Tricolour Ecstasy

An INA veteran finally gets the chance to see the Indian flag unfurled over Red Fort this Independence Day

BIBHUTI PATI

“Delhi Chalo” was the clarion call given by Netaji to his fighters in 1943. The dream of an independent India was what drove his army to fight in the inhospitable jungles Burma.

Her Delhi Chalo comes 65 years late, but has been longed for nevertheless. This Independence Day, octogenarian Laxmi Indira Panda, one of the youngest members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army and the only Oriya woman to have enlisted, came to Delhi to witness the flag raising ceremony and meet the president of India. “When I stood in front of the Red Fort, decked in the tricolour, I felt I was a soldier of India. I forgot my old age, poverty; above all, I forgot I was working as a servant in my neighbour’s house,” she says.

“The Prime Minister addressed the nation, but all I could hear were the echoes of our battle cry. It was the moment I had longed for in 65 years. It was a dream fulfilled. I shall die with the satisfaction that I kept the promise that I had made to Netaji.”

What brought Laxmi to the INA? Her parents, labourers for a railway line being constructed by the Japanese in Burma, were killed in a British air raid in 1943. Laxmi, a teenager, was determined to avenge her parents’ deaths: her determination won over the INA leaders and she joined the Rani Jhansi Regiment under Captain Lakshmi Sehgal.

Six months of arms training helped her get battle-ready. In August 1944, her regiment moved out of Rangoon. Laxmi was in the second group that was led by Janki Thevar and had a rough retreat, with their train being bombed. She still has the shrapnel scars from that and other battles.

Laxmi recollects that Netaji personally gave her a new name “Indira” to avoid confusing her with Lakshmi Sehgal. “I met Netaji for the first time outside the INA camp in Rangoon,” she says, adding, “After my training, he sent me to active duty and I was also sent across the enemy lines to spy on the British. As I was well versed in Burmese, I could easily pass off as a local.”

About one unforgettable experience Laxmi said, “I was on guard duty one night. The women’s camp was out of bounds for the men after sunset. Our orders were to stop anyone from entering the camp. One night, I saw a figure in an overcoat approaching the main gate to the camp. I said ‘Ruk jao’, but he kept advancing. I gave the command to stop once again, but he did not stop. I immediately took up my gun and took off the bayonet casing. I pointed the gun and asked him to identify himself. He stopped just short of the bayonet and said, ‘Subash Bose’. I was dumbstruck and apologised, but Netaji stopped me. The next day, during parade, he commended me for my action.”

After the Japanese surrender Laxmi, who was in Singapore, sailed back to India in a tramp steamer. In Chittagong harbour, the British secret police arrested all the INA soldiers including Laxmi, but seeing her frail health, they let her go. Because she never went to jail, the Centre does not acknowledge her status as a freedom fighter (despite corroboration by Lakshmi Sehgal and other INA veterans). She gets Rs 1000 as pension from the state government, lives with her son and works as a domestic help.

In a life filled with sacrifices, this is merely one more. Laxmi Panda is among the last soldiers of the INA still around. In her being, coalesce the ideas of national pride, self-sacrifice and humility. Though she does not expect to be placed on a pedestal, citizens of free India ought not to forget soliders of Laxmi’s calibre.