Page 1 of 4
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 312
Women’s Organization of I.N.A. and Women Emancipation
Dr. Sukhbir Singh
Assistant Professor Department of History Pt. J.L.N. Govt College, Faridabad Haryana(India)
Abstract
Present paper explore the contribution of Netaji
Bose and Indian National Army in terms of
women empowerment and the role of Rani
Jhansi Regiment in mobilizing women power in
freedom struggle. Chandra Bose was a man
who advocated and supported women’s
empowerment and women’s movement in late
twenties to emancipate them from all shackles
and disabilities and to enable them to attain
equality with men. Bose's ideas on women and
their empowerment can be gleaned in several of
his writings and speeches. Most of them deal
with his contemporary society. Major concern
of all political leaders of the time was freedom
of the country from British imperialism.
Among the nationalist movements of India,
Subhash Chandra Bose led Indian National
Army (INA) had a clear vision regarding
women's rights and their status as citizens of
free India. Though not a socio-religious
reformer he was a political thinker on his own
right and had a deep insight into the social
problems prevalent in colonial India. Bose was
one of the few of his times who advocated
women's movements in their fullest dimensions.
Many in the then conservative India raised
eyebrows when he advocated an all India
political organization for women, women in
army, women as nation builders and finally a
separate women's department in free India. An
analysis has to be made to understand INA
ideologies, its role in supporting and
encouraging women empowerment in India and
the relevance in the present day context.
Women's empowerment movement during the
freedom struggle had limited goals and
activities like reform of society, education, etc.
It was undoubtedly Gandhi who aimed at
bringing nationalist politics to into the Indian
household without breaking the domestic circle,
but he attached greater importance to women's
constructive role from inside. Bose, however,
was more radical when he assigned them
different roles. Empowerment of women can be
brought about to its fullest extend only with
Governmental support. In his speech at the
Independence League of India, London in 1933,
Bose pointed out the areas which require
immediate attention. These included freeing
women from the veil of purdah, providing
compulsory primary education (including
spiritual, moral and physical training) and
immediate legislation to procure equal rights
and privileges to men and women in all spheres
of life. Bose encouraged the formation of the
first political organization for women; the
Mahila Rastriya Sangha was formed in 1928.
The Mahila Rastriya Sangha recruited members
and set up a network of Shakti Mandirs. It was
intended to develop as a national women's
Page 2 of 4
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 313
organization connected with the Congress. It
followed a radical ideology and placed the
social, economic and political emancipation of
women as its goal. They organized the All India
Women's Social Conference along with along
with the regular session of the Congress in
1928, which was presided over by the Junior
Maharani of Travancore. The conference passed
resolutions condemning dowry system and
legitimising divorce. It also advocated equal
education for all irrespective of caste, sex or
religion (Dubey, 1988).
Bose's ideas on women and their
empowerment can be gleaned in several of his
writings and speeches. Most of them deal with
his contemporary society. Major concern of all
political leaders of the time was freedom of the
country from British imperialism. It was but
natural that most of them including Bose,
concentrated on utilising women, as a united
force for against colonialism. Still certain ideas
that Bose placed before us has relevance in the
contemporary Indian society and polity.
Empowerment of women should be
taken up as a state policy. Incentives and
devolution of power should not be from above
but from below. Planning and state policy
making is necessary to help reforms reach the
larger section of the society.
Education of women should not be
restricted to mere primary education but should
include vocational training for empowering
them economically. Women should be made
conscious of social and legal remedies that seek
to mitigate women distress.
Women should themselves champion
the cause of women's empowerment. The
government should constitute a team of welfare
workers who would concentrate in educating
women in rural areas and remote urban areas
like slums.
Women organizations should shed their
non-political character, thus making their voice
heard in the legislators.
Separate women department should be
constituted which will research into the
problems of women and suggest remedies
The Indian National Army (INA) was born of
defeat, intrigue, nationalism and ambition. The
Indian National Army was a military
organization conceptualized, organized and
equipped by the Japanese with the advent of the
fall of Malaya and Singapore in 1942. Lebra
(1971) remarked that INA was an organization
which had several aims. It was meant to support
and flesh out Japanese claims of setting up a
Greater Asia co-prosperity sphere. The INA
was also established to encourage the growth of
armed Indian nationalism. Lastly, the INA was
conceived to undermine the British Indian
Army, that cornerstone of British Imperial
control in the Far East. The INA was staffed by
no fewer than 40 000 Indian soldiers. It was led
initially by Mohan Singh and then by Subhas
Chandra Bose. Ghosh (1969) observed that the
INA’s military contribution was minor. The
army fought one major engagement at the
Battle of Imphal-Kohima on the Burma-India
frontier but was defeated piecemeal. Its
contribution to the cause of Indian Nationalism,
was, however, by no means minute. Following
the surrender of thousands of INA personnel,
trials were held at the Red Fort to decide the
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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 314
fate of these men. The trials placed the British
in nothing less than an imperial quandary.
The Women's Organization of the INA was
an important wing of the INA. A women's
Regiment was raised in July, 1943 under the
command of Captain Laxmi Sawaminathan.
The members of this Regiment were drawn
from the Indian civilian population of the
South-East Asia. The Regiment was named
after the famous Rani of Jhansi, who had died
fighting bravely against the British forces in
1857, and consisted of 856 women trained for
active service. Mrs. Laxmi as the Captain of the
Regiment played a unique part in inspiring and
organising the women into Red Cross units,
reKef squads, ambulance workers and
emergency nurses. The Rani of Jhansi
Regiment served not only to generate
excitement and interest in the INA but also
assisted in mobilising support from a previously
quiescent section of the Indian population- women. This was no doubt due to the manner
by which orthodox perceptions of gender were
shattered by the formation of a women’s
regiment. Where men previously dominated the
domain of warfare, here, in stark contrast, stood
a regiment full of well trained and well-armed
women who wielded rifles, bayonets, mortars
and grenades (Lebra, 2008).
Subash Chandra ideas for women
emancipation were visible even before
formation of INA and Rani of Jhansi Regiment.
From the start of his active political career in
the 1920s, Bose appealed to women to make it
their duty to look after the nation and not just
their families, and he also encouraged them to
‘boycott foreign cloths, carry on propaganda
among women and organise “women’s
societies” (Sengupta, 2008). In 1928, he
organized a 300-strong women’s section of the
Bengali Volunteers who would parade in the
streets of Calcutta on the occasion of the Indian
Congress’s gathering in the city. This was an
early prototype of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment,
as evident in the section leader being referred to
as ‘Colonel Latika’. When Subhas Chandra
Bose formally opened the Rani of Jhansi Camp
in Singapore’s Waterloo Street on 22 October
1943, he had realized a dream that arguably
dated back at least to the Calcutta Congress of
1928 and the women’s section of the Bengali
Volunteers. In Dr Lakshmi Swaminadhan,
recently promoted to Captain Lakshmi, he had
found an outstanding leader who had not only
assembled the first 20 women to stand guard of
honour on 12 July, but who, since her
appointment on 13 July, had worked tirelessly
to increase the initial nucleus to 156 women,
and had also built up the Rani of Jhansi Camp
to accommodate up to 500 recruits.
Together they had formed a formidable
team. While Lakshmi was busy in Singapore
expanding the initial nucleus of 15 women to
nearly 100 who were training part-time, Bose’s
touring of the mainland had roused in many
more girls and women a desire to step forward
in order to participate in the liberation of India,
even though most of them had never set foot on
Indian soil. Yet again, it was Lakshmi’s tour of
the mainland in September that proved crucial
