Two years before India's independence, one of the greatest heroes of India's freedom fight was reported killed in an air crash in Taiwan. The story was disbelieved then and till today there is no conclusive evidence of such an air crash.

If Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did not die in 1945, he should have been amidst us lending his able hand to guide the destiny of his motherland when it needed him. Then what happened to Netaji? Did he escape to Russia? Did he die there? Or did he come back to India in the guise of a holy man?

All kinds of theories are still floating in spite of the three inquiries by the Indian government. The last - a commission headed by Justice MK Mukherjee - rejected the air crash theory, and the Indian government in turn rejected the findings of the commission.

It is interesting to note that none of the inquiries were set up willingly by the government. They were forced upon it by public pressure and, in the case of Mukherjee Commission, by a court directive.

Surprisingly, the government readily accepted the findings of the first two inquiries, even as the people were critical of their way of functioning, but it summarily rejected the findings of the commission which the people found more credible. Naturally, the suspicion arises: Does the Indian government have something to hide?

A group of young Indians have got together under 'Mission Netaji' (www.missionnetaji.org) to get at the bottom of this mystery. In stark contrast to the stonewalling by the government, they are finding extraordinary response from ordinary Indians. The team members are Anuj Dhar, Chandrachur Ghose and Sayantan Dasgupta. Dhar, the author of the remarkable book Back from Dead: Inside the Subhas Bose Mystery, will be visiting the US this August on a lecture tour with a view to enlisting support from the NRI community to unravel the truth. The following are excerpts from his interview with India Post.

Q: How did the group get together and what each one of you is doing?

It all started with online discussions. Later, Sayantan Dasgupta, a Marcom professional, Chandrachur Ghose, environmentalist cum market researcher, and I got together in Delhi and decided to create this platform.

2. What is the status of your inquiry?

Before Mukherjee Commission reached its conclusion, we'd figured out that Subhas's reported death in an air crash was a subterfuge for his escape to the USSR. What happened next is the million dollar question. To know the answer, pressure has to be built on reluctant Government of India so that they talk to the Russians at the head of government level.

3. What is the Mukherjee Commission's conclusion?

The story of Netaji's death in Taipei on August 18, 1945 was a cover for his escape to the USSR. There was no air crash; Netaji did not die in Taipei and nor was he cremated there. The so-called "Netaji's ashes" kept in Tokyo's Renkoji temple are actually of a Japanese soldier.

However, the commission could not find evidence of Bose's presence in the USSR after August 1945. They couldn't possibly have, given that Indian government did not do what they could and should have. The commission was not given access to all-important Presidential, GRU (military intelligence), SVR (foreign intelligence) and other archives in Russia.

4. What about stories of Bose's so-called sightings in 1960s' India?

They were alleged to be officially orchestrated hoaxes. Mukherjee Commission rejected them all except one -- the baffling tale of Bhagwanji, a holy man whose handwriting in English and Bangla matched with Bose's.

5. Interesting! But does it not belie the Russian lead?

No! The commission could not find clinching evidence that Bhagwanji was Subhas Bose or someone else. Secondly, this strange hermit spoke of "his" being in a Siberian camp after a "concocted story of air crash". Either way, the Russian angle stays as the starting point as things stand now.

6. But the government has rejected the Mukherjee Commission report!

Mission Netaji and some Bose followers have not taken that arbitrary decision lying down. It has already been challenged in High Court. We intend to battle it out in the Supreme Court. Come to think of it, the Government had to dismiss the report to avoid taking up the issue with the Russians.

7. Why do you say the Indian government doesn't want the truth to come out?

It is a matter of fact that some crucial evidence about the fate of Subhas has either been hushed up or destroyed. Mukherjee Commission ticked off the government for putting a spoke in the wheel of inquiry. When we approached various ministries under the new Right to Information Act, we were told that records about Netaji could not be disclosed for fear of fracturing relations with friendly foreign nations.

8. Do you think that the Russian authorities will co-operate?

No government in the world, least of all a former superpower, can be expected to release sensitive information just like that. So bona fide official approaches will have to be made at the highest level, just as the Swedish and the American governments did in the Raoul Wallenberg case. Former USSR premier Mikhail Gorbachev is reported to have said that it was up to Russian and Indian governments to resolve the issue once and for all.

9. Why didn't they cooperate for all those years?

Cooperate with whom? Which Indian government was interested in Subhas Bose in 1950s and 60s? Orders were issued to remove his portraits from military establishments. The one in Parliament House did not come up until 1978. Extant records show that the government never ever took up the matter with the Soviets, even though they could have easily done so. In 1991, when the USSR was dismantling, Indian government suddenly decided to bury the case. Afterwards, they issued some third person informal notes to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which was not expected to take them seriously.

10. How do you think the NRIs can help?

Given their influence, the NRIs can take the entire movement to the desired level. They can lobby with different governments to divulge all information about Bose. They can even persuade the Indian government to make public their secret records and take up the matter with the Russian President. Thirdly, they can take steps to accord Bose's legacy the place it deserves. After all, he was a leader of the NRIs, but for whose sacrifices India would not have got Independence in 1947.

11. What do you hope to achieve during your US visit?

I am looking forward to sanitizing the Indian Americans, specially the community leaders, about the case and seek support in our battle for truth and justice. Situation is unfavourable in India, so their help is must.

12. Do you expect to find something of interest in US archives?

The US government did not believe in the air crash theory, it seems. I have already identified records at NARA in Maryland and would surely love to check them out. More importantly, I intend to explore the possibility of trying the Freedom of Information Act to seek classified documents. Here in India, trying the Right to Information over Bose's fate is like hitting a wall. But America is a beacon of freedom and hope.

13. Why do you say this is the last chance for us to find the truth?

Last but best chance. It will be a pity if this historically and nationally crucial quest is not taken to its logical conclusion, after having come to know that what our grandparents and parents said was right. We must know where and how Netaji died.

Caption: 'Mission Netaji' team with Netaji's daughter Dr Anita Pfaff. From left, Sayantan Dasgupta, Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose. Anuj Dhar will be visiting the US this August on a lecture tour

 

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Indian Ambassador who saw Netaji

Edited excerpt from the book

Ram Rahul, a well-known Tibetologist, got along well with a big shot in the USSR. Babajan Gouffrav was the director of the then much powerful Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow. "Stalin depended on Gouffrav on every issue that concerned south-east and central Asia -especially India, China and Tibet." Gouffrav came to India many times when out of power and he did meet Rahul. In one of their discussions the subject of Bose was raked up. Rahul could never muster the courage to reveal what Gouffrav had told him until he took seriously ill. In July 2000, he sent for his friend Rai Singh.

"I have something to tell you. I do not want to go to funeral pyre with this. It's about Netaji." Singh's heart sank as the professor confirmed the nightmare. Gouffrav had admitted that "Netaji had crossed over to the Soviet Union in 1945 via Manchuria.' "As a 'collaborator' of the Axis Powers, he would have been executed. But Joseph Stalin wanted to use Netaji as a bargaining chip in his future dealings with Britain and India. Thus, he ordered Netaji's detention in a labor camp in Siberia.

 "According to Gouffrav, India's Ambassador to the USSR was permitted to have a glimpse of Netaji in the camp on the condition that no word was exchanged with him. Perplexed, the Ambassador was frozen at the very thought of what he would do if Bose wished to speak with him. "It has been taken care of," he was told. "The Ambassador was then taken to one of the labor camps in Siberia and he saw Bose from a distance of 10 meters. On his return, the Ambassador filed a report to the Prime Minister."

"Just who met Bose? Though Gouffrav did not name the Indian official, Rahul did try to find out on his own, and asked if he had later become the President of India. According to Singh, "Gouffrav refused to deny or confirm it." Singh's "hunch" was that it was Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.

Latest edition of the book Back from Dead: Inside the Subhas Bose Mystery is available from http://www.a1books.com/ for $20  

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