New Delhi, October 19
Seventy years after Subhash Chandra Bose assumed the leadership of the ‘Azad Hind Government’, PM Narendra Modi will hoist the national flag and unveil a plaque to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the erstwhile government on October 21 at the Red Fort.
The Azad Hind Government, founded on October 21, 1943, at Singapore, was inspired by Bose who was also the head of this provisional Indian government-in-exile. It was a part of the freedom movement, originating in 1940s outside India with a purpose of allying with Axis powers (led by Germany) to free India from the British rule.
Chandra Kumar Bose, a nephew of Netaji and Lalti Ram, an INA veteran, shall be present on the occasion.
In August this year, Trinamool Congress MP Sugata Bose, a nephew of Netaji, had reminded the Lok Sabha: “Netaji arrived in Singapore on July 2, 1943. He accepted the leadership of the Indian liberation movement on July 4 that year. On July 5, 1943, Netaji took salute as the supreme commander of the INA. It was a breathtaking moment as 12,000 soldiers hailed Netaji who gave the clarion call ‘Dilli chalo’.”
It was on July 5, 1943, soon after Netaji arrived in Singapore after his escape from India earlier that he took the salute as the supreme commander of the Indian National Army before moving on to mobilise Indians in Southeast Asia. — TNS
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