Mizoram governor Lt General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma on Monday visited the only surviving member of Subash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA) among the Mizos - Darthawma - living in south Mizoram’s Lunglei town.
Sharma presented a memento to the 96-year-old freedom fighter and paid him respects.
In a felicitation function held at the Cultural Heritage Centre at Lunglei, the governor said India attained Independence due to the sacrifices made by people like Darthawma.
Born on May 15 in 1920 at Pukpui Village near Lunglei, Darthawma was enrolled in the Indian Army Medical Corps during World War-II and was sent to Penang Island in Malaysia to fight against the Japanese Army.
He found himself on the losing side and among the Prisoners of War in Singapore taken by the Japanese Army.
When Bose visited their prison, he, among other soldiers, joined the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army - INA) to fight for India’s Independence.
He fought against the British Army along with his INA comrades and Japanese soldiers in Burma before they surrendered to the British with the Japanese Army due to bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
{{/usCountry}}He fought against the British Army along with his INA comrades and Japanese soldiers in Burma before they surrendered to the British with the Japanese Army due to bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
{{/usCountry}}He was tried for sedition and convicted for “waging war against the British”.
After spending two months in Chittagong’s jail and another year in Lucknow Jail, he was released due to intervention of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1945.