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New book chronicles 1945 INA court martial
Ashis Ray's book explores how the 1945 INA trials at Red Fort accelerated India's path to independence, uniting diverse communities against British rule.
New Delhi
In November 1945, a court-martial of three officers in the Indian National Army (INA), Colonel Prem Sahgal, Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, and Major-General Shah Nawaz Khan began at the Red Fort in Delhi. The three men were found guilty of “waging war against the King-Emperor” and sentenced to life imprisonment by the end of the trial, but what followed was a precursor to the end of the British Empire in India.
In his new book ‘The Trial That Shook Britain: How A Court Martial Hastened Acceptance of Indian Independence’, veteran journalist and academic advisor at Oxford University Ashis Ray traces how the INA trials accelerated India’s journey towards Independence. The book was launched at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi on 6 February.
Ray’s book emerged from a year-long thesis he wrote at Oxford. “In a previous book, I had mentioned as a one-liner that the INA trials may have hastened the Independence movement,” he told HT. Although he was initially unsure of finding enough evidence, he was invited by the head of Exeter College to further probe the link. “Luckily, I was able to find the answer I was looking for.”
“In our freedom struggle, the role which the Indian National Army has played has not been taught and highlighted enough,” remarked KN Srivastava, the Director of IIC, to commence the discussion. The book traces how the British government’s decision to court-martial INA officers in 1945, meant to set an example against opposing the Empire, ignited mass political mobilisation that united the populace across religious and regional lines. Ray shows how the INA was transformed by the trials into a symbol of resistance that was previously censored from the Indian populace. This was followed by public outrage and solidarity across religions, as the three men belonged to the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu communities.
Senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi elaborated on the crucial role played by Bhulabhai Desai, who led the defence of the INA officers, describing how the trial marked the first time international law was invoked to question the actions of the British Empire. Singhvi highlighted how Desai’s arguments presented the INA soldiers not as traitors, but as soldiers of a provisional government striving for India’s liberation.
Subhashini Ali, CPI(M) leader and daughter of Colonel Prem Sahgal, recalled the personal and historical significance of the trials. She reflected on how the prosecution of the INA members united people from different political ideologies for years after Independence and argued that the solidarity shown during the trials reunity that carried India to liberation from the British.
