Thursday, May 03, 2007
Netaji and INA : from Ranjan Borra article
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For the INA the importance of the Imphal campaign was that it was the only major battle in which it would participate with the object of achieving freedom for India. As Salto and Hayashida writes:
The Imphal Operation was the final offensive of the East Asia War, mounted by three Burma-based Japanese divisions, and one INA division. The campaign lasted from 15 March to 9 July 1944. The operation has often been compared to the operation Wacht am Rhein or the Battle of the Bulge, which was the final all-out drive launched by Germany towards Ardennes on the Western Front, from December 1944 to January 1945. Both operations al most succeeded and both are termed "gambles" by historians today. If the German push towards Ardennes was Wacht am Rhein, the Japanese-Indian thrust against Imphal might be called "Wacht am Chindwin" although the official Japanese code-name for the action was most prosaic: Operation "U".[33]
River Chindwin lay across the Indo-Burmese border, and its crossing from the east by an army would signal an invasion of India.
Execution orders for Operation U became operative on 7 January 1944, coinciding with completion of the shifting of the Provisional Government headquarters in Rangoon. In the evening of the same day, Lt. General Masakazy Kawabe, commanding the overall Burma headquarters, held a welcome party in honor of Netaji and his staff officers. Netaji spoke, and concluded his speech with these words. "My only prayer to the Almighty at this moment is that we may be given the earliest opportunity to pay for our freedom with our own blood.',34 One INA Division, named after Netaji as Sublias Regiment, was readied for action at the front with the Japanese. Toye writes.
... He spent the whole days... with the Subhas Regiment, reviewing, watching it at exercises and on parade, talking to its officers, exerting his magic on it in a way that he had not attempted before. These were his comrades, the men by whose means he would uphold the rights and honour of India. Everything depended on their achievement in battle; they must absorb all his feelings of confidence, feel the whole of his personal force. On 3 February he bade them farewell: "Blood is calling for blood. Arise! We have no time to lose. Take up your arms. There in front of you is the road. our pioneers have built. We shall march along that road. We shall carve our way through enemy's ranks, or, if God wills, we shall die a martyr's death. And in our last sleep we shall kiss the road which will bring our Army to Delhi. The road to Delhi is the road to Freedom. On to Delhi!"
For the INA the importance of the Imphal campaign was that it was the only major battle in which it would participate with the object of achieving freedom for India. As Salto and Hayashida writes:
The Imphal Operation was the final offensive of the East Asia War, mounted by three Burma-based Japanese divisions, and one INA division. The campaign lasted from 15 March to 9 July 1944. The operation has often been compared to the operation Wacht am Rhein or the Battle of the Bulge, which was the final all-out drive launched by Germany towards Ardennes on the Western Front, from December 1944 to January 1945. Both operations al most succeeded and both are termed "gambles" by historians today. If the German push towards Ardennes was Wacht am Rhein, the Japanese-Indian thrust against Imphal might be called "Wacht am Chindwin" although the official Japanese code-name for the action was most prosaic: Operation "U".[33]
River Chindwin lay across the Indo-Burmese border, and its crossing from the east by an army would signal an invasion of India.
Execution orders for Operation U became operative on 7 January 1944, coinciding with completion of the shifting of the Provisional Government headquarters in Rangoon. In the evening of the same day, Lt. General Masakazy Kawabe, commanding the overall Burma headquarters, held a welcome party in honor of Netaji and his staff officers. Netaji spoke, and concluded his speech with these words. "My only prayer to the Almighty at this moment is that we may be given the earliest opportunity to pay for our freedom with our own blood.',34 One INA Division, named after Netaji as Sublias Regiment, was readied for action at the front with the Japanese. Toye writes.
... He spent the whole days... with the Subhas Regiment, reviewing, watching it at exercises and on parade, talking to its officers, exerting his magic on it in a way that he had not attempted before. These were his comrades, the men by whose means he would uphold the rights and honour of India. Everything depended on their achievement in battle; they must absorb all his feelings of confidence, feel the whole of his personal force. On 3 February he bade them farewell: "Blood is calling for blood. Arise! We have no time to lose. Take up your arms. There in front of you is the road. our pioneers have built. We shall march along that road. We shall carve our way through enemy's ranks, or, if God wills, we shall die a martyr's death. And in our last sleep we shall kiss the road which will bring our Army to Delhi. The road to Delhi is the road to Freedom. On to Delhi!"
Netaji Subhas: Prof. Satadru Sen's account
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After the Imphal defeat, the Japanese retreated steadily through Burma and into Malaya, pursued by British and colonial Indian troops. The INA retreated with them. This retreat, ironically, brought Out Bose's best qualities as a leader. On the long trek from Burma to Bankok, followed closely by British tanks and under frequent attack from the air, he marched for days on end, refusing the offer of a car while his men had to walk. Throughout the march, he made sure that INA troops had proper food and medical care. In the chaos of the retreat, Bose was their best protection, and everybody knew it. Without him, the Japanese would have been only too eager to abandon the INA.
.... .... .... .....
After the Imphal defeat, the Japanese retreated steadily through Burma and into Malaya, pursued by British and colonial Indian troops. The INA retreated with them. This retreat, ironically, brought Out Bose's best qualities as a leader. On the long trek from Burma to Bankok, followed closely by British tanks and under frequent attack from the air, he marched for days on end, refusing the offer of a car while his men had to walk. Throughout the march, he made sure that INA troops had proper food and medical care. In the chaos of the retreat, Bose was their best protection, and everybody knew it. Without him, the Japanese would have been only too eager to abandon the INA.
.... .... .... .....
Netaji notes on World Association of Intl Studies website (Stanford Univ.)
Interresting comments found on this Stanford University link:
....the rapid advance of Japanese troops was a sort of racial payback time for the white man. There is some good reason to say that by kicking out the British or Dutch, the Japanese actually speeded up the decolonization process. In fact, pro-Japan “independence” leaders sprang up all over Asia after the Japanese expansion. Today most of their names ar forgotten. In India, it was Subhas Chandra Bose, in Cambodia, Son Ngoc Thanh, the list is long, Indonesia, Vietnam etc.
Glynn Wood writes: Readers should know that Rajan Borra was a member of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army that fought against the Allies in World War II. Borra was the long time head of the South Asia collection at the Library of Congress, and (on his own) held an annual conference on Bose. The thrust of the conference was that Bose had not been killed in an air crash in Taiwan in 1945, but would come back when Bengal needed him. ... ... ...
Some more links:
Sources:http://library.flawlesslogic.com/bose_1.htmhttp://library.flawlesslogic.com/And on the “revisionist” site Journal of Historical Review:http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v03/v03p407_Borra.ht
....the rapid advance of Japanese troops was a sort of racial payback time for the white man. There is some good reason to say that by kicking out the British or Dutch, the Japanese actually speeded up the decolonization process. In fact, pro-Japan “independence” leaders sprang up all over Asia after the Japanese expansion. Today most of their names ar forgotten. In India, it was Subhas Chandra Bose, in Cambodia, Son Ngoc Thanh, the list is long, Indonesia, Vietnam etc.
Glynn Wood writes: Readers should know that Rajan Borra was a member of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army that fought against the Allies in World War II. Borra was the long time head of the South Asia collection at the Library of Congress, and (on his own) held an annual conference on Bose. The thrust of the conference was that Bose had not been killed in an air crash in Taiwan in 1945, but would come back when Bengal needed him. ... ... ...
Some more links:
Sources:http://library.flawlesslogic.com/bose_1.htmhttp://library.flawlesslogic.com/And on the “revisionist” site Journal of Historical Review:http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v03/v03p407_Borra.ht
Saturday, April 28, 2007
A Slide Show on Netaji Subhas
This slide show contains exclusive images of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Link taken from missionnetaji.org forum
Link taken from missionnetaji.org forum
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Khosla Commission Witness Spoke of Netaji's Entering Russia
"Shyam Lal Jain, the confidential secretary of Asaf Ali, who was the secretary to INA Defence Committee told the Khosla Commission under oath that on 26 or 27 December 1945 he was summoned to Ali's residence by Nehru. Jain alleged that Pandit Nehru had asked him make typed copies of a hand- written note that said Bose had reached Russia via Diren. He also alleged that Pandit Nehru asked him to type a letter to British Prime Minister Atlee, that " Bose, your war criminal, has been allowed to enter Russian territory by Stalin. This is a clear treachery and betrayal of faith by Russians, as Russia has been an ally of the British-Americans. Please take note of it and do what you consider proper and fit." Though this information was not challenged before the Commission, Justice Khosla chose not to attach any importance to it. One wonders why."
An Indian Ambassador was allowed to meet Bose -- on the condition that he would not try to speak to him. When the Ambassador wondered about what to do in case Bose wished to speak to him, "he was told that it has been taken care of," … A rather ominous bit of hospitality. -- Reported in Hindustan Times dated 4 March 2001.
"But when a well-known researcher contacted Mikhael Gorbachev, the former premier evaded a direct answer, and is alleged to have said it was up to both governments (Russia and India) to solve the issue once and for all.A former head of the Foreign Security Service (the old KGB) has indicated to a prominent researcher that files in Russian archives do contain detailed information -- but the onus is on the Indian Government to show more interest."
An Indian Ambassador was allowed to meet Bose -- on the condition that he would not try to speak to him. When the Ambassador wondered about what to do in case Bose wished to speak to him, "he was told that it has been taken care of," … A rather ominous bit of hospitality. -- Reported in Hindustan Times dated 4 March 2001.
"But when a well-known researcher contacted Mikhael Gorbachev, the former premier evaded a direct answer, and is alleged to have said it was up to both governments (Russia and India) to solve the issue once and for all.A former head of the Foreign Security Service (the old KGB) has indicated to a prominent researcher that files in Russian archives do contain detailed information -- but the onus is on the Indian Government to show more interest."
Monday, April 16, 2007
MHRD speaks of Govt decision on IIEST / IISET
MHRD press release of April 10, 2007 says:
"We have also decided, in principle, to provide assistance towards upgradation of 5 Engineering Colleges to the level of an IIT, and name them as Indian Institutes of Science and Engineering Technology, subject to the concurrence of the concerned State Governments to hand them over to Central Government for declaring them as Institutes of National Importance."
Points to be noted:
1. MHRD considers Indian Institutes of Science and Engineering Technology (IISET) instead of Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST). Perhaps this is because because of XI plan's stress on Sc Education.
2. ITBHU being under centre itself, may be readily converted to IISET. Perhaps AP will concur in no time. CUSAT has long been posing itself as would-be IIEST (but what Kerala govt will now negotiate is unknown). So IISET will hopefully start to function soon with at least three institutes. Can WB then be far behind in giving concurrence?
3. 2007-08 budget keeps allocations for the 3 new IITs, 1 new IISER and another new IIM. But no provision for IISET/IIEST funding in budget. However, XI plan Working Group Report on Higher Education does have provision of Rs 2100 Cr for 'Upgradation of 5 Technological Institutes'.
"We have also decided, in principle, to provide assistance towards upgradation of 5 Engineering Colleges to the level of an IIT, and name them as Indian Institutes of Science and Engineering Technology, subject to the concurrence of the concerned State Governments to hand them over to Central Government for declaring them as Institutes of National Importance."
Points to be noted:
1. MHRD considers Indian Institutes of Science and Engineering Technology (IISET) instead of Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST). Perhaps this is because because of XI plan's stress on Sc Education.
2. ITBHU being under centre itself, may be readily converted to IISET. Perhaps AP will concur in no time. CUSAT has long been posing itself as would-be IIEST (but what Kerala govt will now negotiate is unknown). So IISET will hopefully start to function soon with at least three institutes. Can WB then be far behind in giving concurrence?
3. 2007-08 budget keeps allocations for the 3 new IITs, 1 new IISER and another new IIM. But no provision for IISET/IIEST funding in budget. However, XI plan Working Group Report on Higher Education does have provision of Rs 2100 Cr for 'Upgradation of 5 Technological Institutes'.
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