Mamata pays homage at INA Memorial in Singapore

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her meeting with
Singapore  Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

EOI & agencies, Singapore, 19 Aug 2014: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today paid homage at the iconic Indian National Army memorial here at Singapore which commemorates the sacrifices of the Indian National Army (INA). 
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had laid the foundation stone on July 8, 1945, a few months before Singapore was recaptured by the British. The monument was then erected within a month by the Japanese. The construction of the monument was proposed by Bose, the co-founder of the INA and Head of State of the Provisional Government of Free India. The INA was backed by the Japanese for its goal of gaining India's independence from Britain.
The words inscribed on the war memorial were its motto, which is Unity (Ittefaq), Faith (Etmad) and Sacrifice (Kurbani). It was built during the Japanese occupation of Singapore as the Japanese and the INA had one enemy in common, i.e., the British. Later in 1945 after the Japanese retreat from Singapore and the subsequent surrender of the remaining divisions of the Indian National Army to the advancing British, the British commander Lord Louis Mountbatten ordered the memorial to be destroyed. The memorial was later re-erected by the Government of Singapore.
Earlier in the day, West Bengal Finance Minister, Amit Mitra, along with senior bureaucrats of the State Government, held a meeting with senior officials of Singapore's Government Investment Corporation (GIC) led by Goh Kok Haut, Chief Operating Officer and President, GIC Real Estate. GIC started off as an arm of the Government of Singapore and is among the world’s largest fund management companies, managing more than US$100 billion in investments today.
Mitra said, “The meeting with GIC, which is one of the world’s top investment entities, was extremely positive. We are hopeful of some major announcement in the course of the next few days.” GIC’s investment framework capitalises on its strengths which include the ability to take a long-term investment perspective, a global presence, capabilities to invest in cross asset opportunities, and a skilled and experienced team. It has investments in more than 40 countries and I assets such as equities, fixed income, real estate and private equity. GIC has been investing in emerging markets for more than 20 years.