Indian National Army (INA)

Choose the Correct Answer

Correct Answer : Option c

Explanation
Statement 1 is not correct: Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore on 2 July 1943 and assumed the command of the INA from Rash Behari. He altered the policy of recruitment by starting to recruit Indian civilians. About 30,000 people joined the ranks of INA in various capacities from the Indian civilians in the region. He also established the Azad Hind League which was in charge of approaching the Indian community in this region. Besides this, Bose also formed an all-women regiment named as ‘Rani of Jhansi Regiment’ in which about a thousand women joined as soldiers. Lakshmi Swaminathan, a Tamil woman, became the commander of this regiment.

Statements 2 and 3 are also not correct: Right since the first INA, the British policy of segregated recruitment and organization policy was given up. There was no longer any talk about the ‘martial races’ and all soldiers from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds were put together into single units. Bose continued this policy even further by recruiting even civilians along with trained and professional soldiers. Now all efforts were made to subsume ethnic and regional loyalties under overarching national sentiments by forming mixed regiments and by imparting political training to the INA soldiers. This was done to wean them away from the colonial tradition of forming separate regiments and creation of imagined traditions of valour and martial pasts. The effort now was to Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) Indianise and nationalize the fighting forces.