“Soldiers of India’s Army of Liberation! Today is the proudest day of my life. Today it has pleased Providence to give me the unique privilege and honour of announcing to the whole world that India’s Army of Liberation has come into being. this Army has now been drawn up in military formation on the battlefield of Singapore— which was once the bulwark of the British Empire. This is not only the Army that will emancipate India from the British Yoke, it is also the Army that will, hereafter, create the future national army of free India….
“Comrades! My soldiers! Let your battle- cry be— ‘To Delhi, To Delhi!’ How many of us will individually survive this war of Freedom, I do not know. But I do not know this that we shall ultimately win and our task will not end until our surviving heroes hold the victory- parade on another graveyard of the British Empire —the Lal Kila or Red Fortress of ancient Delhi.
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“With the force of arms and at the cost of your blood you will have to win liberty. Then, when India is free, you will have to organise the permanent army of free India, whose task it will be to preserve our liberty for all time.
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“As soldiers, you will have to Cherish and live up to the three ideals of faithfulness, duty and sacrifice. Soldiers who always remain faithful to the nation. who perform their duty under all circumstances and who are always prepared to sacrifice their lives, are invincible.
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“Comrades! you have voluntarily accepted a mission that is the noblest that the human mind can conceive of…. So conduct yourself that your countrymen may bless you and posterity may be proud of you.
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” I assure you that I shall be with you in darkness and sunshine. In sorrow and in joy. In suffering and in victory. For the present, I can of offer you nothing except hungar, thirst, privation, forced marches and death. But if you follow me in the life and in death— as I am confident you will —I shall lead you to victory and freedom…. “