Subhash Chandra Bose's birth anniversary: How Netaji roused INA soldiers with inspiring speeches

January is a month of commemorations. While the birth of the Republic of India and Mahatma Gandhi are, justifiably, larger than life celebrations, the anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has, until recently, gone relatively unnoticed.

Not any longer. January 23 marks the 127th anniversary of Netaji, and a time to commemorate his relentless struggle against British and American imperialism, which reached its climax from 1942 to 1945.

In today’s globalised world, Netaji continues to be a dominant persona in contemporary history books, television serials and films that attempt to capture a slice of his adventurous life in those tumultuous years. The Indian National Army (INA) remains synonymous with Netaji, and as a tribute to those valiant soldiers and their leaders, it would be instructive to share the ‘pledge of the INA’, which the volunteers swore by as their Netaji made the clarion call.

In the June 1942 broadcast to the Indian National Army from Europe, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s words are immortalised as the ‘pledge of the INA’. Words flow out, almost in a single breath as he exhorted: “Brave soldiers! Today you have taken an oath that you will give fight to the enemy till the last breath of your life, under the national tri-colour. From today you are the soldiers of the Indian National Army of Free India. You have volunteered to shoulder the responsibility of forty crore Indians. From today your mind, might and money belong to the Indian Nation."

Netaji's journey from party worker to soldier

Immortal words that captured the passion of Netaji, who emerged as a warrior from the ranks of the Congress Party. Bose was reared in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence; for him, Bapu was the ‘Father of the Nation’.

Wrote Prof Rudrangshu Mukherjee in ‘Nehru & Bose Parallel Lives’, “Bose believed that he and Jawaharlal Nehru could make history. But Jawaharlal could not see his destiny without Gandhi, and the latter had no room for Subhas. As early as January 1942, the Mahatma had anointed Jawaharlal as his chosen heir: ‘… not Rajaji [Rajgopalachari], nor Sardar Vallabhbhai, but Jawaharlal will be my successor. You cannot divide water by repeatedly striking it with a stick'', he had written.”

Prof Mukherjee’s book is a journey commencing from the 1920s and focuses on the emergence of Bose and Nehru who were dedicating their lives to the call for freedom. When, in 1942, Bose made the historic broadcast, his words were tempered by the fires of freedom lit decades ago.

Prof Mukherjee’s work underlines the radically different approach of Bose, who not only had a soft spot for militarism and regimented discipline but whose views on fascism made him seek collaborations in Germany, Italy and then Japan. For both Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, this trajectory was unacceptable and abhorrent.

Naturally then, the INA pledge, spelt out through the broadcast, called for freedom to be obtained by force. Netaji exhorted, "Today we are taking the vow of independence under the National Flag. A time will come when you will salute this flag in the Red Fort. But remember that you will have to pay the price of freedom. Freedom can never be had by begging. It has to be got by force. Its price is blood. We will not beg for freedom from any foreign country…”

'May God be with you'

“Throughout my life it was my ambition to equip an army that will capture freedom from the enemy. Today I congratulate you because the honour of such an army belongs to you. With this I close my speech. May God be with you and give you strength to fulfil the pledge which you have taken voluntarily today. Inquilab Zindabad!" It was with this revolutionary slogan that he ended his speech, archived for posterity in ‘Selected Speeches of Subhas Chandra Bose’, published in 1962 by Publications Division, Government of India.

In history textbooks, Netaji has been hailed as a freedom-fighter, a dynamic young President of Indian National Congress and an integral part of the pantheon of India’s greatest leaders. It was Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, who in a letter of May 1939, had addressed him as ‘Deshanayak’, a hero of the country, a leader of leaders.

Gurudev quoted the Bhagavad-Gita, writing “the Gita says that the protector of good appears time and again. When the nation suffers from tyranny and oppression, the suffering and the consequent inner pain inspires the leader to arrive on stage.” Netaji, from 1942 onwards, had arrived on the stage with the vision to create a free, strong and independent India.

(Ranjit Bhushan is a senior journalist.)