Bose and the INA

Bose and the INA Bose with INA A considerably large contingent of the Indian Army was posted on the South East Asian countries that were part of the British Empire. They were in Malaya, Burma and elsewhere. The forces, however, could not stand up to the Japanese army. The command of the British Indian Army in the South-East Asian front simply retreated leaving the ranks behind as Prisoners of War (POWs). Mohan Singh, an officer of the British Indian Army in Malaya, approached the Japanese for help and they found in this an opportunity. Japan’s interests lay in colonising China and not much India. The Indian POWs with the Japanese were left under Mohan Singh’s command. The fall of Singapore to the Japanese forces added to the strength of the POWs and Mohan Singh now had , POWs under his command. Of these, Mohan Singh had drafted about , men in the Indian National Army by the end of . Indians in the region saw the INA as saviours against Japanese expansionism as much as the commander and other officers held out that the army would march into India but only on invitation from the Indian National Congress. Last Phase of Indian National Movement It was in this context that the colonial rulers sent up three prominent officers of the INA – Shah Nawaz Khan, P.K. Sehgal and G.S. Dhillon – to trial. The press in India reported the trials with all empathy and editorials sought the soldiers freed immediately. The INA week was marked by processions, hartals and even general strikes across the nation demanding release of the soldiers. The choice of the three men to be sent up for trial ended up rallying all political opinion behind the campaign. The Muslim League, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Hindu Maha Sabha, all those who had stayed clear of the Quit India campaign, joined the protests and raised funds for their defence. Although the trial court found Sehgal, Dhillon and Shah Nawaz Khan guilty of treason, the commander in chief remitted the sentences and set them free on January , . The INA trials, indeed, set the stage for yet another important stage in the history of the Indian National Movement in February . The ratings of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) raised the banner of revolt.