Liberation or Subjugation? Revisiting Netaji's Strategy with Japan
We already know that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took help from Japanese forces in his fight to oust the British Raj from India. This demonstrates his unwavering dedication to freeing India from colonial rule. The intention of this blog is not to question Netaji's patriotism or commitment but to critically examine whether his alliance with the Japanese Empire was a strategically sound decision. While it is impossible to know for certain what Japan would have done to India had it successfully captured Delhi and ousted the British, we can make a hypothesis by analyzing Japan's behavior in other occupied regions, including areas of British India such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and compare it with cases like Burma. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Japan successfully ousted the British and, in theory, handed over administration to the INA (Indian National Army). However, in practice, it was the Japanese forces that controlled the islands. During their occupation, Japan c...