NETAJI AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION

As early as August 1942, he raised the issue of national integration in India in the columns of a German paper. He also arranged for a committee to be set upon our national integration when the Andaman and the Nicobr Islands were occupied by the INA Government. The speech he delivered on the same subject at the Chettiar temple is one to reckon with. He facilitated the entry of men of other religions as well in the temple in the face of vehement resistance from the keepers of the temple. More than that, the pledge the INA soldiers had to sign the highlights the commitment of the army to the ideals of unity, secularism and democracy.

For the growth of a genuine national spirit in the Army, Bose waged a relentless struggle against the splitters and opportunists both in the country and outside. He made the remarkable prophecy that India freed form the British was destined to develop a strong nation. In his opinion only a truly national government could implement a meaningful programme of unity of our people and only a genuine patriotic army could bring about our unity at the barricades. He claimed he could bring about a measure of communal unity in his ranks simply because the Britishers were not there. Apart form this he initiated a scheme of secular and scientific education through his government and started a sustained propaganda on its behalf to fight out all divisive forces. He felt that India must reject the Wavell plan which really meant parcel our country, a similar plan the British tried in Ireland and Palestine too. The prime item on his agenda was the removal or religious intolerance and fanaticism through intensive and ceaseless propaganda. In his famous Tokyo speech of 1944, he touched upon India\\'s basic unity, a model which could be served to the people with in India through his INA.

For one thing the INA proved to be a living example of national unity and Gandhi was all praise for the way in which Bose infused the spirit of unity amongst his men. In fact the INA trial virtually shook the unfree and undivided Indians form their long deep slumber. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians were evenly represented in the Government and the Army and they all unitedly posed from outside a serious challenge to the separatist forces set work in the homeland. The Indian National Army became a dramatic symbol of national unity as the trials of a Hindu, a Sikh and a Muslim INA officers proved to the hilt. A Muslim accompanied Bose in his perilous submarine journey and another Muslim sent him off for the last time at the airport. Some of his brigades were led by Muslim officers exclusively and some were named after the living Indian nationalists leaders. The INA trials followed up by the RIN revolt represented a turning of the tide as far as the prospects of the secularism were concerned.

Netaji Subhas assembled different scattered forces in East Asia and formed an army with the help of youths of different areas and communities in India. He mobalised the a-political forces in South East Asia in order to fight the last war of liberation for a United India. Indeed he and his INA served to hold up the dropping spirits of all sections of Indian people and example of rare unity and patriotism. He infused into his men a certain non-communal spirit, and inspired them to feel proud of their Indian identity. He inspired his men, in his own inimitable way to identify themselves not as Hindus or Muslims but as the sons and daughters of India. He succeeded in installing in them a kind of cultured sensitivity and a secular passion.

He succeeded in rousing a mighty army unified in spirit and committed ideologically to work for a free and united India. He almost fully carried out his ideas on national unity in the formation of the INA which consisted of more than sixty percent of Muslims. He could persuade his associates to shed their religious superstitions about food and the practice of denominational faith. He forge an emotional relationship among the diverse ethnicities that came to serve in his army on their own accord. In fact the INA became a paradigm of national and emotional integration.

However, it is not enough to recapitulate the INA saga but it is peremptory to take lessons form it, now more than ever, particularly when we have to tackle the problem of disintegration that threatens us today, when the whole nation is faced with a crisis of leadership of conviction and general sense of direction.

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