INA

1. Wartime background and the first INA

The INA emerged from the convergence of Indian expatriate nationalism, discontent among Indian soldiers captured during the Second World War and Japan’s advance into Southeast Asia. British surrender at Singapore on 15 February 1942 placed large numbers of British Indian Army personnel in Japanese captivity. Japanese intelligence officers, particularly Major Fujiwara Iwaichi, encouraged an Indian force that could fight against British rule.

Captain Mohan Singh, an officer of the British Indian Army captured in Malaya, became the principal organiser of the first INA. Recruitment developed during 1942, and the force was formally organised in September. Although prisoners of war supplied its initial manpower, Indian civilians overseas subsequently contributed recruits, money and material. Conditions in captivity, nationalist commitment and Japanese pressure influenced recruitment in different ways; participation should not be explained by a single motive.

The Indian Independence League supplied a civilian political framework. Rash Behari Bose, a revolutionary living in Japan, played a leading role in bringing overseas Indian organisations together through meetings at Tokyo and Bangkok in 1942. The League and INA were connected but distinct: one was a political organisation, the other an armed force. Disagreements over Japanese interference, operational control and Indian autonomy caused the first INA to collapse in December 1942; Mohan Singh was detained by the Japanese.

2. Subhas Chandra Bose and the reorganisation

Subhas Chandra Bose had been Congress president at Haripura in 1938 and was re-elected at Tripuri in 1939. Following a conflict with the Gandhian leadership, he resigned and established the Forward Bloc in 1939. Escaping British surveillance in January 1941, he travelled through Afghanistan to Germany, where he sought external support for Indian independence. The Indian Legion raised in Europe was separate from the INA formed in Southeast Asia.

Bose reached Southeast Asia in 1943 after a journey involving German and Japanese submarines. On 4 July 1943, Rash Behari Bose transferred leadership of the Indian Independence League to him in Singapore. Bose then reorganised and expanded the INA, restoring morale and drawing support from overseas Indian communities. His objective was to combine an invasion of India with a wider uprising against British authority.

Known as Netaji, Bose popularised the battle cry Delhi Chalo and the salutation Jai Hind. His appeal, commonly rendered as Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom, emphasised sacrifice and mobilisation. The INA promoted unity across regional and religious divisions. The Rani of Jhansi Regiment, organised under Lakshmi Swaminathan, gave women an unusually prominent military role, although its actual combat deployment was limited.

3. The Provisional Government of Azad Hind

On 21 October 1943, Bose proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India, commonly called the Azad Hind Government, in Singapore. He served as its head and held the war and foreign affairs portfolios. The government sought recognition as an alternative sovereign authority, declared war against Britain and the United States and received recognition from Japan and several other Axis-aligned governments.

Its institutions and symbols included a national flag, financial arrangements, overseas fundraising and the Azad Hind Bank established at Rangoon in 1944. These initiatives expressed a claim to statehood, but the government lacked secure territorial control and depended heavily on Japanese military resources, communications and strategy. Its political aspirations must therefore be distinguished from its limited administrative capacity.

Japan announced the transfer of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Azad Hind Government in 1943. Bose visited Port Blair and hoisted the national flag on 30 December 1943; he named the island groups Shaheed and Swaraj respectively. This transfer was largely nominal because effective military control remained Japanese. Japanese occupation also involved severe repression of islanders, complicating any account that treats the islands simply as liberated territory.

4. Campaign in northeastern India and military defeat

During 1944, INA units accompanied Japanese forces advancing from Burma towards northeastern India. The offensive centred on Imphal and Kohima and was intended to break British defences, disrupt communications and open a route into India. INA units performed combat, reconnaissance, propaganda and support functions; they did not operate as an independently supplied army.

At Moirang in Manipur, an INA contingent under Shaukat Malik raised the tricolour on 14 April 1944. The event became an important symbol of the movement. However, it should not be confused with the capture of Imphal or Kohima: neither objective was achieved. Claims that the INA liberated extensive areas of India exaggerate the campaign’s territorial results.

The offensive failed because of overstretched supply lines, monsoon conditions, disease, food shortages and strong Allied resistance supported by air supply. Retreat through Burma imposed heavy losses and suffering. Allied reconquest of Burma and Japan’s surrender in August 1945 ended the INA’s military campaign. Bose was reported to have died following an aircraft crash at Taihoku, now Taipei, on 18 August 1945; the circumstances subsequently became the subject of official inquiries and continuing controversy.

5. Red Fort trials and nationalist mobilisation

After the war, British authorities prosecuted selected INA personnel through courts-martial. The first major trial opened at Delhi’s Red Fort in November 1945. Its defendants were Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon. Their Muslim, Hindu and Sikh identities helped make the proceedings a powerful public symbol of national unity, although the INA’s significance extended beyond this symbolism.

The principal charge was waging war against the King-Emperor; the proceedings also included charges connected with violence against fellow prisoners or soldiers. The defence argued that the accused had fought as members of an army representing a government committed to Indian independence. Bhulabhai Desai led the principal legal defence, while Tej Bahadur Sapru and Jawaharlal Nehru were prominent members of the wider defence effort.

Demonstrations, meetings, fundraising and student and worker protests spread across India. Congress organised defence and relief work, while support for INA prisoners extended to the Muslim League and other political groups. The three officers were convicted and sentenced to transportation for life. Commander-in-Chief Claude Auchinleck remitted the transportation sentences in January 1946, though dismissal from military service remained. Remission must not be confused with acquittal.

6. Historical significance and examination perspective

The INA failed to defeat the British militarily, but its post-war political impact was substantial. Public sympathy challenged the colonial portrayal of its members as traitors and made punishment politically costly. The movement strengthened the sense that Indian soldiers could place national allegiance above loyalty to the colonial state.

The trials formed part of the wider unrest of 1945–46, which included labour struggles and the Royal Indian Navy uprising of February 1946. These developments raised British concerns about the reliability of the armed forces. Nevertheless, the naval uprising was not organised by the INA, and Indian independence cannot be attributed to the INA alone. Mass nationalism, British wartime exhaustion, international changes and political negotiations also mattered.

A balanced assessment recognises anti-colonial courage and inclusive mobilisation while examining the constraints of cooperation with imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. For Prelims, remember the distinctions between Mohan Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose, Rash Behari Bose and Subhas Chandra Bose, the League and the army, and military defeat and political influence.

Previous year questions

No UPSC question has been asked directly on this micro-topic yet. Use the practice questions below.

Practice questions