Today, many Indians are unaware that World War II was once fought in Indias North-eastern region. The twin battles of Imphal and Kohima were so fierce that in 2013, a poll conducted in London recognized these as Britains Greatest Battle. But, in the history of Indias independence movement, they have largely been eclipsed. While global historical accounts have framed them as a Japanese invasion of India, the truth is they were parts of Indias armed Liberation War against British colonial rule spearheaded by the Indian National Army under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, with the audacious ambition of uprooting the British Raj from the soil of India.
British Prime Minister Churchill knew it well. However, fearing a cascading effect resulting in a nationwide uprising in support of Boses Liberation Army, Churchill orchestrated a smear campaign to misrepresent this attack as a mere Japanese invasion rather than acknowledging its true nationalist origins.
Against this backdrop, the story eruditely recounts the gamut of Indias major revolutionary movements culminating in the full-fledged Liberation War, which was played down and belittled by the conspiracies of the Allied forces of World War II to conceal it from becoming known to the world. The book highlights how British propagandists actively embarked on a vicious slander campaign against Subhas Bose to undermine Indias quest for freedom, deliberately seeking to camouflage the daring legacy of Subhas Bose and all others. Yet, in the final analysis, the story narrates how Netajis Liberation War subsequently forced the British to free India.