ADDRESS BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA,  ON THE OCCASION OF THE CELEBRATION TO MARK THE 50TH  ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY IN THE CENTRAL HALL, PARLIAMENT HOUSE

NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1994 

The history of India's freedom struggle is  studded with stories of courage and sacrifice, adventure  and romance. Of these the story of Netaji Subhas  Chandra Bose and the INA is the most romantic and  moving. Mahatma Gandhi called Netaji "patriot of  patriots" and Jawaharlal Nehru described the men and  women of the INA as "symbols of India's struggle for  freedom." They had captured the heart and imagination of  India and their heroic deeds will continue to inspire  generations of Indians to come. To-day we are observing  the 50th anniversary of the formation of the INA and  paying our homage to the memory of the great man who  organized that extra-ordinary event in our struggle for  freedom.
 
In 1942 following the launching of the Quit  India movement, the arrests of the leaders and the  massive suppression unleased by the British Government,  India remained unsubdued but without a leadership. The  flame of the struggle for freedom was kept alive within  India during this period by the underground movement led  by Aruna Asaf Ali and others, and from outside by Netaji  who organized the INA into a fighting force. His  clarion call to his soldiers "Delhi Chalo" had stirred  not only the minds of his soldiers but the youth of  India. He declared confidently "...we shall ultimately  win and our task will not end until our surviving heroes  hold the victory parade on another graveyard of the  British Empire - the Lal Kila or Red Fortress of ancient  India." That victory parade did not take place, but the  great trials which were held in the Red Fort became the  final rallying event that ended the Empire in India.
 
To-day in the Golden Jubilee Year of the INA  we salute Netaji and the brave men and women of the INA.  While we take pride in their achievements and pay homage  to their martyrdom we have to consider the lessons we  can learn to-day from their great deeds and their  sacrifices. For if we do not learn some lessons for  them, we will only be paying lip service to them.
 
Gandhiji, with his unerring instinct had put  his finger on the one major lesson that we can learn  from the story of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the  INA. He said: "Though the INA failed in their  immediate objective, they have a lot to their credit of  which they might well be proud. Greatest among these  was to gather together, under one banner, men from all  religions and races of India, and to infuse into them  the spirit of solidarity and oneness to the exclusion of  all communal or parochial sentiment. It is an example  which we should all emulate." If there is any single  reason for the Parliament to hold this commemoration  meeting to-day it is to emphasise this over-riding need  to infuse into our people "the spirit of solidarity and  oneness to the exclusion of all communal and parochial  sentiment." Let us also recall on this occasion the  words of Netaji: "India has several religions.  Consequently the government of free India must have an  absolutely neutral attitude and impartial attitude  towards all religions, and leave it to the choice of  every individual to profess or follow a particular  religious path."
 
Netaji had dreamt of a strong and secular  India -- indeed in the INA he had forged that strength  as well as that secular approach. It was a vibrant  example of communal harmony in action. Even though  everyone may not agree with him on the need for a  political system of an authoritarian character, albeit  for a transitional period, we have to pay heed to what  he said on the need for discipline and solidarity among  our people. Netaji had envisaged that "We must have a  government that will function as the servant of the  people and will have full powers to put new reforms  concerning industry, education, defence etc. in Free  India."

He believed in the efficacy of industrialisation  and science and technology. He had declared: "No  industrial advancement is possible until we pass through  the throes of an industrial revolution. If the  industrial revolution is an evil it is a necessary evil.  We can only try our best to mitigate the ills that have  attended its advent in other countries." Netaji's ideas  about India's economic development were forward-looking.  It was he who as President of the Indian National  Congress appointed the National Planning Committee under  the chairmanship of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The ideas  put forward by that Committee became the basis of the  great experiment in democratic planning that India  launched after independence.
 
The contribution of Netaji and INA in  bringing women into the struggle for independence is  another important lesson for us to-day. It was a  contribution in line with India's tradition in critical  periods in our history. The war of independence of 1857  witnessed it. Again, Mahatma Gandhi brought thousands  and thousands of women into the non-violent freedom  struggle. While inducting women into INA Netaji  recalled India's past and said: "Our past has been a  great and glorious one. India could not have produced a  heroine like the Rani of Jhansi if she did not have a  glorious tradition.

The history of the Great women in  India is as ancient as the Vedic period. The greatness  of Indian womanhood had its roots in those early days  when India had its Sanskrit culture." It was in the line  of this approach that he organized the Rani of Jhansi  Regiment as part of the INA, and declared: "...I can  say with certainty that there is no task which our women  cannot undertake and no sacrifice and suffering which  our women cannot undergo." Giving freedom and equality  to women and mobilising women power for our progress and  development is another lesson that we can learn from  Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA. With devotion  to unity, discipline, modernisation and social justice,  that marked the tempestuous career of Netaji, there is  nothing that our country cannot achieve. Above all,  flaming patriotism and pride in being an Indian, is the  most precious legacy that Netaji has bequeathed to us.  To-day we pay homage to his immortal memory, and to the  heroism and sacrifice of the men and women of the Indian  National Army.

Thank you