The last war of Independence is not a piecemeal narrative of history. Neither it should remain one when an eminent and powerful personality like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose headed and organised a team of women soldiers in Singapore on July 12, 1943 to fight the very last war that was meant to free India from the slavery of Britishers. That’s what we were then. The ‘acquirer syndrome’ manifesting from the West has remained a chosen witness to resistance of this visionary and one of the greatest feminists that we had then. Well, the author of the book NETAJI, Krishna Bose said that, in the entire history of the World War II, there is no other example of such a force, led by women. A thousand Ranis were trained by the Bose.
On July 12, 1943 around 24 women, carrying 303 Lee-Enfield rifles with bayonets and wearing saris presented a ceremonial guard of honour to Netaji in Singapore. While addressing them, Netaji said, “I am convinced that unless and until Indian women play their due part in the national struggle, India cannot hope to be free.” This incident showed that Bose always considered women as change-agents and believed in collective consciousness. Additionally, he wanted women to become as brave as Rani Lakshmibai. He said, “If anyone thinks it is unwomanly to shoulder a rifle, I ask them to turn the pages of history. What did the brave Rani of Jhansi do in the Revolution of 1857? Thus, in the last war of independence, we don’t want only one Rani but thousands.”
The book by Krishna Bose on Netaji reflected on how training was imparted to women. Moreover, it also depicted the unfathomable spirit of women leaders like Lakshmi Sehgal and Janaki Thevar. Krishna Bose also revealed that by 1944, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment consisted of 1,500 soldiers who received complete training. Not just that! They fought day-to-day battles and won some too. They became efficient broadcasters and made broadcasts related to their movements while they were in Rangoon. The book also revealed certain intricate details like how Netaji individually interviewed all the INA officers assigned to train female soldiers. He clearly instructed them to not to scold any woman. Additionally, he wanted male officers to think of female soldiers as their sisters. This was the comradeship propagated by Netaji. He worked tirelessly to establish gender equality and his efforts paid off well. During the difficult times in Burma, both INA men and women worked seamlessly in comradeship without any untoward incident, said Krishna Bose.
Although, Netaji faced severe opposition for training women soldiers and forming the Jhansi Regiment from Japan, he did not relent. Japanese considered women soldiers an absurd proposition and their training a waste of ammunition. So, sometimes they would keep a watch on them while women soldiers were practicing. Eventually, they realised that the Ranis were performing well in shooting and bayonet charging, and this amazed them. The training that the Ranis underwent made them quite bold and assertive in their actions. Krishna Bose stated that in early 1944, when INA was preparing to move towards India then the Ranis sent a memorandum to Netaji, written in their own blood. In the memorandum, they asked Netaji to send them to the front as soon as possible.
These narratives clearly depict Netaji’s ideologies and how he used the spirit of womanhood to create an assertive identity of a woman. Unlike Gandhi, he wanted women to be significant contributors in writing women’s history with respect to India’s freedom struggle. Gandhi took a stand for them but did not allow women to take stand for themselves, but Netaji wanted women to play a dominant role and fight for themselves and for their nation. The ideal conceptualisation of nationhood by historians have actually not dealt with the history of women who were brave enough to break the chains of patriarchy and become soldiers to fight for the nation. We rarely try to know about such histories because they will entitle women to fight like Ranis again against the will-power of patriarchs. Isn’t this true?