Question

Read the excerpt given below and answer the questions that follow:

“Friends, one year ago, when I made certain demands of you, I told you that if you give me ‘total mobilization’, I would give you a ‘second front’. I have redeemed that pledge. The first phase of our campaign is over. Our victorious troops, fighting side by side with Nipponese troops, have pushed back the enemy and are now fighting bravely on the sacred soil of our dear motherland. I had asked you for men, money and materials. I have got them in generous measure. Now I demand more of you. A long fight is still in front of us. We should have but one desire today - the desire to die so that India may live - the desire to face a martyr’s death, so that the path to freedom may be paved with the martyr’s blood. Friends! My comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all. I demand of you blood. It is blood alone that can avenge the blood that the enemy has spilt. It is blood alone that can pay the price of freedom.” - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

1. Whom is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose addressing? Who are the ‘victorious troops’ referred to in the excerpt? Who were the ‘Nipponese’?
2. Which ‘War of Liberation’ is Bose talking about? From where did he start his campaign? Name the two areas of Indian territory his troops acquired.
3. What did he demand from his troops? Did the troops fulfil the mission of their leader?

Answer 1

1. He is addressing his comrades and supporters - “Friends! My comrades in the War of Liberation” - i.e., the Indians rallying to the cause and the soldiers of the Indian National Army. The “victorious troops” are the Indian National Army (INA) fighting alongside the Nipponese; “Nipponese” refers to the Japanese forces.
2. The “War of Liberation” means the armed struggle to free India from British rule. Bose launched his campaign from Southeast Asia (he set up the Provisional Government/INA headquarters in places such as Singapore and Yangon). His forces managed to occupy the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
3. Bose demanded total mobilisation and above all “blood” - i.e., sacrifice, readiness to give one’s life for India (he also asked earlier for men, money and materials). Militarily the INA did not succeed in overthrowing British rule and ultimately the campaign failed to achieve its strategic objective, but the INA’s actions and sacrifices had a powerful symbolic and political impact that helped arouse nationalist feeling in India.