Netaji was the sincerest of the Indian leaders. He never made any false promises to us. Arms, rations and clothing were arranged from the Japanese on loan which would be repayable after freedom.

His personal involvement gave enormous strength to all of us. As a leader he used to enter the trenches on the Burma front, chitchat with us and boost our morale.

His one advice to the officers was: Never say "go and attack" like the Britishers do but tell the soldiers, "come, we will attack" and always remain in the front. He made it a point to visit all the camps and keep the officers informed of the front line position.

As for unity of religions, I remember a difficulty arose because Muslims wanted halal meat and Hindus-Sikhs wanted jhatka. As the kitchen was combined both could not be cooked separately.

Netaji was asked for a solution. He immediately ordered for some jhatka meat and some of the halal meat. He said, mix them and cook them in the same utensil; tell the soldiers that both meats are in the same kitchen and everyone can have his requirement and those who do not like the idea can do with the vegetables that are supplied. And that was the end of the conflict!

Netaji gave us two slogans: Jai Hind and Chalo Delhi. He firmly said that if the route to Delhi via Imphal has been blocked, there are many other routes and we will surely get independence.

Had he been alive in 1947 and present in India, he would never have allowed the partition of the country.

The formation of INA

In March 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose had reached Germany after his daring escape from Calcutta. It was his intention to form an Indian army which would be trained and led on to drive out the Britishers from India.

With this intent in mind, Subhas Chandra met the German dictator, Hitler and soon an army was formed out of the prisoners of war of the British Indian Army in Germany. The army was named the Indian National Army.