The Coasts of Andaman and Subhash Chandra Bose

Hello friends, India commemorates Subhash Chandra Bose on his 125th birth anniversary. The role of Bose in the Indian National movement gets explored through pages of history. However, the occupation of Andaman and Nicobar islands by the Provisional Government of Azad Hind commanded by him remains in dim light. This move had a significant impact on India's foreign policy choices after Indian independence.

(Source- newsminutes.com)

Andaman and Nicobar islands were occupied by the British in the 1780s from Denmark. Its tropical climate, torrential rains, dense forests made it an ideal place for British where they can vaporize feelings of patriotism and freedom from Indian revolutionaries by horribly punishing them. The infamous Cellular jail built exclusively for this purpose in Port Blair.

Years went by like this. Then World War II started. Japanese were heavy on the British and Allies in the Pacific. GREAT Britain lost Malaya and Singapore to Japan in 1942. Japanese were in the high spirits when they captured Port Blair without a fight on 23rd March,1942 . What British were doing? They fled to mainland India leaving 27,000 population to face the wrath of the Japanese. 

Pause. Meanwhile, Subhash Chandra Bose mobilized Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauz. Japanese decided to help it to "free India from Britain." Provisional Government of Azad Hind was established on 21st October 1943. Subhas Bose was head of it. It immediately declared war on the Allies(Britain and America).

Japanese Prime Minister General Tojo announced that Andaman and Nicobar Islands would be handed over to this Government. Three weeks after Bose announced from Singapore that Andman and Nicobar would be rechristened as Shaheed Dweep and Swarajya Dweep respectively. Shaheed signified the martyrdom of many revolutionaries in Cellular Jail. Swarajya denoted freedom to India.

Bose arrived at Port Blair on 29th December 1943 for a three-day visit. Tricolour was unfurled on Gymkhana ground (today, Netaji stadium) in Port Blair This visit marked that Azad Hind Government was not Government in exile. It was Sovereign and Independent. In the book, His majesty's Opponent, Historian Sugata Bose remarked that the visit of Bose to Cellular Jail to pay tributes to revolutionaries was like freeing up Bastille in French Revolution.

Subhash Bose at Cellular jail.
(Source- Tribuneindia.com)

However, this control of the Azad Hind Government was only symbolic. Real strings of power were in the hands of the Japanese which were increasingly adamant and reluctant to give powers to the Azad Hind Administration.

Japanese were hated by locals because of horrible atrocities committed by the Japanese army on the local population of islands. When this was conveyed to Azad Hind Government, nothing much happened to improve it and people started resenting Bose as well.

For the next one and a half years, the Islands were in control of the Japanese. And allies defeated them in 1945. Bose died in 1944 in-plane accident in Taiwan. The glorious chapter of Azad Hind Government and INA ended here.

The significance of this history can be thought of in two ways. Firstly, as national pride, Andaman and Nicobar were perhaps the first territory in India which essentially have an administration of Indians. At least, symbolically. Therefore, the role of Subhash Chandra Bose needs to be commemorated for this.

However, what if Allied powers hadn't defeated Japan? Although history doesn't have a place for if and but, it appears clear that Japan would not have left control of that easily. The allied victory brought back Andaman and Nicobar to British India and eventually in independent India.

location of Nicobar Islands

The very thought of invading British militarily with the help of Axis powers especially Japan had been a courageous one. Subhash Chandra Bose deserves credit for that. However, the very powers which he thought can help India to get its freedom were not free from the thought of imperialism and occupying foreign territories.

The strategic policy regarding the Indian Ocean and Indo -Pacific is incomplete without Andaman and Nicobar islands. Memories of Japanese occupation and Azad Hind Government of Subhash Chandra Bose lie at the heart of these beautiful jewels. As winds blow over the ocean, time passes. And it's important to commemorate these memories with passing time to learn and inspire from them.