Subhas Bose was received by the Japanese Premier Tojo on the day after his arrival.He encouraged Bose's project of forming a Provisional Govt. which would take control of Indian Territory as the Japanese force moved on.Tojo made a declaration about India to the following effect;
1. Japan is firmly resolved to extend all means in order to help India to expel the Anglo-Saxon influences. Subhas Bose spoke from Tokyo over the Radio, of his determination to launch an armed fight against the British from India's eastern borders. When Bose arrived in Singapore on 2 July 1943, he was welcomed with tumultuous enthusiasm by an immense surging crowd who instinctively felt that at last the Man of Destiny had come to lead them on as victors to liberate their own motherland. Subhas Bose took over the Presidentship of the Indian Independence League. Subhas Bose ghave a War cry of " Chalo Delhi" (on to Delhi.and Total Mobilisation.
The Recruitment and Training Departments were hard put to it to give practical effects to these ideas also engaged his attention. The civil side of the Provisional Govt.
1. Health and Social Welfare, 2. Women's affairs; 3. National Education and Culture, 4. Reconstruction, 5. Supply, 6. Overseas, 7. Housing and Transport;
Netaji held a public meeting at Cathay Hall on 21 October, 1943.
On 23 rd Oct the Provisional Govt. decided at a cabinet meeting to declare war on Britain and USA
The declaration was broadcast over Radio by Bose himself and San Francisco Radio communjcated it to the World.
In a few days , nine World powers - Japan, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Burma, Thailand, Nationalist China, the Philipines, and Manchuria - accorded their recognition to the Provisional Govt. of Azad Hind .
On 28th of Oct Netaji flew to Tokyo where he attended the Greater East Asia Conference in the first week of Nov, and was received by the Japanese Emperor with all honours due to the Head of the State and the Provisional Govt of Free India.
At the Greater East India Conference , Premier Tojo announced on the 6th Nov , 1943, that Japan had decided to hand over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Provisional Govt. of Azad Hind . Thus the Provisional Govt. acquired its first stretch of territory in Free India.
Returning to Singapore towards the end of Dec , after visiting China and the Philipines en route. Netaji left for the Andamans where set foot on the first Free India territory on the 31st Dec 1943. It was decided to rename the Andaman and Nicobar , Shahid and Swaraj Islands respectively.
Other public administration ministers of the Provisional Government of Free India included:
- Mr. S. A. Ayer - the Minister of Broadcasting and Publicity
- Lt. Col. A. C. Chatterji - the Minister of Finance
The Indian National Army was represented by Armed Forces ministers, including:
- Lt. Col. Aziz Ahmed [16][17]
- Lt. Col. N. S. Bhagat
- Lt. Col. J. K. Bhonsle
- Lt. Colonel Guizara Singh
- Lt. Col. M.Z. Kiani
- Lt. Col. A. D. Loganathan
- Lt. Col. Ehsan Qadir
- Lt. Col. Shahnawaz Khan
The Provisional Government was also constituted and administered by a number of Secretaries and Advisors to Subhas Chandra Bose, including:
- A.N. Sahay - Secretary
- Karim Ghani
- Debnath Das
- D.M. Khan
- A. Yellapa
- J. Thivy
- Sirdar Isher Singh
- A. N. Sarkar - the government's official Legal Advisor
Azad Hind was recognised as a legitimate state by only a small number of countries, limited almost solely to Axis powers and their affiliate states and puppet regimes. Azad Hind had diplomatic relations with nine countries: Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, Fascist Italy, the Independent State of Croatia, Wang Jingwei's Government in Nanjing, Thailand, the State of Burma, Manchukuo and the Second Philippine Republic. On the declaration of its formation in Singapore the Taoiseach of Ireland, Éamon de Valera, sent a note of congratulations to Bose. Vichy France, however, although being an Axis collaborator, never gave formal political recognition to Azad Hind. This government participated as an observer in the Greater East Asia Conference in November 1943.
Government administration and World War II
The same night that Bose declared the existence of Azad Hind, the government took action to declare war against the United States and Britain. The government consisted of a Cabinet ministry acting as an advisory board to Subhas Bose, who was given the title "Netaji" (translating roughly to "leader"[citation needed]) and was no doubt the dominant figure in the Provisional Government. He exercised virtual authoritarian control over the government and the army. With regards to the go
vernment's first issuances of war declarations, the "Cabinet had not been unanimous about the inclusion of the U.S.A. Bose had shown impatience and displeasure – there was never any question then or later of his absolute authority: the Cabinet had no responsibility and could only tender advice..."
At the end of October 1943, Bose flew to Tokyo to participate in the Greater East Asia Conference as an observer to Japan'sGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; it could not function as a delegate because India had technically fallen outside the jurisdiction of Japan's definition of "Greater East Asia", but Bose gave speeches in opposition to Western colonialism and imperialism at the conference. By the end of the conference, Azad Hind had been given a limited form of governmental jurisdiction over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which had been captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy early on in the war.
Once under the jurisdiction of Azad Hind, the islands formed the government's first claims to territory. The islands themselves were renamed "Shaheed" and "Swaraj", meaning "martyr" and "self-rule" respectively. Bose placed the islands under the governorship of Lt Col A. D Loganathan, and had limited involvement with the official governorship of the territory, instead involving himself in plans to expand the Indian National Army, ensure adequate men and materiel, and formulate its course of actions and the administrations and relations of the Indian population in south east Asia and determining Japanese designs in India and his provisional government. In theory the government itself had the power to levy taxes on the local populace, and to make and enforce laws: in practice they were enforced by the police force under Japanese control. Indians were willing to pay these taxes at first, but became less inclined to do so towards the end of the war when the Provisional Government enacted legislation for higher war-time taxes to fund the INA. During his interrogation after the war Loganathan admitted that he had only had full control over the islands' vestigial education department, as the Japanese had retained full control over the police force, and in protest he had refused to accept responsibility for any other areas of Government. He was powerless to prevent the Homfreyganj massacre of the 30 January 1944, where forty-four Indian civilians were shot by the Japanese on suspicion of spying. Many of them were members of the Indian Independence League, whose leader in Port Blair, Dr. Diwan Singh, had already been tortured to death in the Cellular Jail after doing his best to protect the islanders from Japanese atrocities during the first two years of the occupation.
Azad Hind's military forces in the form of the INA saw some successes against the British, and moved with the Japanese army to lay siege to the town of Imphal in eastern India. Plans to march towards Delhi, gaining support and fresh recruits along the way, stalled both with the onset of monsoon season and the failure to capture Imphal. British bombing seriously reduced morale, and the Japanese along with the INA forces began their withdrawal from India.
In addition to these setbacks, the INA was faced with a formidable challenge when the troops were left to defend Rangoon without the assistance of the Japanese in the winter of 1944–1945. Loganathan was relocated from the Andaman Islands to act as field commander. With the INA garrison about 6,000 strong, he manned the Burmese capital in the absence of any other police force or troops during the period between the departure of the Japanese and the arrival of the British. He was successful in maintaining law and order to the extent that there was not a single case of dacoity or of loot during the period from 24 April to 4 May 1945.
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