Jai Hind: Proud to be an Indian

One individual may die for an idea; but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives. That is how the wheel of evolution moves on and the ideas and dreams of one nation are bequeathed to the next.

-Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose was described “patriots of patriots” by Mahatma Gandhi. Bose left the lucrative career of Indian Civil Services and instead joined the national movement to fight for the independence. Today, 23rd January is his Birth Anniversary. A grateful nation pays her sincere tributes to one of the greatest leader. His bold step to form Azad Hind Fauz and lead the men of this country against the British in World War-II was the reason that British were left militarily weak post war and decided to leave India.

More than 60 years have passed and India is still clueless about the man who gave his blood to secure freedom for the country. As an individual, I may like or dislike Netaji but it is my right to know what actually happened to him. How he died and where? His body was never recovered and many theories have been put forward concerning his possible survival.

There are several questions which are doing rounds ever since he “died”. Did Netaji die in an air crash in 1945? Or was he alive and escaped to Russia? Was the crash done by British intelligence? If Netaji survived then where did he really went after that and why didn’t he made himself public? Did he come back to India in the guise of Sadhu? Was Goomnami Baba or hermit in UP really Netaji?

When the hermit died in Faizabad in 1985, Dr Pabitra Mohan Roy told hermit’s follower that “Ami mukh khulle deshe agun lege jabe.” (This country will burn if I open my mouth)

There are allegations that Indian government and political leadership was aware that Bose was alive but deliberately ignored it.

Under the public pressure, many enquiry commissions have been established but their reports are always disputed and contradictory. While Shah Nawaz committee and GD Khosla commission says that Netaji died in Taiwan but they never interacted with Taiwan government. The latest report submitted by Mukherjee commission in 2005 states that Bose did not die in the plane crash and ashes at Renkoji temple are not his. The commission came to this conclusion because Taipei government officials told that they don’t have any evidence of any such plane crash on August 18, 1945.

There are just too many loopholes and inconsistency in the reports.

So if you study the sequence of events then there can be few possibilities.

1. USSR, USA, UK were part of the allied forces in Second World War. After it was clear that Axis Powers were loosing (of which Azad Hind Fauz was also an ally), they ensured that each and every leader of Axis forces is captured or killed. The announcement of Japanese radio might be an attempt to save one of India’s greatest leaders of the time.
2. Bose might have returned but was not allowed to come to public to avoid any controversies.
3. Bose might have been taken captive by USSR. He might have spent rest of his life in jail or might have been executed. USSR used to be very secretive those days and they never revealed any info.
4. It is fact that British left India because they became militarily weak after Second World War and credit goes to Bose for creating mutiny in the armed forces. At that time Bose was most popular leader in the country. The leaders of the Congress party might have allowed Bose’s capture or execution to avoid any political competition.

There can be numerous such view points and many more will emerge unless documents related to his death are made public. The government has refused to release any document under RTI as well saying that it will have negative impact of India’s relation with some foreign countries. Why? Is there any hidden information?

Moreover, government destroyed a file related to Netaji’s death in 1972 and some time back PMO vehemently opposed before Central Information Commission to release any documents on the same after an NGO “Mission Netaji” filed a plea.

There are some people in the government and political circles who want this chapter to be remain close for ever irrespective of the public sentiments!!

Liked this article? Subscribe to the RSS feed or Subscribe by email