NETAJI SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
Netaji Bose was an eminent leader and a man of action. His
praises are endless. Bose was a man great visionary, a revolutionary, and a
charismatic orator. He wasn’t afraid of using stringent methods to achieve
justice. From a very young age, Bose began to serve his motherland and with
time, grew into an influential personality. Some glimpses at his personality
are as follows:
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1. 1.An
Inspiration
When the country shuddered with the fear of raising weapons
against British powers, it was this man that said built his own army and
shouted with the fire in his belly,”It is blood alone that can pay the price of
freedom…Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom.” Bose believed,”Freedom is
not given. It is taken” For his valour and determination, he was praised by
people of all age and gender. For his incomparable leadership, he was called
“Netaji” by his admirers.
2. 2.A humble human
Bose was the heir to rich parents. He gave up his wealth and
comfort and dedicated his life to fighting for Indian independence. Also, he
was highly educated. He ranked fourth when there were six vacancies for the
Indian Civil Service Examination. He idolized Swami Vivekanada as a young kid
and took insytances from Bhagvat Gita during his protest against the British.
3. 3. A reformer
Bose had great reverence for Gandhi. He presided over two
sessions of the Indian National Congress. It was in 1938, that Bose expressed
his concern for complete Home Rule (Purna Swaraj) and the use of force against
the British that created a rift in the INC. Thereafter, he resigned and formed
the Forward Bloc. Later, he raised the Indian National Army which led the
country to the doors of independence.
4. 4. Believed
in the power of women
Bose believed in the power of women. He formed the Rani of
Jhansi regiment which was an all-women regiment. He was one of the first
leaders that handed weapons in the hands of women. He also made a proposition
that rapes would much least be tolerated and rapists should be punished with
death sentence, without any trial.
5. 5. A great diplomat
Throughout the struggle, Subhas Bose visited many parts of
the world. He had plans to seek help from the Soviet Union and the Communist
party of China. He had friendly links with Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler, who
were infamous in India for their aggressive mentality. This was one bold act of that period.
Contributions to the freedom struggle
·
In
the early days of working with Gandhi, Bose served to enlighten students and
labourers in Bengal.
·
He
started the newspaper 'Swaraj'.
·
In
1924, Bose became the CEO of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
·
In
1927, he was elected the President of the All India Youth Congress and the
Secretary of the Bengal State Congress.
·
In
1930, he became the Mayor of Calcutta.
· He
addressed two sessions of the INC, but resigned after a conflict between his
methodology and Gandhiji’s.
· He
formed the All-India Forward Bloc in 1939 to spread his ideas of independence
throughout.
· He
revived Rash Behari Bose’s Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) in 1942
· He
travelled to countries to seek alliance to fight against the British force.
· With
the help of the Japanese army, INA re-captured the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
from the British.
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Bose with Gandhi
The Death
Theories:
1.
1.Netaji died in a plane crash in Taiwan
On 23
August 1945, Japanese news agency Domei announced the death of INA leader
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in a plane crash in Taikhoku (present-day Taipei,
Japan).
Apropos of
the report, Japanese Army General Shidea and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had
lost their lives in the plane crash.
Bose’s body
was reportedly cremated in Taikhoku.
This news came as disbelief to INA personnel
and the INC. Mahatma Gandhi was dubious of the plane crash but later accepted
the claims. The INA did not collapse after the death of Netaji. It rather
fulfilled its motive.
This is the official theory that is accepted by
the Government of India.
Faults in the
theory:
·
The Government
supports this theory on the basis of only circumstantial evidence
(eye-witnesses and claims).
Letters received by Suresh Chandra Bose from Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
·
No post-mortem
report was produced, nor were any photographs or even a death certificate of
Netaji’s dead body was published after the plane crash.
·
The Japanese
Government has no report of such a plane crash on that date in August.
·
If it was true
that the Japanese Army General Shidea had died in that same plane crash, then
there should have been grand ceremonial funeral rites, but that never happened.
1.
2.2.Netaji did not die in a plane crash, he was killed in Siberia
This
theory was initially put forth by BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy, which claims
that Bose did not die in a plane crash. After fleeing house arrest, Bose flew
to Russia, where he took asylum. The leader claims that Bose was killed there
under the orders of Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Indian Army Officer G D
Bakshi went on to the extent of saying that he was held captive in a
Siberian prison and tortured and that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru knew about it.
No investigation has been done
on this theory.
Faults in the
theory:
·
There is evidence that Bose stayed in USSR for
a while, but no concrete proof that his death was a planned homicide.
Moreover,
Bose had friendly relations with Stalin.
·
Claims that Nehru, in connection with Stalin,
planned this murder cannot hold true as both of them were known to averse each
other.
1. 3.Bose lived on for years after his death in disguise
Many historians believe this one theory that
caught the public eye when, reportedly, a sadhu died in Faizabad in 1985.
Eye-witnesses claimed that it was Netaji Bose.
When an investigation was done on the life of the Hindu renunciant (named Bhagwanji), pieces of the puzzle started fitting in, and all the doubts and speculations were met with answers. Media played a large role in bringing the matter to limelight, but the whole story got contained in its origin. Although many myths evolved after that, the Government did not entertain any questions regarding the connection between the Hindu renunciant and the INA leader.
The Gumnami Baba Theory
In 2014, when Narendra Modi took up the
PMO office, hundreds of files were de-classified that held documents, letters,
and official papers relating to the death of Bose. Numerous historians have
been working on the mystery ever since.
In the midst of de-classifying these
files, the Government de-classified some peculiar files that gave rise to the
spurge of questions. Some of these files showed that Bose’s family was being
spied on for nearly two decades after his death. Historians questioned this action
asking why a dead person’s family is being spied on. And, if Government
believed that the person is not dead, then why was he kept hidden from the
country all the while?
From what was found from digging into the
life of Gumnami baba, there are pieces of evidence that he had tried to
establish a connection with the world by writing secret letters to political
leaders. Also, this sadhu never made any public appearances but knew about the
functionality of the Government. Gumnami baba was found to have many places
which were from Nepal to Lucknow, Neemsar, Ayodhya, Basti, and lastly Faziabad
(formerly Ayodhya) where he died. These places were the same as those which
accounted for the spotting of Netaji.
There ran another lore in North Bengal
about a Shaulmari baba, who, the members of “Subhasbadi Janata” (an
organization formed by people who believed that Bose was alive) affirmed to be Subhas
Chandra Bose. But this lore is also short-lived.
Prolific historian and author Anuj Dhar setup a far-fetched investigation into the Gumnami baba theory. He sent Gumnami baba’s handwritten notes and Netaji’s letters to a forensic lab, where they were tested by expert Carl Baggett, who claimed that they were written by the same person.
Inquiry Commissions that investigated the death of
Subhash Chandra Bose
From 1946 to
2005, there were four cumulative committees/commissions/report(s) that
investigated the death of Bose. These were as follows:
1. The
Figgess Report (1946)
The report was submitted by Colonel Figgess in 1946. The
report took into account eye-witnesses and statements of the plane crash
survivors and came down to the following conclusions:
i.
Bose died of a heart attack and multiple
third-degree burns after a plane crash in Taihoku
ii.
Bose died in military hospital
iii.
He was creamted in Taihoku and his ashes were
sent to Tokyo
One critical statement written in the report read:
The possibility
of a pre-arranged fabrication must be excluded since most of the individuals
concerned had no opportunity of contact with one another prior to interrogation.
2. The
Shah Nawaz Committee (1956)
This was a three-member committee including former Lt.
Colonel Shah Nawaz Khan of the INA, ICS S N Maitra, and Bose’s elder brother
Suresh Chandra Bose. Much like the Figgess Report, this committee enquired 67
witnesses of the plane crash including Dr. Yoshimi, the surgeon who treated
Bose and Habib ur Rahman, who was on the flight.
When it was time to sign the report, Suresh Bose refrained
saying his other two staffs were clouding crucial evidence relating to the
death of his brother, under the orders of Nehru, who wanted to establish the
make-believe that Netaji died in the crash.
3. The
Khosla Commission (1970)
The commission was led
single-handedly by retd. Punjab High Court Chief Justice G D Khosla. This
commission could not come up with additional evidence and only explained the
reports of sightings of Bose at different places.
4. The
Mukherjee Commission (2005)
Led by retd. Supreme Court Judge Manoj Kumar Mukherjee,
this Commission started off with the belief that evidence found from the plane
crash cannot solely justify Netaji’s death. It built its reports after taking
sight of reports from the countries visited by Netaji before he died. Mukherjee
believed that the plane crash could have only been a cover-up to deceive the
public and safely pave Bose his escape to USSR.
The commission found that the ashes kept in Renkoji Temple,
Japan were not that of Bose, but of a Japanese soldier. Also, a DNA test
conducted by the Commission contended that Gumnami baba and Netaji were not the
same person
The findings of the commission were turned down by the
Government.
If
Gumnami baba was Netaji, why didn’t he reveal himself or the Government expose
him?
If Gumnami baba was Netaji, this was his reasons for leaving
undercover:
· Gumnami
baba reasoned that disclosing his true identity was not a wise decision and was
not in favour of the public.
· During
World War II, Netaji had friendly relations with Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini as
such. Being in contact with the Axis powers had merited him the title of a War
Criminal. Had Bose, by any fortune, returned to India, he’d have been declared
as the Prime Minister of the nation. But a war criminal cannot be entitled to
govern a country. Back then, the only attitude towards a war criminal was declaring
him a death sentence. Therefore, revealing himself would only be a risk to his
life.
· Although
INA was the only force that led the freedom struggle after the Quit India
Movement failed, INA was not appraised as deserved. Rather, the victory over
British rule was credited to Gandhiji, and INA was eclipsed. That amounted to
80% of people cheering for Gandhiji and just 20% of people vouching for Bose.
Bose had a deep respect for Gandhi but had resigned from the INC, following a
clash in the method of retaliation against British forces. This seeded a
discordance between the followers of Gandhi and the followers of Bose. Had Bose
come to a public platform, he’d have faced more rivalry than support.
· Throughout
the globe, the hero of the Indian Freedom struggle is known to be Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi. India’s freedom struggle is popular for being
“non-aggressive, non-violent and peaceful”, which is not wholly true. The
“Gandhian principles” are a big pillar that hold the supreme image of the
country on international platforms. Unmasking
the aggressive side of the freedom struggle would bring questions to image that
is built. Therefore, Government is accused of suppressing pivotal proofs that
justify Bose’s existence after his acclaimed death.
· In
accordance with Gumnami baba, the nation wasn’t truly independent. It still was
under the reigns of British forces. For example, the Indian Air Force and the
Indian Navy were under the control of British Empire until 1955 and 1958
respectively. He was discontent with what people called “freedom” even when the
Head of the State back then was not Indian (King George V).
· Netaji
coming to public spotlight would have given rise to a large whirlwind in the
political system of the state. Therefore, the Government does not take up actions
when new evidences surface.
*Important Note*
All the sentences written as
“perspectives” of Netaji as Gumnami baba are plainly conclusions drawn by
historians, and not officially recorded statements.
No one ever knew where Bose lived after
1945. To many, he was a War Criminal. To the rest, he was a War Hero. People
are still wondering why Government is denying proofs related to the death
mystery of the hero. The legacy of Bose re-lived after the declassification of
all these files. Despite all of this, Netaji became a forgotten hero…
Thank
you
Bibliography:
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