Nethaji and P.K. Paul

Documenting Bose’s struggles in the 1940s

K. SANTHOSH

COM

Updated: April 22, 2015 05:49 IST     THRISSUR, April 22, 2015
Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/documenting-boses-struggles-in-the-1940s/article7127935.ece

A 226-page typed document reportedly found at the house of P. K. Paul, freedom fighter and former Radio Officer with the Indian National Army (INA), reveals the activities of Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose in the 1940s.

The document, dug up by social activist Anto Kokkatt from Paul’s residence at Thommana, near Irinjalakuda, is claimed to be a copy of an official report of the INA.After being Bose’s Radio Officer and an active campaigner in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Burma for Indian independence, Paul returned to Kerala and started a radio manufacturing firm, Hindustan Radio Company, in Kochi in 1948. The Union government honoured him in 1972 for his contribution to the freedom struggle. He died on January 8, 1986.

The report includes copies of several speeches broadcast by Bose, accounts of meetings he convened, of his journeys, of his campaigns to free India of British rule, and of the losses suffered in INA’s military effortThe report mentions about a conference held in Tokyo on November 6, 1943, in which Bose was a guest an observer. After the conference, Bose visited Nanking, Shanghai, Manila, and Saigon on November 19, 1943. He spoke to the Chinese nation at a mass rally held in his honour by the Nanking government, says the report.

The report carries details of Bose’s 50th birthday celebrations organised by the INA at the Jubilee Hall of Rangoon on January 23, 1945.“If I knew beforehand, I would have rejected it (the celebration),” Bose is quoted as saying.“Members of the suicide squad, girls of Rani of Jhansi Regiment, Boy’s Battalion, and numerous others walked onto the rostrum to sign with blood to mark their readiness and determination to shed their last drop of blood for Indian liberation. Bose could not control himself seeing the patriotism; his eyes were filled with tears,” states the report.

The report quotes a message Bose left for the Burmese and Indians in Burma before he left Rangoon in April 1945: “If I had my own way I should have preferred to stay with you in adversity and share with you the sorrow of temporary defeat. But on the advice of my Ministers and high-ranking officers, I have to leave Burma in order to continue thestruggle for emancipation.”

226-page document throws light on his activities

Several speeches broadcast by Bose, accounts of meetings he convened, of his journeys, of his campaigns to free India of British rule