Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t7: Indian Independence League
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3.t7
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Indian Independence League
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Indian Independence League (IIL) was a prominent Indian political organisation that was active in various parts of East and Southeast Asia in the later years of World War II. Its primary objective was the freedom of India from British colonial rule. It had several branches in China and enrolled a significant number of Indians in China as its members. It claimed to follow the ideals and objectives of the Indian National Congress in India, but differed sharply from the Congress on the issue of using military force to achieve the overthrow of British rule in India and on the strategy of allying with an expansionist Japan.
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IIL was initially founded in the 1920s, but it was revived in 1942 under the leadership of the wellknown exiled Indian nationalist in Japan, Rash Behari Bose. With Japanese power in Asia reaching its height at that time, Bose sought Japanese help to further the objective of winning freedom for India. In 1942, two conferences were held in Tokyo and Bangkok to try and bring together different anticolonial Indian organisations in Southeast and East Asia on one platform. This led to the consolidation of the structure of the IIL, with a Council for Action and a committee of representatives, below which were territorial committees and local branches. By that time, the process of forming an Indian National Army (INA) out of Indian prisoners of war in Malaya had also been started under Japanese sponsorship. It was decided that INA would be the military wing of IIL and function under its leadership.
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The main branch of the IIL in China was established in Shanghai. It had its headquarters at 157 Peking Road, as well as a military camp and an Azad Hind Club. The headquarters was later shifted to a *gurudwara* (Sikh house of worship) at 330 E Baoxing Road. The IIL Shanghai brought out two journals – *On to Delhi* in English, and *Chalo Delhi* in romanised Urdu. Initially, the President of the Shanghai IIL was B Bobby, a businessman with close links with Japan. Later Subhash Chandra Bose, who took over as the overall leader of the IIL and the INA in 1943, reorganised the Shanghai branch, with Chet Singh as the Chairman and J Rahman as the General Secretary. It was placed under a China Territorial Committee, which established and supervised
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Indian Independence League China membership card
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branches in the then so-called Manchukuo, Nanjing, Tianjin and Hankow as well.
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Apart from Shanghai, the biggest branch of the IIL in China was in Hong Kong. The headquarters of the Hong Kong branch was at 9 Dina House on what is at present Queens Road, Central, a building that had been taken over from the wealthy Ruttonjee business family by the Japanese. Dost Mohammed Khan was the first President of the Hong Kong branch, and he was later replaced by Dr P D R Naidu with P A Krishna as its Secretary.
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During the War and occupation, the IIL in China had significant support among Indians in China, although it is not clear how much of this was entirely voluntary. Besides mobilising recruits for the INA and financial support for the struggle, IIL in China also looked after the welfare of Indians in China who found themselves in difficult circumstances owing to the War. However, with the defeat of Japan and the death of Subhash Chandra Bose, IIL and INA virtually disintegrated. In China, IIL activists were rounded up by the authorities and treated harshly in prison. A number of them were sent back to India under escort, where they were again jailed by the British and had to face trial. Despite its dismal end, probably no other Indian political organisation in China had achieved the kind of mass base that the Indian Independence League had in its short history.
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(*Madhavi Thampi*)