Japanese leaflet for India in Hindi and Bengali: Allied leaders pull an Indian (1943)
Colour leaflet with a Hindi and a Bengali text. A turbaned Indian stands with folded arms while caricatured Allied leaders tug at him (one holds a yellow flag reading 'self-rule granted, swaraj acknowledged') and Allied flags and aircraft burn behind them. The text says the 'defeated nations', whose destruction is 'inevitable', want to use India's strength and should not be believed (momentum offered as proof, bandwagon), and the leaders are drawn as grotesque caricatures (name-calling by image).
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Empire of Japan (wartime psychological-warfare leaflet aimed at India; no issuer named on the leaflet)
- Region
- East Asia
- Country
- Empire of Japan
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Showa Japan
- Leader
- Hideki Tojo
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- BandwagonName-calling
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (image from psywarrior.com, Japanese WWII PSYOP survey), retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Commons tags PD-Japan-oldphoto, PD-1996; Japanese wartime leaflet, 1943)
Japanese wartime propaganda leaflet for India, 1943; via psywarrior.com and Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
[top, Hindi in Devanagari] काल के मुँह में गिरनेवाले हारे देशों भारत की प्रचुर शक्ति को व्यवहार करना चाहते हैं। हम उनकी मिठी बातों में फसनेवाले नहीं॥ [top, Bengali] পরাজিত দেশ সমূহ যাদের ধ্বংস অনিবার্য্য তাহারা ভারতের পদার্থের দিকে নজর দিয়াছে। তাহাদের মিষ্ট কথায় ভুলিও না । [yellow flag, Bengali] স্বাশাসন মঞ্জুর স্বরাজ স্বীকৃত
[Hindi] The defeated nations, falling into the mouth of death, want to make use of India's abundant strength. We are not going to be caught by their sweet words. [Bengali] The defeated countries, whose destruction is inevitable, have cast their eyes on the resources of India. Do not be deceived by their sweet words. [flag] Self-rule granted / Swaraj acknowledged
Read from the 1280 px image with enlarged crops. The Hindi and Bengali are handwritten and a few words (the Hindi 'देशों', 'फसनेवाले' and the Bengali 'পদার্থের') are read with less confidence; the two languages are not word-for-word translations of each other. The Bengali word in the flag's first line is read as 'স্বাশাসন' (self-rule).
