THE RANIS WHO FOUGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM
(APPENDED AND EXPANDED)
The real daughters of Netaji -- the young Ranis of the Rani Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army who had full military training as the men and fought alongside them in the liberation struggle of 1943-45. They all looked upto Netaji as their father, a bond which was bred in equal reciprocity by the Supreme Commander of the INA.
The girls in the photo were barely sixteen but they plunged into the deadly war of attrition to liberate their motherland which they had never even seen for they were expatriate Indians of East Asia who had volunteered for the war. Blossoming sixteen year olds in the cauldron of death in the very bloom of their efflorescent youths !
Written by Sugata Bose
P.S. :
1. Dinesh K Jani The photo reveals to what length Netaji had inspired the expatriate Indians in East Asia as to draw them spontaneously into the struggle for the motherland's liberation, a motherland which most of them had never ever seen in person. These Ranis fought not only for India's freedom but they fought in effect for the rights of women as have today obtained in free India by participating equally in the struggle to free her from colonial fetters. It was Netaji's idea that women, equal partners in life by natural right, ought also to be co-pariticipants in the struggle for the motherland's freedom so as to rightfully obtain their rights in free India. And these Ranis, barely sixteen year old girls, led the way for which all of free India's womanhood should feel grateful. These young girls, Netaji's daughters, who carried on the work of espionage and intelligence, went often to the front with the men and courted all the dangers that war offered. Never shrinking from their martial and patriotic duty, they earned the respect of the men who not only guarded their honour but held them in veneration as the daughters of Netaji in the Indian National Army.
2. Debaprasad Bhattacharya Netaji was a path-finder and a path-breaker in many a way whose observance would do credit to our country even today, and especially today as we move towards the making of a nation 'out of the disparate races of India', to quote Swami Vivekananda. Netaji's forevision about the ensuring age with its brewing possibilities and evolving structural demands, its aspirations and the course of its advancing meandering movement, made him formulate not only the principles of the emerging nationhood but also the practices that were most congenial for the fruition of such solidarity of national living. Women and the masses occupied the foremost position in this scheme of national unfolding just as his spiritual mentor in absentia had averred when speaking on the utmost requirements for the emergence of future India. And Netaji, true to his understanding of the sage's utterance and adding unto it his ingenious plans and programmes for its furtherance, chalked up a comprehensive national development scheme wherein from population control to police organisation, defence to dialect diversity and education to economics, he had drawn the blueprint of his future manifesto in absolute detail that amazed even hardened German observers as to the astuteness and originality of this brilliant thinker among the revolutionary leaders of the day. Alas, the disappearance of the hero miscarried all these aspired ends and we are where we are today. Had it been otherwise, India would have been among the foremost of nations in every field and sphere of human endeavour.
(APPENDED AND EXPANDED)
The real daughters of Netaji -- the young Ranis of the Rani Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army who had full military training as the men and fought alongside them in the liberation struggle of 1943-45. They all looked upto Netaji as their father, a bond which was bred in equal reciprocity by the Supreme Commander of the INA.
The girls in the photo were barely sixteen but they plunged into the deadly war of attrition to liberate their motherland which they had never even seen for they were expatriate Indians of East Asia who had volunteered for the war. Blossoming sixteen year olds in the cauldron of death in the very bloom of their efflorescent youths !
Written by Sugata Bose
P.S. :
1. Dinesh K Jani The photo reveals to what length Netaji had inspired the expatriate Indians in East Asia as to draw them spontaneously into the struggle for the motherland's liberation, a motherland which most of them had never ever seen in person. These Ranis fought not only for India's freedom but they fought in effect for the rights of women as have today obtained in free India by participating equally in the struggle to free her from colonial fetters. It was Netaji's idea that women, equal partners in life by natural right, ought also to be co-pariticipants in the struggle for the motherland's freedom so as to rightfully obtain their rights in free India. And these Ranis, barely sixteen year old girls, led the way for which all of free India's womanhood should feel grateful. These young girls, Netaji's daughters, who carried on the work of espionage and intelligence, went often to the front with the men and courted all the dangers that war offered. Never shrinking from their martial and patriotic duty, they earned the respect of the men who not only guarded their honour but held them in veneration as the daughters of Netaji in the Indian National Army.
2. Debaprasad Bhattacharya Netaji was a path-finder and a path-breaker in many a way whose observance would do credit to our country even today, and especially today as we move towards the making of a nation 'out of the disparate races of India', to quote Swami Vivekananda. Netaji's forevision about the ensuring age with its brewing possibilities and evolving structural demands, its aspirations and the course of its advancing meandering movement, made him formulate not only the principles of the emerging nationhood but also the practices that were most congenial for the fruition of such solidarity of national living. Women and the masses occupied the foremost position in this scheme of national unfolding just as his spiritual mentor in absentia had averred when speaking on the utmost requirements for the emergence of future India. And Netaji, true to his understanding of the sage's utterance and adding unto it his ingenious plans and programmes for its furtherance, chalked up a comprehensive national development scheme wherein from population control to police organisation, defence to dialect diversity and education to economics, he had drawn the blueprint of his future manifesto in absolute detail that amazed even hardened German observers as to the astuteness and originality of this brilliant thinker among the revolutionary leaders of the day. Alas, the disappearance of the hero miscarried all these aspired ends and we are where we are today. Had it been otherwise, India would have been among the foremost of nations in every field and sphere of human endeavour.
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