Netaji controversey resurfaces

A little over 9 months ago, last August, I pointed to an article that ran on NDTV about the whereabouts of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Sepia Mutiny ran the same story and had a lively discussion on it. Atanu Dey at Deeshaa wrote two very incisive posts here and here, around the same time.

Today rediff.com, in an article titled “Netaji did not die in aircrash” makes a compelling argument about the same.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who is believed to have died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945, actually escaped to Russia and was the victim of ‘India’s biggest cover-up,’ says www.missionnetaji.org […link….]

The death or disappearance, then; of Netaji remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the 20th century. The reasons for and against the case are equally strong. I personally await the Mukherjee commission report that shall be tabled in the coming session of Parliament.

It alleges that the two commissions set up by the Government of India to probe Netaji’s death — the 1956 Shah Nawaz Committee and the 1970 G D Khosla Commission — were not earnest in their intent, ignored crucial circumstantial evidence, and didn’t even speak to the Taiwan government.

The third probe — the Justice M K Mukherjee Commission which was formed in 1999 in response to a public interest litigation — has submitted its report to the government. The report is expected to be tabled in the ongoing session of Parliament.

Netaji’s daughter: ‘India has not behaved honorably’

Missionnetaji’s team — led by Hindustan Times journalist Dhar, who was part of the newspaper’s investigations that claimed Netaji lived till 1985 as a hermit in Uttar Pradesh — are confident the Mukherjee Commission report will explode the crash story.

* They allege the Government of India over the years was part of a conspiracy to keep Netaji dead.

* They say successive Congress governments have destroyed top secret files about Netaji.

* They say the United Progressive Alliance government was hostile to the Mukherjee Commission.

* The say the Mukherjee Commission was not given access to key Russian documents.

Incidentally, last year, Justice Mukherjee had confirmed to the media that the Taiwan government had denied any such crash on that day in 1945.

The web site’s team believes that the case of Bhagwanji, a hermit who passed away in Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh in 1985, needs to be probed. And that the Mukherjee Commission report is “probably going to say” the UP hermit story is not mere hogwash.

“What I believe doesn’t matter,” says Dhar. “What matters is evidence. We want to prove that there was no air crash. That Netaji escaped to Russia. The rest will automatically follow.”

If what the website claims, is true, history will surely have to be re-written. It will be interesting to see how the politics of today shape an event from 60 years ago.

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1 comment

  1. I don’t think the outcome this time around will be any different from the previous times because the same bunch are in power. There must be reason why Netaji had to be “buried” in 1945 by the Gandhisand that same reason must compel the present Gandhis to do the same. “Satyameva Jayate” (Truth shall prevail) is all very fine and good in an abstract philosophical feel-good way. But in the real world, dictators get to have their way.

    Cynical? Moi? Shirley you jest.

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