As the nation celebrates the 75th Independence Day on Sunday, the son of a member of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA) is seeking the government's help to display a certificate issued by the INA Enquiry and Relief Committee to his father 73 years ago as a museum exhibit.
R. Sulochanan of Cherukunnam, Varkala, wants the Central Government to exhibit the certificate issued to his late father N. Ramakrishnan, a Sepoy in the 2/1 Infantry Regiment of the INA, at the museum dedicated to the freedom struggle proposed by the Centre or at a museum honouring Netaji.
“Father was among the INA soldiers who were arrested in 1945 and held at the Central jail in Rangoon. He was transferred to the central jail in Madras in 1946. He was later brought to Thiruvananthapuram and released, although he continued to be under observation as he was trained to use weapons,” says Mr. Sulochanan, a former assistant engineer at the University of Kerala, who preserved the certificate.
After his discharge from the INA, Mr. Ramakrishnan joined the Railways as a gangman (track maintainer). In 1948, he was asked to report to Madras for the certificate. The certificate notes that Mr. Ramakrishnan enrolled in the INA in September 1943, and was discharged on April 4, 1946, after World War II ended. The certificate attests to his character as ‘Very Good.’
Mr. Ramakrishnan retired from the Railways in 1976 and passed away in 1979 leaving behind his wife Chellamma and children Thulasibai, Mohandas and Sulochanan.
“Back then, the INA soldiers were not even treated as freedom fighters,” notes Mr. Sulochanan, now 63.
Mr. Ramakrishnan's enrollment in the INA makes for an interesting story. He was a running a textile shop in Singapore. Several of his relatives, in fact, were in Singapore at the time.
“He was inspired by Netaji's speech and sold his shop to a Chinese and enrolled in the INA. His elder brother found the shop closed one day and was shocked to know what his younger sibling had done,” says Mr. Sulochanan.
Although the INA is now part of history and his father is no more, Mr. Sulochanan keeps their memories alive in the local residents' association which he founded and named after Netaji.
