NDA (II) 2022 General Ability Test · Question 87 of 150

Correct — A, Singapore. Subhas Chandra Bose proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India (Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind) at Singapore on 21 October 1943, at the Cathay Cinema Hall. He had reached Tokyo on 13 June 1943 and Singapore on 2 July 1943, took over the Indian National Army there, and announced the government from that base three and a half months later.

• (b)Shanghai — Shanghai was under Japanese occupation but was never a base for Bose or the Indian National Army; his South-East Asian headquarters were Singapore and, from 1944, Rangoon.
• (c)Berlin — Bose was in Germany from 1941 to early 1943 and worked there with Indian prisoners of war, but he founded no government in Berlin — the proclamation came only after he travelled to South-East Asia in mid-1943.
• (d)Mandalay — Mandalay is in Burma, where the INA later fought its 1944 campaign; the government itself was proclaimed earlier, in October 1943, and in Singapore.

The Provisional Government of Free India, or Azad Hind, was the government-in-exile Subhas Chandra Bose set up in Japanese-occupied South-East Asia. It gave the Indian National Army a political head, a cabinet and a claim to represent India, and it declared war on Britain and the United States. Bose himself held the offices of Head of State, Prime Minister and Minister for War.

All four options are places genuinely associated with Bose or with the war in Asia, which is what makes the item tempting. The sorting rule is simple — Bose's German phase (1941 to early 1943) produced propaganda and an Indian Legion but no government, while his South-East Asian phase from July 1943 produced both the reorganised INA and the Azad Hind government, and its base was Singapore.

• Bose proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India at Singapore on 21 October 1943, at the Cathay Cinema Hall.
• He arrived in Tokyo on 13 June 1943 and in Singapore on 2 July 1943, taking formal command of the Indian National Army there.
• Around the Greater East Asia Conference in late October 1943, Azad Hind was given nominal authority over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Azad Hind was recognised by Japan and its allies, not by the Allied powers, and it functioned only while Japanese forces held South-East Asia.

• Mixing up Bose's Berlin years (1941 to early 1943) with his Singapore years (from July 1943).
• Confusing the first INA raised under Mohan Singh in 1942 with the INA that Bose took over in 1943.

A direct place-and-date recall item on Azad Hind — the answer is Singapore, 21 October 1943.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind) proclaimed by Subhas Chandra Bose was given nominal authority over which Indian territory?

  • (a)Lakshadweep
  • (b)Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • (c)Diu and Daman
  • (d)Puducherry

  Answer(b) Andaman and Nicobar Islands — handed to Azad Hind in nominal terms around the Greater East Asia Conference of late October 1943.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following offices did Subhas Chandra Bose hold in the Provisional Government of Free India?

  • (a)Head of State only
  • (b)Prime Minister only
  • (c)Head of State, Prime Minister and Minister for War
  • (d)Minister for War only

  Answer(c) Head of State, Prime Minister and Minister for War — Bose combined all three in the Azad Hind government.