October 21 is a special day for every Indian citizen as on this day Subhas Chandra Bose announced the formation of the ‘Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind’ or the provincial government of free India in Singapore and declared war on the British Empire.
The Hind Fauj was led by Rash Behari Bose, who lived in Japan. In July 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore under Japanese control from Germany and Bose gave his famous battle cry ‘Chalo Dilli’ and promised independence to Indians saying, “Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe Azadi dunga (You give me blood, I will give you freedom).”
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The government was supported by the Axis powers of Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, the Italian Social Republic, and their allies. Later, Japan handed over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Azad Hind Fauj and Netaji renamed Andaman as Shaheed Dweep and Nicobar as Swaraj Dweep. On the other hand, on the fronts of Imphal and Kohima, the Indian British Army was defeated several times by the Azad Hind Fauj in the wars.
With the establishment of the Fauj, Netaji told the British government that the people of India were fully capable of running their own government. Bose’s Fauj also had its own bank, currency, postage stamps, intelligence departments and embassies in other countries.
INA’s falling
After the nuclear attacks on two Japanese cities – Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered and from here the decline of the Azad Hind Fauj began. On August 15, 1945, Netaji declared the end of the INA through a radio broadcast in Singapore. Three days later, he died in an airplane crash.