Kangana Ranaut claims Subhas Chandra Bose was the first PM of ‘Azad’ India; Fact Check

Bollywood’s actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut claimed in an interview with the Times Now channel on April 4, 2024, that freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was the first prime minister of India and not Jawaharlal Nehru.

Subhash Chandra Bose was the first Prime Minister of India : BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut.

IQ 🫡pic.twitter.com/v6VAekwz3F

— Roshan Rai (@RoshanKrRaii) April 4, 2024

The actor who is contesting from Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh on Bharatiya Janata Party ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, defended her claim by citing a text clip that Subhas Chandra Bose had declared himself the PM of ‘Azad Hind’ in 1943.

The interview clip has gone viral and been shared here and here.

FACT CHECK

Digteye India tried to check the claim with historical records. It was true that Subhash Chandra Bose, freedom hero, established the Provisional Government of Free India in Singapore with the help of Japanese Occupying forces. The government-in-exile was known as the Azad Hind Government. Bose was elected its Prime Minister but it remained essentially a provisional government in exile.

Prior to Azad Hind government, a similar provisional government was established in exile during the World War One. Known as the Provisional Government of India in exile in Kabul (Afghan capital) on December 1, 1915 by the Indian Independence Committee with support from the Germany-led Central Powers. It was headed by Mahendra Pratap as President and Maulana Barkatullah as Prime Minister. As the Afghan Emir refused to openly support the government owing to British pressure, it ceased to exist in 1919. So, none of the Prime Ministers of exile governments can be declared de jure or de facto Prime Ministers.

Hence, claiming that the exile government’s head as the first Prime Minister of Independent India is false, so is Kangana Ranaut’s claim.

Claim: Actress Kangana Ranaut claims Subhas Chandra Bose was the first Prime Minister of Azad (Independent) India.

Conclusion: False Claim. Subhas Chandra Bose was made Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of India in Exile, set up in Singapore in 1943, not independent India.

Rating: Totally False —