His Majesty\'s Opponent. Subhas Chandra Bose and India\'s Struggle Against Empire

Roads to Delhi 295

played a crucial role in the military reconquest of Burma, but he clearly

noticed something new that promised a different future:

There is, however, one silver lining in the cloud that has overtaken us,

and that is, the British Indian Army of today is not the British Indian

Army of the last war. Soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj [Indian National

Army] have had numerous opportunities of coming into close contact

with members of the British Indian Army. Very often our soldiers were

told by the latter that if they [i.e., the Azad Hind Fauj] succeed in ad-

vancing further, members of the British Indian Army would then come

and join them. There is no doubt that at heart large sections of the

British Indian Army sympathize with the Azad Hind Fauj and its fight

for freedom. But the British Indian Army is not yet prepared to take the

risk and line up with the revolutionaries. As a result of foreign rule,

members of the British Indian Army have lost their self- con fi dence and

they are afraid that the British might ultimately win, in which case they

would be in a dif fi cult situation. Moreover, they have been in flu enced,

to some extent, by the pro pa ganda of our enemies that the Azad Hind

Fauj is a puppet army of the Japanese. After coming into Burma, the

eyes of the British Indian Army will be opened. They will see for them-

selves what the Provisional Government of Azad Hind and the Azad

Hind Fauj have done and how they have fought for India’s freedom.

They will hear “Jai Hind,” which is the greeting of all free Indians. They

will also hear India’s inspiring national anthem sung by freedom- loving

Indians in Burma. The effect of this experience on the British Indian

Army, and all other Indians who have come into Burma alongside of

the British, is bound to be great in the days to come.^132

He said much the same thing in a private letter to Brahmachari Kaila-
sam on June 10, 1945: “The fight goes on, despite what has recently
happened in Burma. We shall win and India will be free.”^133
Commenting on the German defeat in Europe, Bose pointed to the
blunder committed by the German government in disregarding Bis-
marck’s advice never to fight on two fronts. German foreign policy to-
ward the Soviet Union was the cause of the German di sas ter. “It is clear