Editing Azad Hind (section)

{{short description|Indian provisional government in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II}}
{{about|the organisation formed during World War II in Singapore|the Provisional Government formed by Raja Mahendra Pratap during World War I|Provisional Government of India|the military unit raised during World War II in Nazi Germany|Indian Legion|the body created in 1946|Interim Government of India}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox Former Country
| conventional_long_name = {{nowrap|Provisional Government of Free India}}
| native_name            = {{lang|hi-Latn|ʻĀrẓī Ḥukūmat-e-Āzād Hind}}
| common_name            = Azad Hind Fauj
| era                    = World War II
| year_start             = 1943
| date_start             = 21 October
| date_end               = 18 August
| year_end               = 1945
| p1                     = British Raj{{!}}British India
| flag_p1                = British Raj Red Ensign.svg
| s1                     = British Raj{{!}}British India
| flag_s1                = British Raj Red Ensign.svg
| today                  = [[India]]
| languages_type         = Official language<br />{{Nobold|and national language}}
| languages              = [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Seal of Azad Hind|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_the_Provisional_Government_of_Free_India.png}}</ref>
| image_flag             = 1931 Flag of India.svg
| flag_type              = [[Flag of India|Flag]] (''de facto'')
| image_coat             = File:Interpreted Azad Hind Gov. emblem.svg
| coat_type              = 
| symbol_type            = [[Emblem of India|Emblem]]<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ACwkShmNzUC | title=The Springing Tiger: A Study of the Indian National Army and of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose | isbn=978-81-8424-392-5 | last1=Toye | first1=Hugh | date=2009 | publisher=Allied Publishers }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/azad-hind-gazette-PGAH | title=Azad Hind Gazette }}</ref>
| other_symbol           = <div style="padding:0.3em;">[[File:Seal of Azad Hind.svg|90px]]</div>
| other_symbol_type      = Seal
| image_map              = Free India orthographic map.png
| image_map_caption      = {{ubl|Light green: Claimed territory|Dark green: Controlled territory (with Imperial Japanese assistance)}}
| national_anthem        = {{ubl|[[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]: {{lang|hi-Latn|[[Shubh Sukh Chain]]}} |'auspicious happiness'|{{center|}} }}
| motto                  = {{ubl|[[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]: {{lang|hi-Latn|Ittehad, Itmad aur Qurbani}} |'Unity, Faith and Sacrifice' }}
| capital                = {{ubl| [[New Delhi]] (''de jure'')| [[Central Area, Singapore|Singapore]] (''de facto'')| [[Port Blair]] (''provisional'') }}
| title_leader           = [[President (government title)|President]]
| year_leader1           = 1943–1945
| leader1                = [[Subhas Chandra Bose]]
| status                 = [[Puppet state]] of the [[Empire of Japan]]<ref>[[Christopher Bayly|Bayly, C. A.]] & T. Harper ''Forgotten Armies. The Fall of British Asia 1941–5''. London 2004, p. 325.</ref><ref>Dasgupta. ''Red Sun over Black Water'', pp. 67, 87, 91–95; Mathur ''Kala Pani'', pp. 249–251</ref>
| government_type        = {{nowrap|[[Provisional government]]}}
| leader_title1          = [[President (government title)|President]]
| area_km2               = 30620
| stat_pop1              = 
| demonym                = [[Indian people|Indian]]
}}

The '''Provisional Government of Free India''' or, more simply, '''Azad Hind''',<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Rudolph |first=Lloyd I. |author2=Hoeber Rudolph, Susanne |title=Explaining Indian Democracy: The realm of institutions: state formation and institutional change |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]; Original from: [[University of California Press]] |year=2008 |page=58 |isbn=978-0-19-569365-2}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Ghose |first=Sankar |title=Political ideas and movements in India |publisher=Allied Publishers; Original from: [[University of Michigan Press]] |year=1975 |page=136 }}</ref> was a short-lived Japanese-controlled provisional government in India.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pant |first=H. V. |title=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Defence Policy: Themes, Structures and Doctrines |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-000-07435-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbfjDwAAQBAJ |page=72}}</ref> It was established in [[Japanese occupation of Singapore|Japanese occupied Singapore]] during [[World War II]] in October 1943 and has been considered [[List of World War II puppet states|a puppet state]] of the [[Empire of Japan]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cribb |first1=R. |last2=Li |first2=N. |title=Imperial Japan and National Identities in Asia, 1895–1945 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-000-14401-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pzyDwAAQBAJ |page=242|quote=Japanese postal authorities prepared stamps for use in the foreshadowed puppet state of Azad Hind}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dunphy |first=J. J. |title=Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4766-3337-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tt8DwAAQBAJ |page=116|quote=Imperial Japan in 1943 had established a puppet state known as the Provisional Government of Free India}}</ref><ref name="toye" />

It was a part of the political movement originating in the 1940s outside India with the purpose of allying with the [[Axis powers]] to liberate India from [[British Raj|British rule]]. It was established by Indian nationalists in exile during the latter part of the [[World War II]] in Singapore with monetary, military and political assistance from Imperial Japan.<ref name="toye">{{cite book|last=Toye|first=Hugh|title=The Springing Tiger: A Study of the Indian National Army and of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose|date=1959|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=978-8184243925|page=187|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ACwkShmNzUC&pg=PA187}}</ref>

Founded on 21 October 1943, the government was inspired by the concepts of [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] who was also the leader of the government and [[head of state]]. The government proclaimed authority over Indian civilian and military personnel in Southeast Asian British colonial territory and prospective authority over Indian territory to fall to the Japanese forces and the [[Indian National Army]] during the [[Burma Campaign#First Arakan campaign|Japanese thrust towards India]]. The government of Azad Hind had its own currency, court and civil code, and in the eyes of some Indians, its existence gave a greater importance to the independence struggle against the British.<ref name="Singh102">Singh, Harkirat (2003). ''The INA trial and the Raj''. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, pp. 102–103. {{ISBN|81-269-0316-3}}</ref><ref name=":3b">{{citation|last=Sarkar|first=S.|year=1983|title=Modern India: 1885–1947|place=Delhi|publisher=Macmillan India|isbn=978-0-333-90425-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/modernindia1885100sark/page/412 412]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/modernindia1885100sark/page/412}}</ref><ref name="Bandyopadhyaya428">Bandyopādhyāẏa, Śekhara (2004). ''From Plassey to partition''. Orient Blackswan, p. 428. {{ISBN|81-250-2596-0}}</ref> Japan also handed over nominal authority of the [[Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands|Japanese occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] in 1943, though the government continued to be dependent on Japanese support.

Immediately after the formation of the provisional government, Free India declared war against the [[Allies of World War II|Allied forces]] on the Indo-Burma Front.<ref name=":4">Pandit, H. N. (1988) ''Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose'', Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, p. 331.</ref> Its army, the [[Indian National Army]] (''Azad Hind Fauj''), went into action against the [[British Indian Army]] and the allied forces as part of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] in the Imphal-Kohima sector. The INA had its first major engagement at the [[Battle of Imphal]] where, under the command of the [[Fifteenth Army (Japan)|Japanese Fifteenth Army]], it breached the British defences in Kohima, reaching the salient of [[Moirang]] before suffering a catastrophic defeat as the Allied forces held, and Allied air dominance and compromised supply lines forced both the Japanese and the INA to retreat.<ref name=":5">Das, S. "Indian National Army in South East Asia". ''The Hindustan Times''. Special Edition. {{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/enlisting3.htm |title=Hindustan Times – Archive News |access-date=28 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930040644/http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/Netaji/enlisting3.htm |archive-date=30 September 2007 }}</ref> The existence of Azad Hind was essentially coterminous with the existence of the Indian National Army. While the government itself continued until the civil administration of the Andaman Islands was returned to the jurisdiction of the [[British Raj|British]] towards the end of the war, the limited power of Azad Hind was effectively ended with the surrender of the last major contingent of INA troops in [[Yangon|Rangoon]]. The [[Death of Subhas Chandra Bose|death of Bose]] is seen as the end of the entire Azad Hind Movement.<ref name=":4" /><ref name="toye" />

The legacy of Azad Hind is, however, open to judgment. After the war, the Raj observed with alarm the transformation of the perception of Azad Hind from traitors and collaborators to liberators.<ref>Edwardes, Michael (1964). ''The Last Years of British India'', Cleveland, World Pub. Co., p. 93: {{qi|The Government of India had hoped, by prosecuting members of the INA, to reinforce the morale of the Indian army. It succeeded only in creating unease, in making the soldiers feel slightly ashamed that they themselves had supported the British. If Bose and his men had been on the right side – and all India now confirmed that they were – then Indians in the Indian army must have been on the wrong side. It slowly dawned upon the Government of India that the backbone of the British rule, the Indian army, might now no longer be trustworthy. The ghost of Subhas Bose, like Hamlet's father, walked the battlements of the Red Fort (where the INA soldiers were being tried), and his suddenly amplified figure overawed the conference that was to lead to independence.}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9311795 |title=Indian National army}}</ref> After returning to India the veterans of the INA posed a difficult problem for the British government. The British feared that a public trial for treason on the part of the INA members might embolden anti-British sentiment and erupt into widespread protest and violence. The [[British Empire]], which was seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the [[INA trials]], but eventually backtracked in the face of opposition by the Congress.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moreman|first=Tim|title=The Jungle, Japanese and the British Commonwealth Armies at War, 1941–45: Fighting Methods, Doctrine and Training for Jungle Warfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsoy_-Ep_0EC|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-76456-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Marston|first=Daniel|title=The Indian Army and the End of the Raj|series=Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society, 23|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-521-89975-8|author-link=Daniel Marston (historian)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=H. |title=The INA Trial and the Raj |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |year=2003 |isbn=978-81-269-0316-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P53UqWnGrOgC&pg=PA98 |page=98}}</ref><ref name=":6"/>