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Netaji's `Indira' reminisces

Correspondent

Citizen forum felicitates only surviving member of Indian National Army

Koraput: Members of the Koraput Citizen Forum celebrated the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose by felicitating Laxmi Panda, the only surviving member of the Indian National Army (INA) established by Netaji, at her residence in Jeypore on Tuesday.

Sweets distributed

Ms. Laxmi Panda celebrated the occasion by distributing sweets among children and sharing with them some of her experiences with the great son of the soil.

Netaji had visited their camp in Burma in 1942 and asked her to change her name as it was similar to Laxmi Sehegal, their leader in the Rani Jhansi Regiment. He renamed her as Indira, she said. She was then 14 years old and there were only three children in the regiment.

Inspiring song

She was excited to sing `Kadam Kadam Badhate Ja... ' and said that she learnt the song from Netaji himself at the camp.

Netaji used to take great care to ensure the women's wing of the army was strong and fearless, she said.

Though she had seen Netaji for the last time in 1942 while going to Singapore in a ship, she was confident that he was still alive.

On her condition in the post-Independence era, she said the district administration had been good to her.

She expressed her gratefulness to Usha Padhi, then Collector of the district, for extending the first official help. Ms. Laxmi Panda lives in the house constructed with the help of the administration. She has been receiving freedom fighter pension from the State Government while the proposal to get pension from the Central Government is still pending.

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