Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t5.2

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.