240 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
1943 to mid- 1944), there was hope, bordering on euphoria, that his
Indian National Army, allied with the Japanese forces, might well suc-
ceed in breaking through the British defenses in northeastern India
and ignite an anticolonial uprising within the country. After that dar-
ing gambit failed, the second year (mid- 1944 to August 1945) sorely
tested the mettle of the army of liberation and its leader, who contin-
ued to display dogged determination in retreat while searching for al-
ternative routes to freedom. Delhi still remained the ultimate goal, even
if only an example of heroism in military defeat would pave the po lit i-
cal path to that imperial metropolis.
The Blood of Freedom- Loving IndiansAfter his arrival by submarine in Sabang, Bose flew to Tokyo to garner
support for his armed struggle and Japanese recognition of Indian in-
de pen dence. He arrived in the Japanese cap ital on May 16, 1943, but
his first meeting with Hideki Tojo, the prime minister, did not take
place until June 10. Some Japanese sources suggest that India did not
fig ure very prominently on Tojo’s list of priorities at this time, dis-
traught as he was because of the military setbacks in the Pacific. Abid
Hasan contends that Bose did not insist on a very early meeting with
the Japanese prime minister. He understood that Tojo’s position—as
the first among equals—was quite different from that of the European
dictators. While Hitler and Mussolini had frequent contact with each
other, Tojo had never met either of them in person. Before meeting
with Tojo, Bose wanted to create a lobby in support of Indian in de pen-
dence among the po lit i cal and military elite in Tokyo. If a Bose file was
being prepared by Tojo’s subordinates, he wanted indirectly to be its
author. Thus, for the first few weeks he was quite content to meet with
the top military commander, Hajime Sugiyama; the foreign minister,
Mamoru Shigemitsu; various other Japanese military of fi cers, such as
General Seizo Arisue; and a number of po lit i cal leaders. He took it
upon himself to educate them about India and its freedom struggle, in
the manner of a tutor. Having never visited Japan before, he was also
willing to spend about ten days touring Japanese factories, farms, hos-
pitals, and schools.^5