75th Anniversary of Azad Hind Government

• 22 Oct 2018

75th anniversary of the formation of Azad Hind Government was celebrated on 21st October, 2018, at the Red Fort, Delhi.

• On this day 75 years ago, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had announced the establishment of the provisional government of Azad Hind (Known as Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind) in occupied Singapore in 1943 which was once the bulwark of the British Empire.
• It was supported by the Axis powers of Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, the Italian Social Republic, and their allies.
• The revered freedom fighter had launched a struggle to free India from British rule under the banner of the provisional government-in exile during the latter part of the Second World War.

Brief History

• Subhash Chandra Bose was convinced that armed struggle was the only way to achieve independence for India. He had been a leader of the radical wing of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s, rising to become Congress president in 1938 and 1939 but was ousted following differences with Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress leadership.
• Under his provisional government, the Indians living abroad had been united. The Indian National Army drew ex-prisoners and thousands of civilian volunteers from the Indian expatriate population in Malaya (present-day Malaysia) and Burma (now Myanmar).
• Under the provisional government, Bose was the head of the state, the prime minister and the minister for war and foreign affairs. Captain Lakshmi Sahgal headed the women's organisation while S A Ayer headed the publicity and propaganda wing. Revolutionary leader Rash Behari Bose was designated as the supreme advisor.
• The provisional government was also formed in the Japanese-occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The islands were reoccupied by the British in 1945.
• Bose's death was seen as the end to the Azad Hind movement.The Second World War, also ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers.
• The existence of the Azad Hind Government gave a greater legitimacy to the independence struggle against the British. Pertinently, the role of Azad Hind Fauj or the Indian National Army (INA) had been crucial in bequeathing a much needed impetus to India’s struggle for Independence.