On the Foundation Day of the Azad Hind Fauj, Union Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju bowed to the immortal martyrs of India's most daring armed resistance against colonial rule — soldiers who picked up weapons when petitions alone could not win freedom.

Posting in Hindi on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, Rijiju conveyed warm wishes to all on the occasion and offered his reverential salute to the fallen heroes, writing: 'अमर शहीदों को मेरा सादर नमन' ('my respectful salute to the immortal martyrs'). He described the Azad Hind Fauj's indomitable courage and sacrifice under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as an unparalleled example of patriotism that played a vital role in India's freedom struggle.

The army Netaji built — and what it stood for

The Azad Hind Fauj, formally reconstituted under Subhas Chandra Bose in 1943, was no peripheral footnote to India's independence movement. Bose reorganised the Indian National Army from prisoners of war and Indian civilians in Southeast Asia, forged an alliance with Axis powers, and launched a military campaign aimed directly at liberating Indian soil from British rule. The INA advanced into northeastern India, reaching Kohima and Imphal before being turned back — but the psychological blow to the idea of British invincibility was irreversible.

Bose simultaneously established the Provisional Government of Free India — Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind — asserting sovereign Indian authority even before independence arrived. The movement drew soldiers from across India's communities, and its women's regiment, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, broke another barrier entirely. The INA trials that followed the war, far from suppressing the memory of its soldiers, ignited nationwide outrage and accelerated the final chapter of British rule.

A tribute that fits a long tradition — and a sharper political moment

Indian leaders across party lines have routinely marked INA anniversaries with public statements, weaving the armed struggle into a broader nationalist narrative alongside the non-violent movement. The current government has placed particular emphasis on Netaji's legacy — including the rechristening of the Rajpath to Kartavya Path and the installation of Bose's statue at India Gate in New Delhi. Parakram Diwas, observed on 23 January — Netaji's birth anniversary — has since been institutionalised as a national day of commemoration.

Rijiju, himself from Arunachal Pradesh — a state on the very frontier the INA sought to cross — closed with a line that carried its own weight: that the soldiers' struggle and sacrifice will 'forever inspire all fellow countrymen to walk the path of service to the nation.' A reminder, on a quiet October morning, that some debts are never fully repaid.