Moirang, the first bit of mainland liberated by the INA from the British on 14 April, 1944, must be declared a National Heritage Site. It is the most sacred site, a veritable pilgrimage of freedom, the holiest spot in the sub-continent where modern India breathed free for the first time, having driven the British occupiers out and installed her own government headed by her premier patriot son, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The INA aided by the Imperial Japanese Army defeated the British forces here in the Second World War and established the Provisional Government of Free India under Netaji which governed Moirang and 1500-1600 sq. km of surrounding land for three months before the rapidly altering war situation forced them to retreat back into the jungles of Burma.
Moirang had been liberated by our first national army but, alas, this fact has been neglected by our governmental narrative of the freedom movement and the place has endured terrible neglect, too, over the last seven decades. Now an INA Memorial Building stands as the sole testimony to Moirang's historic past and freedom-lovers pay their tribute to the fallen heroes of the INA here. All forms of memorabilia are preserved here in the INA War Museum and this sole institution remains the surviving link to the most significant event of our freedom movement.
Today is 14 April, 2018. Let us revisit Moirang in our mind's eye and witness the flow of events as they occurred seventy four years ago. The INA marching on with the clarion call, 'Chalo Dilli' even as they faced the barrage of Allied shelling and overhead bombing to fall, full 26,000 of them, on the Road to Delhi. We have a lot to do, a lot to answer for and a lot more to suffer yet if we still do not wake up to the real facts of history among which Moirang occupies pride of place.
Jai Hind!
Moirang had been liberated by our first national army but, alas, this fact has been neglected by our governmental narrative of the freedom movement and the place has endured terrible neglect, too, over the last seven decades. Now an INA Memorial Building stands as the sole testimony to Moirang's historic past and freedom-lovers pay their tribute to the fallen heroes of the INA here. All forms of memorabilia are preserved here in the INA War Museum and this sole institution remains the surviving link to the most significant event of our freedom movement.
Today is 14 April, 2018. Let us revisit Moirang in our mind's eye and witness the flow of events as they occurred seventy four years ago. The INA marching on with the clarion call, 'Chalo Dilli' even as they faced the barrage of Allied shelling and overhead bombing to fall, full 26,000 of them, on the Road to Delhi. We have a lot to do, a lot to answer for and a lot more to suffer yet if we still do not wake up to the real facts of history among which Moirang occupies pride of place.
Jai Hind!
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