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Recently, the Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (IC) attended Commemoration of ’77th Year of Formation of Azad Hind Government’ at Red Fort, Delhi
Azad Hind Government
- On 21 October 1943, Bose announced the formation of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India), with himself as the Head of State, Prime Minister and Minister of War.
- Azad Hind(government) was established in Japanese occupied Singapore during the World War II with the support of Japan
- It was a part of a political movement originating in the 1940s outside India with the purpose of allying with the Axis powers to liberate India from British rule.
- Azad government proclaimed authority over Indian civilian and military personnel in Southeast Asian British colonial territory and prospective authority over Indian territory to fall to the Japanese forces and the Indian National Army during the Japanese thrust towards India
- The government of Azad Hind had its own currency, court and civil code, and in the eyes of some Indians its existence gave a greater legitimacy to the independence struggle against the British.
- Japan handed over nominal authority of the Japanese occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1943, though the government continued to be dependent on Japanese support.
- Immediately after the formation of the provisional government, It declared war against the Allied forces on the Indo-Burma Front.
- Its army, the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj), went into action against the British Indian Army and the allied forces as part of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Imphal-Kohima sector.
- The INA had its first major engagement at the Battle of Imphal where, under the command of the Japanese Fifteenth Army, it breached the British defences in Kohima, reaching the salient of Moirang before suffering a catastrophic defeat as the Allied forces held, and Allied air dominance and compromised supply lines forced both the Japanese and the INA to retreat.
- The existence of Azad Hind was essentially coterminous with the existence of the Indian National Army.
- While the government itself continued until the civil administration of the Andaman Islands was returned to the jurisdiction of the British towards the end of the war, the limited power of Azad Hind effectively ended with the surrender of the last major contingent of INA troops in Rangoon.
- The death of Bose is seen as the end of the entire Azad Hind Movement.
Source: PIB
