Indian National Army

History glossary

Also called: INA, Azad Hind Fauj · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Framing the Constitution"

Meaning

The Indian National Army (INA), also called the Azad Hind Fauj, was an army of Indians in South-East Asia. It was formed in 1942 from Indian soldiers taken prisoner by Japan, and from 1943 Subhas Chandra Bose led it with Japanese help to try to free India by armed struggle. It lost the war, but in 1945–46 the British put its officers on trial at the Red Fort. Indians across religions rose in sympathy, which showed the British they could no longer trust Indian soldiers to defend their rule.

Explanation

Background: why an army outside India

Bose broke with the Congress leadership.
In 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose was re-elected Congress president at Tripuri, but he clashed with Gandhi's supporters and resigned.
He then formed the Forward Bloc, a left-wing group inside the national movement.
War gave him a chance. In September 1939 Britain declared India at war without asking any Indian leader. Bose believed Britain's enemies could help India win freedom.
January 1941: Bose escaped from house arrest in Calcutta and reached Germany. There he raised the Indian Legion from Indian prisoners of war (POWs) and spoke to India over the radio.
Japan's advance: in 1942 Japan quickly defeated Britain in South-East Asia. Japanese victories there were one of the sparks of Quit India. [2] In Malaya and Singapore, thousands of Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army were captured.

Formation: the first INA and Bose's revival

First INA, 1942. Captain Mohan Singh, an Indian officer captured by Japan, formed the INA from these POWs with Japanese support.
Rash Behari Bose, a revolutionary living in Japan, led the Indian Independence League, the political body of Indians in East Asia.
The first INA broke down by the end of 1942. Mohan Singh and the Japanese disagreed over who would control it.
Subhas Bose takes over, 1943.
Bose travelled from Germany to East Asia, partly by submarine. In July 1943 at Singapore, Rash Behari Bose handed the movement over to him.
Bose rebuilt the INA. Indian civilians living in Malaya and Burma gave money and recruits.
On 21 October 1943 he proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind) in Singapore. Japan and its allies recognised it.

Main features

Slogans: "Delhi Chalo" (On to Delhi), "Jai Hind", and "Give me blood, and I will give you freedom."
Brigades named after national leaders: Gandhi, Nehru and Azad brigades, and later a Subhas brigade. This showed the INA saw itself as part of the national movement.
Rani of Jhansi Regiment: an all-women fighting unit led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan (later Lakshmi Sahgal). Few armies of that time had women in combat units.
Unity across religions: Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs served and ate together, at a time when politics in India was splitting along religious lines.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Japan handed them over to the Azad Hind government, but only in name. Bose renamed them Shaheed and Swaraj islands.

Campaign, defeat and the Red Fort trials

1944: march towards India. INA units fought alongside the Japanese in the Imphal–Kohima campaign on the Burma–India border. The INA flag was raised at Moirang in Manipur.
Defeat, 1944–45. Several things broke the campaign:
shortage of food, arms and air cover
the monsoon and disease
the Japanese army retreating from Burma
Many INA soldiers were captured as the British retook Burma.
Bose's death. He reportedly died in an air crash at Taihoku (Taipei) in August 1945. Many Indians refused to believe it, and the question is still debated.
Red Fort trials, November 1945 onwards. The British court-martialled (tried in a military court) three officers at the Red Fort in Delhi:
Shah Nawaz Khan (a Muslim)
Prem Kumar Sahgal (a Hindu)
Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (a Sikh)
The nation's response.
Congress set up an INA Defence Committee. Lawyers including Bhulabhai Desai, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Jawaharlal Nehru defended the officers.
The Muslim League and others also showed sympathy. Meetings, strikes and student protests spread, and in Calcutta they turned violent.
The court found the three guilty, but the Commander-in-Chief, General Auchinleck, cancelled their sentences in early 1946.
Result. The INA lost the war but won the argument. The trials united opinion against the British, as the 1946 election polarisation was setting in. The sympathy also spread into the armed forces themselves.

Time, place and evidence

Period: 1942–45 for the army itself; trials from November 1945 into early 1946. This was the last phase of the national movement, alongside Quit India (1942) and the endgame of 1944–47.
Places: Singapore and Malaya (where it was founded), Rangoon in Burma (later headquarters), Imphal–Kohima and Moirang in Manipur (fighting), the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the Red Fort in Delhi (trials).
Key people: Subhas Chandra Bose, Mohan Singh, Rash Behari Bose, Lakshmi Swaminathan, Shah Nawaz Khan, P.K. Sahgal, G.S. Dhillon, Bhulabhai Desai, General Auchinleck.
How we know: British court-martial records of the Red Fort trials, Bose's radio speeches and proclamations, the papers of the Azad Hind government, newspaper reports of 1945–46, and memoirs of INA veterans. Bose's death is still disputed, and official inquiries in independent India did not all agree.

Don't confuse with

Indian Legion: the force Bose raised in Germany (1941–43) from Indian POWs captured in North Africa. The INA was raised in South-East Asia with Japanese help.
Indian Independence League: the political organisation of Indians in East Asia, led first by Rash Behari Bose. The INA was its military arm.
Azad Hind Government (21 October 1943): the provisional government Bose proclaimed in Singapore. The INA (Azad Hind Fauj) was its army. The INA was founded earlier, in 1942, under Mohan Singh.
Forward Bloc (1939): Bose's political party inside India, formed after he left the Congress presidency. It was not an army.

Prelims Hooks

First INA founded by Captain Mohan Singh (1942). Bose took charge in Singapore, July 1943. A trap: Bose did not found the INA.
Provisional Government of Free India proclaimed at Singapore on 21 October 1943.
Rani of Jhansi Regiment: women's unit led by Lakshmi Swaminathan (Sahgal).
INA brigades: Gandhi, Nehru, Azad, Subhas. Andaman and Nicobar renamed Shaheed and Swaraj.
Red Fort trials (from November 1945): Shah Nawaz Khan, P.K. Sahgal, G.S. Dhillon. Defence led by Bhulabhai Desai. Sentences cancelled by Auchinleck.
Chronology: Cripps Mission (March–April 1942) → Quit India (8 August 1942) → Azad Hind Government (October 1943) → Red Fort trials (1945). [2][3]

Mains Points

Military failure, political victory. The INA never reached Delhi. But the Red Fort trials united Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs behind one cause, at a time when the 1946 elections were dividing voters by religion. More importantly, the British saw that Indian soldiers now admired men who had fought against them. Once Britain could not rely on the Indian army, it could not keep its rule going for long.
Two paths to freedom. Bose chose armed struggle with foreign help. Gandhi chose non-violent mass action, as in Quit India's "Do or Die" call. [2] A good answer treats them as complementary rather than rivals: the INA kept the nationalist spirit alive outside India while the Congress leaders were in jail (1942–45). Historians still debate whether an alliance with Japan was wise, given Japan's own empire-building in Asia.
A model of inclusive nationalism. The INA was mixed by religion, had a women's combat regiment, and named its brigades after leaders of every stream. It reflected the same idea of India that Congress later put into words: "a democratic secular State" with equal rights for every citizen. This is useful for questions on the social base of the national movement.

Related concepts

War, Quit India, Partition and the last heroic days, 1935–48

Sources

1Class 12, Ch 4 "Framing the Constitution" (primary)
2Quit India Movementpib.gov.in · tier 1
3Cripps Missionbritannica.com · tier 3