Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t5: Indian National Association of China
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t5
- Language
- English
Indian National Association of China
v2.c14.s3.t5.1
The Indian National Association of China was founded by Anand Mohan Sahay, an Indian political activist with close links to the Indian National Congress, who was based in Japan from the 1920s through the 1940s. While based in Japan, Sahay had carried on political activities for the cause of Indian freedom from the British rule and was associated with other Indian nationalists in East Asia eg Rash Behari Bose and Raja Mahendra Pratap. He sought and received some kind of approval from the Congress leadership in India to be considered as the representative of the Congress in Japan. However, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and then China made this difficult. Sahay appears to have written to Gandhi opposing the Congress’ unqualified support for the Chinese resistance and its denunciation of Japanese aggression. He also toured Manchuria and Shanghai in 1939, and spoke to many Chinese. While professing himself to be in sympathy with the Chinese, he nevertheless urged them not to fight with Western support against the Japanese, and preached unity between the Asian nations, India, China and Japan, against British imperialism. This position was not uncommon among Indian political activists in Asia at the time.
v2.c14.s3.t5.2
In 1938, the All India Congress Committee ended the practice of having affiliated branches of the Indian National Congress overseas. Sahay accordingly dissolved his Congress Committee, and instead formed an Indian National Association with its headquarters in Kobe which however claimed to adhere to Congress ideals and objectives. He then formed an Indian National Association of China in Shanghai. The president of the organisation was J. Rahman, a Pathan from the North West Frontier Province of India (present-day Pakistan). Its Secretary was Ahmed Bawa, a Bombay businessman residing in Shanghai. Other important members included M M Kohli, a Punjabi from Lahore, and Bool Chand, a Sindhi businessman in Tianjin. All had close personal or business links with Japan. In 1941, when an earlier organisation, known as the Indian Independence League was revived with Japanese patronage under Rash Behari Bose, Sahay himself dissolved the Indian National Association of China and called on its members to join the League. From 1943, the leadership of the Indian Independence League was taken over by exiled Congress leader Subhas Chandra Bose, and it became the political wing of the Indian National Army. Sahay was closely associated with Subhas Chandra Bose. At the end of the war, he was captured by Chinese forces in Hanoi and handed over to the British who imprisoned him. After India’s independence, Sahay served in various diplomatic capacities abroad.
v2.c14.s3.t5.3
(*Madhavi Thampi*)