Abe praises Indians who backed Japan in WWII

23 August 2007, 18:00 PM

Afp, Kolkata

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gestures as he attends a programme at 'Netaji Bhavan', the house of Indian nationalist Subhash Chandra Bose, in Kolkata yesterday. Photo: AFP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced admiration yesterday for two controversial Indians who stood up to colonial ruler Britain during World War II and sided with Tokyo. Abe visited the eastern city of Kolkata to meet relatives of nationalist Subhash Chandra Bose, who advocated violent resistance, and Radhabinod Pal, the sole judge who dissented at the Allied tribunal that condemned to death war-time Japanese leaders. "Many Japanese have been moved deeply by such persons of strong will and action of the independence of India like Subhash Chandra Bose," Abe said in a speech at the opening of the Indo-Japan Cultural Centre. "Even to this day, many Japanese revere Radhabinod Pal." The premier, wrapping up a three-day official visit to India, has dismissed suggestions back home that meeting Pal's son would anger other Asian nations resentful over Japan's wartime atrocities. In a dissenting opinion, Pal questioned the legitimacy of the tribunal, sealing a friendship between Pal and Abe's grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, who was charged but never tried as a war criminal. Prashanto Pal, 81, told AFP he was "very, very happy to see" Abe. "I feel proud of the fact that my father is still remembered for his contribution that was only correct and just. How can you blame only one side for war crimes and not the others?" Abe's stop in Kolkata came at the end of a high-profile visit during which India and Japan vowed to seal an economic partnership deal by December. The premier held talks with West Bengal state's Marxist chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and toured a museum dedicated to Bose. After WWII broke out, Bose escaped his British watchers, sought help from Nazi Germany and later went to Tokyo, where he organised an army. Abe spent time looking at black and white photos of Bose as a young boy, his May 1942 meeting with Adolf Hitler in Berlin and a picture of his German wife, Emilie Schenkl, holding their baby girl.