A new book claims that Subhas Chandra Bose did not establish the Indian National Army (INA), and that it was originally set up by the Japanese Army intelligence and Indian nationalists outside India with the purpose of fighting a common enemy, the British.
According to the book, The Forgotten Indian Prisoners of World War II, authored by Gautam Hazarika, Subhas Chandra Bose or Netaji took over the INA only later, and it was he who was responsible for its wider recognition as a force against Britain.
“[The formation of the INA] was a joint plan, possible only with both sides in agreement. There was a pre-war alliance between the Japanese Army Intelligence and Indian nationalists outside India. This was agreed by Major Fujiwara Iwaichi and Giani Pritam Singh in Bangkok days before Japan attacked Pearl Harbour/Southeast Asia on December 7/8, 1941,” Mr. Hazarika, in Kolkata recently for a talk on the book published by Penguin, told The Hindu.
“[The agreement was that] Indians (both local civilians and the hoped-for Indian Army men who would join the yet-to-be-formed INA) would help Japan capture Malaya/Singapore. In return, Japan would arm these Indians in Southeast Asia to invade India and free it of British rule. The plan to suborn Indian troops (who formed the bulk of those defending Malaya/Singapore/Hong Kong) was decided in a 1938 Tokyo meeting hosted by the Japan-based Rash Behari Bose, attended by the Giani,” the Singapore-based author said.
