We got a country, but lost our homeland

Instead of recognising their contribution, a number of freedom fighters who fought along Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose are living in exile, as stateless citizens. All the past governments have ignored them, and refused to acknowledge their efforts.

A forthcoming book reveals how after nearly 70 years of independence, India's freedom fighters and their families living in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Burma, remain stateless and forgotten. Written by journalist-filmmaker Sagari Chhabra, 'In Search of Freedom: Journeys Through India and South-East Asia' looks at the lives of the valiant soldiers of Netaji's Indian National Army (INA).

The INA was backed by the Japanese Army during the World War, due to which they have been seen as collaborators by native countries like Malaysia, Burma, Singapore and to some extent, Thailand. As India was then under British rule, Indian soldiers fought in the war as part of the Allied Forces. Several of those interviewed reveal they rarely spoke about their past, either to keep jobs, to stay safe, or keep alive a marriage. Almost all of them wished they were at least recognised as freedom fighters.

Most importantly, the book talks about the plight of the stateless. There's Lieutenant Perumal, who spent a month in Rangoon jail as part of the INA. He stayed back in Burma after the World War-II and yet remains stateless. "The Indian government did not help us in any capacity as INA personnel or as freedom fighters. We do not get even a paisa as pension from the Indian government, nor do we have citizenship from the Burmese government," Lt Perumal is quoted as saying. He has applied for citizenship in India in 1951 and 1996, and now needs to renew the Foreigners Registration Certificate (FRC) every year.

Similar to Lt Perumal is Rajan, who spent five months in jail because of his association with INA. He too is stateless and reapplies for an FRC year after year.

"No pension, no money from the government and no record either that I fought for India's freedom," he is quoted as saying.

"Most of these ordinary people with extraordinary history were never given their due. Some of the INA volunteers fought valiantly abroad, but the state has no mention or cognition of their work. Many are stateless, many never got an ex-gratia honorarium," says Chhabra. Work on the book took place between 1997 and 2008, and she travelled to all the mentioned countries.

The book also contains the stories of many women, who were part of the Rani Jhansi Regiment, the female wing of the INA, that mostly took care of the wounded despite their military training. Prominent among them is Janaky Thevar, second-in-command of Lakshmi Sahgal of the Rani Jhansi Regiment, who spent a month on foot alongside Netaji, while making her way from rangoon to Malaysia to escape the British forces. "I don't think the Indian government gave due recognition to the INA. I don't know why; it is because of Netaji that not only India but the whole of South-east Asia got freedom," Thevar is quoted as saying.

In Singapore, Bhagyalakshmi Davies, who served as a nurse in Burma, says she had to hide her identity to keep her job. "I was never honoured or recognised by the high commission or anyone. In a way, we suffered … no one ever appreciated that we were from outside the country, fighting," she says.

There are many such 'forgotten soldiers' within India, too. There's Savitri Ramakishan, born in 1920 in Lyallpur (now in Pakistan), who courted arrest in the Lahore Jail when she was five months pregnant, and was released 20 days before she delivered her son. Along with other prisoners, she raised the tricolour in the prison on the intervening night of August 8, 1942.

Then there's Chinnaya, a freedom fighter from Rangoon, who is blind, stateless and lives in penury with his wife, who is also stateless. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, he joined the freedom struggle and moved to Burma; his job was to ferry the wounded. The author found him in "a hovel, a sort of thatched roof put together with broken tin cans and discarded things like rubber tyres". He depends on his son, a schoolteacher, and has an FRC, which he renews every year. As a parting message to the author, despite his penury, he has no regrets. "I feel happy I could do something for my motherland," he says, before singing the INA anthem. "Sukh chain kee barkha barse ... (May peace and contentment be showered on my motherland)."

Vijay Chauhan, who was one of the women who raised the tricolour inside the Lahore jail, sums it up succinctly: "We got a country, but lost our homeland."