“The future generation of Indians who will be born not as slaves but as free man, because of your colossal sacrifice, will bless your names and proudly proclaim to the world that you, their forbears, fought and lost the battle n Manipur, Assam and Burma, but that through temporary failure you paved the way to ultimate success and glory”
17.08.1945
Subhas Chandra Bose, affectionately called as Netaji, was one of the most prominent leaders of Indian freedom struggle. Though Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have garnered much of the credit for successful culmination of Indian freedom struggle, the contribution of Subash Chandra Bose is no less. He has been denied his rightful place in the annals of Indian history. He founded Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to overthrow British Empire from India and came to acquire legendary status among Indian masses.
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa. His father Janaki Nath Bose was a famous lawyer and his mother Prabhavati Devi was a pious and religious lady. Subhas Chandra Bose was the ninth child among fourteen siblings. Subhas Chandra Bose was a brilliant student right from the childhood. He topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province and graduated with a First Class in Philosophy from the Scottish Churches College in Calcutta.
He was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings and was known for his patriotic zeal as a student. To fulfill his parents wishes he went to England in 1919 to compete for Indian Civil Services. In England he appeared for the Indian Civil Service competitive examination in 1920, and came out fourth in order of merit.
Azad Hind Fauj or the Indian National Army (INA) was formed in 1942 by Rash Behari Bose and Captain-General Mohan Singh. Later, INA was revived by Subhas Chandra Bose on October 21, 1943.
After several months of intensive military training, Subhas Chandra Bose felt that the INA was ready to free India. His plan was to enter north-east India through Burma. By January 1944, the Provisional Government of Azad Hind and the INA began moving to Burma. Together with the Japanese, the INA successfully staged two military campaigns in March and captured Imphal and Arakan.
A bronze statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose has been unveiled at the Indian cultural centre premises here in the presence of nine Indian National Army (INA) veterans, including three women.
It marked a historic moment for INA, the Rani of Jhansi regiment, Balak Sena and the veterans of the INA in Malaysia. Nine INA veterans participated at the unveiling on Saturday and two more joined through a video message to the gathering. Three of the veterans who participated were women who were part of the Rani of Jhansi regiment of the INA.
The bust was unveiled by the traditional lighting of the lamp. There were two INA speakers, Rasamma Bhupalan of the Rani of Jhansi regiment and dr K R Somasundaram, and two more joined through video link, Dr L Krishnan and Janaki Bai Fateh Singh.
Veteran of the Rani of Jhansi regiment Meenachee Perumal (90 years) sang gusty INA songs in Bengali and Tamil much to the admiration of the crowd which had filled the Cultural centre to the brim. All INA veterans were given commemorative plaques by the High Commissioner T S Tirumurti.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose strode like a colossus across the Malay Peninsula inspiring numerous Malaysians, particularly those of Indian-origin, to join the army. Malaysia has the second largest Indian-origin community in the world of around two million. One of the most distinguished INA veteran in Malaysia, who passed away in year 2014, was Capt. Janaki Athi Nahappan, who had served as deputy leader in the Rani of Jhansi regiment of the Indian National Army under Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal.
