New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30 highlighted that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had hoisted the tricolour for the first time in Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on December 30, 1943.
In an X post, recalling the historic event, PM Modi hailed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s “courage and valour.”
आज ही के दिन 30 दिसंबर, 1943 को नेताजी सुभाष चंद्र बोस ने पोर्ट ब्लेयर में साहस और पराक्रम के साथ तिरंगा फहराया था। वह क्षण हमें याद दिलाता है कि स्वतंत्रता केवल आकांक्षा से नहीं, बल्कि सामर्थ्य, परिश्रम, न्याय और संगठित संकल्प से आकार लेती है। आज का सुभाषित इसी भाव को अभिव्यक्त… pic.twitter.com/vYRNygE2Gv
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 30, 2025
“On this very day, December 30, 1943, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had hoisted the tricolour with courage and valour in Port Blair. That moment reminds us that freedom is not shaped merely by aspiration, but by capability, hard work, justice, and organised resolve,” the Prime Minister wrote on X.
“Today’s subhashita expresses this very sentiment. Saamarthyamulm svaatantryam shrammulm ch vaibhvm. Nyaaymulm suraajyam syaat sanghmulm mahaabalm,” he added.
According to the Government of India, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had visited the South Andaman district in 1943. On December 30, 1943, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the Commander of the Azad Hind Fauj or the Indian National Army (INA), hoisted the Indian National Flag for the first time on the soil of Port Blair.
This historic event occurred after his escape from British surveillance on January 16, 1941, when he entered Indian soil. The flag hoisting symbolised the realisation of his promise that the Indian National Army would set foot on Indian soil by the end of 1943. This also marked a declaration of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the “first liberated territory of India”.
In remembrance of this momentous occasion and as a tribute to the brave martyrs, the Sankalp Smarak was inaugurated in Port Blair.
The Sankalp Smarak was dedicated to the nation by Lt Gen Ajai Singh, Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN), exactly 78 years after Netaji’s arrival on December 29, 2021, a press release from the Ministry of Defence said.
(With inputs from ANI)
