Subhas Chandra Bose (Indian Freedom Fighter): What are some great stories about the Azad Hind Fauj that people know little about?

This story is about a teenage girl from Burma (present-day Myanmar), 1942 Rangoon (now Yangon). She belonged to an Indian Tamil family and lived in one of the richest areas of the city. Her father was the owner of a gold mine. From birth, the girl saw immense wealth, expensive cars, silk clothes and diamonds and jewelry etc. Her name was Saraswati Rajamani. She was only 15 or 16 years old at the time. But destiny did not have a palace for her, but a jungle and the smell of gunpowder.

One day, the last hope of India's independence—Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose—came to Rangoon. In front of thousands of people, he declared in a thunderous voice—"You give me blood, I will give you freedom." The blood of the teenage Rajamani, who was standing in the crowd, started boiling with patriotism. At that moment, she took off her necklace, bracelets, earrings—all of them and donated them to the fund of the 'Azad Hind Fauj'.

The next morning, an army jeep stopped in front of that huge palace. Netaji Subhash Bose himself got out of the jeep. He had come to return the jewellery. He thought that the little girl had made a mistake out of emotion, that she was not old enough to donate such expensive jewelry. But the answer Rajamani gave, looking into Netaji's eyes, has become history. She said, "respected Netaji, I did not make that mistake. It was a donation for my country. And I do not take back what I have donated."

Netaji stared in surprise. He did not see any fear in the girl's eyes, he saw steel-like determination. He smiled. He named her Saraswati. And he said, "I want you in my team. But not with a gun in hand, your job will be more difficult." A new chapter began on Netaji's orders and it was death of 'Rajamani' and birth of 'Mani'. The girls' long hair was cut off. Loose shirts and pants were worn. Saraswati became Rajamani - 'Mani'. Her companion was another brave girl - Durga. Their task was given—espionage.

Can you imagine? A 16-year-old girl, who had been sleeping on the couch a few days ago, was now working as a ‘boy’ in the British military mess! Their job was to polish the shoes of British officers, sweep the rooms and serve tea. The British generals thought that these were ordinary local boys, what would they understand about English? So secret war meetings were held in front of them. They would open the map and show where the INA would be bombed, which route the supplies would take.

And while polishing shoes in the corner of the room, ‘Mani’s’ ears would be sharpt. Her brain would quickly record every date, every code. After finishing the work, she would go to the bathroom and write everything on a notepad, hide it in bread or shoes and deliver the news to Netaji’s camp. Day after day, this hiding and daredevil act continued.

That Black Night: A Story of unparalleled courage but the life of a spy meant the fear of being caught at every moment. One day, that nightmare became true. Rajamani's companion Durga was captured by the British. The news came that she had been detained in a military jail and that soon inhuman torture would begin to be inflicted on her to get the information out. The INA's rules were strict—if caught, kill yourself, but don't let yourself be caught. Everyone told Rajamani, "run away, if you go there you will die too." But Rajamani said that day— "My friend has been captured, and I will run away? I will not let this happen."

In the dark of night, disguised as a boy, Rajamani entered the heavily guarded British fortress. She knew the guards' weakness. She mixed strong opium in the guards' food and tea. When the guards were fast asleep, she stole the key and opened the door to Durga's cell. Just as he was scaling the prison wall with Durga, the siren rang. The search lights followed and random gunfire began. As she ran in the dark, she suddenly felt a ball of fire hit her right leg. A bullet had pierced Rajamani's leg. Blood was flowing down the ground. Her body was writhing in pain. But she did not stop. Because if she stopped, he would die—not only for himself, but also for his friend.

With wounded legs and bleeding profusely, she and Durga entered the deep jungle nearby. British soldiers were searching for them with dogs. To save themselves, Rajamani and Durga climbed onto a huge tree. It would be hard to believe—they had been sitting on that tree for three days (72 hours). Bullets in their legs, their bodies burning with fever, no water, no food. British petrol was searching below. The slightest noise would end it all. Three days later, when the British gave up, they climbed down from the tree and limped back to the Azad Hind Fauj (or INA) camp.

When Netaji Subhash Bose returned to the salute camp, she was almost unconscious in pain, when Netaji came to see her. When the doctors removed the bullet from her leg, Netaji saluted the 16-year-old fighting girl and said, “I did not know that such a big gem was hidden in our army. You are the first woman spy of India. You are my queen of Jhansi.” Netaji wanted to gift her his pistol given to him by the Emperor of Japan, but Rajamani only wanted the country’s independence.

A patriotic hero lost in oblivion. The country became independent in 1947. But did the girl who gave her youth, blood and all her father’s property for the country, remained unknown? No. Her name did not find a place in the history books. Rajamani, who once slept on a golden couch, spent the last few decades of her life in Royapettah, Chennai—a dilapidated one-room rented house. In extreme poverty. The government was very late in paying her freedom fighter’s pension. Yet she had no complaints.

During the 2004 tsunami, when everyone was reaching out for help, this old woman—who didn’t have the money to buy her own medicine—donated her pension savings to the relief fund. Reporters asked, “Why did you give? You don’t have anything of your own.” She smiled and said, “I gave it with my blood. I gave everything for the country’s independence as a child, and today I give it for the people of the country.”

In 2018, at the age of 91, this fire girl of India passed away silently from this world after suffering a heart attack. There was no state mourning, no breaking news on TV channels. But today when we look at the sky of independent India, we should remember—a 15-year-old girl paid the price for this independence, with the blood of her feet and the sacrifice of her entire life.

Her name is Saraswathi Rajamani. Remember her. Because even if history forgets her, we will not be able to repay her debt. The Indian history books are not kind to contributions made by the non-congress freedom fighters. They ignored Azad Hind Fauj (or Indian National Army) and other freedom seeking political parties like Ghadar Party. The immense financial contribution made by ethnic Tamils living in South-east Asian countries during WW-II to fund the INA was largely ignored. Ethnic Tamils are still a major ethnic Indian community in South-east Asia including Burma (Chola empire effect).

The Indian history books only glorified Gandhi ji, Nehru and the congress while ignored all others. Large number of congress workers whose contribution for Indian freedom movement was nothing more than ‘peaceful prabhat pheris’ (morning carols or Gandhi bhajan)), ended up getting bulk of freedom fighters’ pension. PM Nehru was so insecure about the possible return of Netaji Subhash Bose that his government spied on his family for two decades after the independence. This surveillance on Netaji family was stopped by PM LB Shastri. It is alleged that PM Nehru managed to get INA’s treasures and no account of it exists in public domain. More than congress, Nehru corrupt dynasty is a cµrse for India.