches in opposition to Western colonialism and imperialism at the conference. By the end of the conference, Azad Hind had been given a limited form of governmental jurisdiction over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which had been captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy early on in the war.[10]
Once under the jurisdiction of Azad Hind, the islands formed the government's first claims to territory. The islands themselves were renamed "Shaheed" and "Swaraj", meaning "martyr" and "self-rule" respectively. Bose placed the islands under the governorship of
Azad Hind's military forces in the form of the INA saw some successes against the British and moved with the Japanese army to lay siege to the town of
In addition to these setbacks, the INA was faced with a formidable challenge when the troops were left to defend
Indian areas under the administration of the Provisional Government
Almost all of the territory of the Provisional Government lay in the Andaman Islands, although the Provisional Government was allowed some authority over Indian enclaves in Japanese-occupied territories. Provisional Government civil authority was never enacted in areas occupied by the INA; instead, Japanese military authority prevailed and responsibility for administration of occupied areas of India was shared between the Japanese and the Indian forces.[32]
INA defeat and Provisional Government collapse
Left to defend Rangoon from the British advance without support from the Japanese, the INA was soundly defeated. Bose was suggested to leave Burma to continue his struggle for Indian independence and returned to Singapore before the fall of Rangoon; the government Azad Hind had established on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands collapsed when the island garrisons of Japanese and Indian troops were defeated by British troops and the islands themselves retaken. Allegedly Bose himself was killed in a plane crash departing from Taiwan attempting to escape to the Soviet Union. The Provisional Government of Free India ceased to exist with the deaths of the Axis, the INA, and the disappearance of Bose in 1945.
The troops who manned the brigades of the Indian National Army were taken as
Relations with the Axis Powers
Since
Britain accused him of
It has been argued that the fact that Azad Hind was aligned politically with Japan and the Axis Powers may have had more to do with what Bose saw as a pragmatic approach to Indian independence. Disillusioned with Congress's non-violent movement, Bose was clearly of the camp that supported exploiting British weakness to gain Indian independence. Throughout the existence of Azad Hind, Bose sought to distance himself from Japanese collaboration and become more self-sufficient but found this difficult since the existence of Azad Hind as a governmental entity had only come about with the support of the Japanese, on whom the government and army of Azad Hind were entirely dependent. Bose, however, is considered a hero by some in present-day India and is remembered as a man who fought fiercely for Indian independence.[36] However, Subhas Chandra Bose had supported Fascism and Nazism before the start of WWII, declaring that India needed "a synthesis of what modern Europe calls socialism and fascism" in a speech in made in Calcutta in 1930.[37]
Although Japanese troops saw much of the combat in India against the British, the INA was certainly by itself an effective combat force, having faced British and allied troops and making their mark in the Battle of Imphal. On 18 April 1944 the suicide squad led by Col. Shaukat Malik broke through the British defence and captured Moirang in Manipur. The Azad Hind administration took control of this independent Indian territory.[38] Following Moirang, the advancing INA breached the Kohima road, posing a threat to the British positions in both Silchar and Kohima. Col. Gulzara Singh's column had penetrated 250 miles into India. The Azad Brigade advanced, by outflanking the Anglo-American positions.[39]
However, INA's most serious, and ultimately fatal, limitations were the reliance on Japanese logistics and supplies and the total air-dominance of the allies, which, along with a supply line deluged by torrential rain, frustrated the INA's and the Japanese bid to take Imphal.[4]
With the siege of Imphal failing, the Japanese began to shift priority for resource allocation from South Asia to the Pacific, where they were fighting United States troops advancing from island to island against Japanese holdings there. When it had become clear that Bose's plans to advance to Delhi from the borders of Burma would never materialise due to the defeat of the INA at
See also
- Collaboration with Imperial Japan
- List of World War II puppet states
- List of Indian independence activists
- Subhas Chandra Bose
- Indian National Army
- Azad Hind Bank
- Azad Hind stamps
- Azad Hind Radio
- Decorations of Azad Hind
- Free India Centre
- Indian Legion
- Battaglione Azad Hindoustan
- Hindu–German Conspiracy
References
- ^ Bayly, C. A. & T. Harper Forgotten Armies. The Fall of British Asia 1941–5. London 2004, p. 325.
- ^ Dasgupta. Red Sun over Black Water, pp. 67, 87, 91–95; Mathur Kala Pani, pp. 249–251
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-569365-2.
- ^ a b Ghose, Sankar (1975). Political ideas and movements in India. Allied Publishers; Original from: University of Michigan Press. p. 136.
- ISBN 978-1-000-07435-2.
- ISBN 978-1-000-14401-7.
Japanese postal authorities prepared stamps for use in the foreshadowed puppet state of Azad Hind
- ISBN 978-1-4766-3337-4.
Imperial Japan in 1943 had established a puppet state known as the Provisional Government of Free India
- ^ ISBN 978-8184243925.
- ISBN 81-269-0316-3
- ^ ISBN 978-0-333-90425-1
- ISBN 81-250-2596-0
- ^ a b Pandit, H. N. (1988) Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, p. 331.
- ^ a b Das, S. "Indian National Army in South East Asia". The Hindustan Times. Special Edition. "Hindustan Times – Archive News". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
- ^ Edwardes, Michael (1964). The Last Years of British India, Cleveland, World Pub. Co., p. 93: "The Government of India had hoped, by prosecuting members of the INA, to reinforce the morale of the Indian army. It succeeded only in creating unease, in making the soldiers feel slightly ashamed that they themselves had supported the British. If Bose and his men had been on the right side – and all India now confirmed that they were – then Indians in the Indian army must have been on the wrong side. It slowly dawned upon the Government of India that the backbone of the British rule, the Indian army, might now no longer be trustworthy. The ghost of Subhas Bose, like Hamlet’s father, walked the battlements of the Red Fort (where the INA soldiers were being tried), and his suddenly amplified figure overawed the conference that was to lead to independence."
- ^ a b Encyclopædia Britannica. Indian National army. After returning to India the veterans of the INA posed a difficult problem for the British government. The British feared that a public trial for treason on the part of the INA members might embolden anti-British sentiment and erupt into widespread protest and violence. URL Accessed on 19 August 2006.
- ISBN 978-1-135-76456-2.
- ISBN 978-0-521-89975-8.
- ISBN 978-81-269-0316-0.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. Indian National army.
- OCLC 982651998.
- ^ "{Indian National Army: Provisional Government of Azad Hind}". www.nas.gov.sg. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "Azad Hind Formation Anniversary: Interesting Facts about Azad Hind Fauj and Subhas Chandra Bose". Firstpost. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "Indian National Army". aicc.org.in. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009.
- ^ "Azad Hind Formation Anniversary". Drishti IAS. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "Indian National Army". nas.sg. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ^ "Indian National Army : Provisional Government of Azad Hind". National Archives of Singapore. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- ^ "Can we declare Bose as India's first head of the state of a provisional government?". The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. he Times Group. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- ^ "Explained: Why Azad Hind Diwas Is Celebrated On October 21". IndiaTimes. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "The Last Straw That Broke the Back of the British Empire". Archived from the original on 5 June 2003.
- ISBN 9788170491385
- ^ Mathur, L. P. (1985). Kala Pani. History of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands with a study of India's Freedom Struggle. Delhi: Eastern Book Corporation, pp. 249–251.
- ^ "Azad Hind Formation Anniversary: Facts about Azad Hind Fauj and Subhas Chandra Bose". www.timesnownews.com. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "नेताजी की जयंती: यूं अस्तित्व में आई आजाद हिंद फौज, पंजाब के जनरल मोहन सिंह ने की थी स्थापना". Amar Ujala (in Hindi). Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "After Centre's rejection, Netaji tableau to be displayed at Kolkata Republic Day programme". The Economic Times. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "Netaji had vision for economic strength of India, was champion of gender equality: Daughter". The Economic Times. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "Subhash Chandra Bose". Archived from the original on 14 January 2006. Retrieved 16 February 2006.
- ^ Pasricha, Ashu (2008). "The Political Thought of Subhas Chandra Bose". Encyclopaedia Eminent Thinkers, 16, Concept Publishing Company.
- ^ a b The Hindustan Times "Hindustan Times – Archive News". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
- ^ Majumdar, R. C. (1978). Jibanera Smritideepe (Bengali). Calcutta, General Printers and Publishers, pp. 229–230.
External links
- "The Last Straw That Broke the Back of the British Empire". Archived from the original on 5 June 2003.
- Netaji Subhas Bose
- Lecture notes on Bose