BIRTH OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF AZAD HIND (FIPG)

The next step for Bose in Southeast Asia was the creation of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind. The Japanese had been reluctant to recognize the INA as an allied army, since it represented not a government but an organization, the IIL. The remedy, then, was to establish a government which could deal diplomatically on an equal basis with the Axis powers. The government would, Bose hoped, ultimately replace the British-controlled government in India when India became independent. This new government would gain prestige and status in international law for the independence movement.

The Provisional Government of Free India came into being at an inaugural meeting on 21 October 1943 in the Cathay cinema building, where the IIL had welcomed Bose to Singapore. Again Indians from all parts of Southeast Asia assembled. There was a capacity audience. Chatterji as general-secretary for the IIL read a brief history of the League.

Netaji next rose to speak. He announced the formation of the government and the composition of its first cabinet. “It will be the task of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind to launch and conduct the struggle that will bring about the expulsion of the British and of their allies from the soil of India. It will then be the task of the Provisional Government to bring about the establishment of the Permanent National Government of Azad Hind constituted in accordance with the will of the Indian people and enjoying their confidence,”

he proclaimed.

Bose read a Proclamation of Independence on behalf of the cabinet of the new government. He praised the heroes of the independence movement, tracing their deeds back to 1757 when they first fought British power in Bengal. “British rule in India has forfeited the good will of the Indian people altogether and is now living a precarious existence. It needs but a flame to destroy the last vestige of that unhappy rule. To light that flame is the task of India's Army of Liberation,” Bose exhorted his audience. “The Provisional Government is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Indian. It guarantees religious liberty as well as equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens.”