On the 15th of August, 1947 we had worked out a compromise with the British and achieved Dominion Status of a partitioned motherland with her two limbs in the form of East and West Pakistan severed from her body. Then why on earth do we feel so proud to celebrate 15 August as the Independence Day when we merely became a dominion of the British Empire and became an ignominious member of the British Commonwealth?
We should rethink all these historical heresies that have been perpetrated on our motherland by the selfish leaders of the Congress and the All India Muslim League in connivance with the British Crown and resettle our stock with the true patriots who had delivered us from colonial shackles with the virtual declaration of independence on 21 Oct, 1943. For the government formed in Singapore that fateful day was called the Provisional Govt. of Free India. Now mark the words 'Provisional Govt.' and 'Free India'. While it may be argued that after all it was only provisional in nature and, therefore, not truly representative of the vast populace of India and also that India had not yet gained political independence from the British, it may be counter-argued that, historically speaking and in large practical terms, it was the day when India formed its first government free of British control and, so, this day assumes the greatest significance in terms of India's eventual attainment of freedom.
That the Government of Nehru totally rejected the legitimacy of this Government of Netaji and relegated it to the waste-bin of history does not mean that we who are the proud devotees of Netaji must accept such Nehruvian perfidy, such historical treachery meekly as well. If we are men worth the salt, we ought to rise up as a single man, a single voice and a single will to make sure that in this momentous year of 2018 which is the 75th anniversary of the PGFI, history is rewritten through our thunderous celebration of India's true Independence day from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. We must aver that Netaji was our first President, our first Prime Minister and the first Commander-in-Chief of independent India's first army, the Indian National Army.
And it is not a token tribute that we shall be paying out of reverence to our fallen heroes in the jungles of Burma and in the hills of Kohima and Imphal but in truth they had liberated large areas in Manipur from the British and had truly established independent India's first functioning government on mainland India. Moreover, the Japanese had earlier handed over to Netaji the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands as the first territories under the governance of the PGFI. So, in all fairness, from the political and the legal perspective it can be said that 21 Oct, 1943 was our declared day of independence as we formed our first government free of British control and in subsequent days this government was given international recognition by no less than nine States of the world which, therefore, gave it legitimacy in international legal terms.
For Netaji to be the true Head of State, his State required (a) Population (b) Sovereignty (c) Territory and (d) Government as its four features. The Japanese promised him the ceding of the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands then under their control by way of fulfilling the aforesaid four features of the State whose head Netaji now was. And they kept their word. On 30 December, 1943 Netaji hoisted the National Flag in Andamans which he renamed 'Shaheed' in honour of the political prisoners who had been martyred there and he renamed Nicobar as 'Swaraj' to commemorate the establishment of India's self-rule. Later on 17 February, 1944 the administration of the two islands was officially handed over by the Japanese to the Azad Hind Government and now even from the legal perspective the State of India had been born in every sense of the word.
So, in all fairness we now know that 21 October, 1943 was a day of momentous significance and we are now standing on the threshold of the Platinum Jubilee of that historic occasion. We need to start a massive campaign and bring the import of this day to the Union Government so that the Union Parliament passes a resolution to celebrate this day and the year succeeding this day in a befitting manner throughout the country. Our demands are several but I leave it to other eminent writers to further deliberate on the demands and make them public for everybody's cognisance.
With a pulsating heart and the thrill of a superior excitement in being a part of history in the making, I now sign off in the hope that you, my friends and co-workers in this campaign, shall not spare your means to make this day, that is, 21 Oct, 2018, a historic occasion that will by the sheer weight of numbers and the strength of support force the Govt. of India to recognise the true history of India and rewrite it accordingly where the past perfidies will not only be exposed but the true narrative of the freedom struggle will be held before the eyes of the world and Netaji and his INA will be accorded their rightful place in history. I know it is asking for a tall order for it will mean a 180 degree turnabout of the fictional flow that has thus far been allowed to permeate the minds of the ignorant populace of India and quite a few feathers will be badly ruffled in the process. Hence, the clarion call to all to 'Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.'
Jai Hind!
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