North-East : Ravelling out the Mystery

The people of Silchar town had the rare privilege to listen to the most thrilling and documented presentations by Chandra Kumar Bose, grandson of Netaji, and Anuj Dhar, a research scholar, about the plotted mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose from Bang Bhawan Auditorium on July 11. Both of them, with clinching evidences, described it as most unfortunate and a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by national and international lobby to cause the disappearance of Netaji. The talk was organised by Ujjalapon, a socio-cultural organisation, of the town.

The factsheet given by Shri Bose said that on August 16, 1945, just days after the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War, Netaji left Singapore by Japanese military aircraft bound for Japan, refueling the same day in Bangkok. Following day on August 17, Netaji and his party flew to Saigon in Vietnam and following day departed for an airfield on the island of Formosa in Taiwan. Netaji was allegedly killed on August 18, 1945 when his aircraft reportedly crashed on take-off from the Formosa airfield. The alleged death of Netaji was announced by the Japanese military authorities on August 23, after 5 days of the incident. This led to grave doubts about the theory of air crash story. In the absence of conclusive evidence, doubts still persist today.

Under pressure, the Government of India has held three official inquiries. First was Shah Nawaz Committee set up in 1956. The Khosla Commission then was formed in 1974, and finally Justice MK Mukherjee Commission in 2006. The first two of these inquiries maintained that Netaji had died in an air crash at Formosa, presently known as Taipei, although one of the three members of the Shah Nawaz Committee, Suresh Chandra Bose, a brother of Netaji, wrote his own dissentient report saying there had not been any such air crash, pointed out Shri Bose. Justice Mukherjee unlike his predecessors visited the air field in Taiwan in the course of his investigations. He concluded there had been no air crash involving Netaji at the time and place alleged. The report of Justice Mukherjee was subsequently rejected by the Government of India in 2006 without assigning any reasons and the controversy continues.
In fact, on October 21, 1943, Netaji could achieve first Independence by forming Azad Hind Government in exile which was supported by 9 nations. Admittedly, the battle fought by the Azad Hind Fauj facilitated the goal of total Independence, said Bose. Anuj Dhar, founder member, Mission Netaji, researcher on Netaji and the author of the bestselling book ‘Back from dead: Inside the Subhash Bose mystery’ with graphic details supported by photographs made it clear that Netaji never died in plane crash in Taipei. Mukherjee Commission, according to him, has given not only an on the spot investigative report but also the irrefutable official and public accounts.
Justice MK Mukherjee made the remarkable observation, “Men may lie, but circumstances do not.” Anuj Dhar quoted and showed the secret reports and extracts from the intelligence reports of different countries including America and its State Department, Russia, Great Britain, Japan, Taiwan as well as India to make the point that Taipei crash was a concocted story and the ashes in Renkoji temple were of a Japanese soldier not Netaji. He was happy and hopeful that with the coming to power of NDA under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the mystery surrounding the death of Netaji in a make-believe plane crash would be unraveled. Both Chandra Kumar Bose and Anuj Dhar were highly appreciative of Narendra Modi who as first Prime Minister made positive response to Bose’s family members thrice. Both demanded publication of 130 files with Government of India and 64 files with West Bengal Government.                 —Jyoti Lal Chowdhury, Silchar

(August 9, 2015 Page 29)