Roads to Delhi 299tried in India, he could not be executed, as “the pressure for his release
would be too great.” Perhaps he could be tried in Burma or Malaya, or
imprisoned secretly without trial on a distant island like the Seychelles.
Perhaps they might leave him where he was and not ask for his surren-
der. There were really no good options for dealing with His Majesty’s
most inveterate opponent, even in this moment of victory in a world
war. Bose’s cabinet reckoned that if the British executed him, India
would be free that very moment. If they did not, he could continue the
freedom struggle. Despite this win- win scenario, the cabinet neverthe-
less asked whether they should allow the British to take their leader
prisoner at all.^140
In what turned out to be a catastrophic error, Bose’s cabinet advised
him to choose a course against his own better judgment. The consen-
sus, Ayer tells us, was that he must not be taken prisoner by the British,
and “single- handed, Netaji opposed this idea.” “He said,” according to
Ayer, “that he should remain with his ministers and his army in Singa-
pore and face the British. His view prevailed for the time being. But it
was not the final decision.” After one of his advisers, A. N. Sarkar, ar-
rived from Bangkok and joined the deliberations on the night of Au-
gust 14, Netaji “showed a slight inclination to reconsider his own deci-
sion about staying on in Singapore.”^141
On the morning of August 15, 1945, Cyril John Stracey, an Anglo-
Indian of fi cer of the INA (he was of mixed British and Indian descent),
accompanied by R. A. Malik, arrived on the verandah with half a dozen
models and rolls of paper, containing designs for the memorial to
the fallen heroes of the INA. Netaji examined them all and made his
choice. “Colonel Stracey, I want this memorial to rise on the sea face of
Singapore before the British make a landing there. Do you think you
will be able to do it?” he asked. “Certainly, Sir,” Stracey replied, and
with a smart salute and a “Jai Hind” marched off to build in record
time the edifice bearing the words of their motto—Itmad (“Faith”), It-
tefaq (“Unity”), and Kurbani (“Sacrifice”).^142
The afternoon of August 15 brought of fi cial news on the radio of
Japan’s surrender. Netaji issued his last order of the day and a special
message to Indians in East Asia. “The roads to Delhi are many,” he told
his soldiers, “and Delhi still remains our goal. The sac ri fices of your