KANNUR: Certain names serve as magic words that open doors to history. This seems to be the conviction that lead those behind INA-3, an “international Indian youth movement”, which is scheduled to be inaugurated on July 4 in Singapore, where Subhas Chandra Bose assumed INA-2’s leadership in 1943.
As the official version that Bose died in an air crash in 1945 in Taiwan has once again been called into question in the wake of the revelations that his family members were under government surveillance even after Independence, the movement’s launch is sure to invite world-wide attention.
The Singapore function is expected to be attended by Bose’s family members and INA-2 members, who will share their memories about the INA, one of the most inspiring chapters in the history of India’s freedom struggle.
Ahead of the inauguration, the training of INA-3’s first battalion comprising 60 volunteers will start here soon.
Rajeev Joseph, hailing from Payyavoor, is the “commander-in-chief’ of INA-3. An ardent admirer of Netaji, Rajeev has been working on the initiative for several years.
“After strenuous efforts, I could get in touch with some of Bose’s relatives. I was invited to Netaji Bhawan, the freedom fighter’s residence in Kolkata, in January to meet Prof Krishna Bose and Prof Sugata Bose, the niece and grand nephew of Netaji. They agreed to extend support to the movement and released the logo of INA-3 on the occasion of Netaji’s 118th birthday, on January 23, in Kolkata,” he said.
INA-3 has plans to mobilise youths to organise inter-faith conventions across the country and raise a force to undertake disaster relief activities.
Promoting religious harmony and peace and safeguarding secularism and democracy in India and abroad will be INA-3’s motives, the organisers said.