“A bewildering truth was revealed today afternoon. Unfathomable are its possibilities; everything associated with it is unthinkable I won’t try to analyze my feeling s or put words to them, but would only say: ‘O god of making the impossible possible, I saw again what can happen all of a sudden, the eternally impossible appeared in the form of the possible.”
The above is the reaction of one of the confidant of the most iconic national hero when she was first informed in the year 1963 that the hero of millions of Bharatiya, Netaji (Subhash Chandra Bose) is still alive and was in Neemsar, a small locality of Uttar Pradesh as quoted in a book authored by journalist and author Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose namely Conundrum (ref page no 85).
This relates to one of the many theories which floated around the mystery of the man loved by billions for his unique traits of leadership and devotion for Maa Bharti which even led him to meet and seek support from those who stands nowhere near his sacred pursuit to free his motherlands from the chains of slavery.
Netaji was one of the few in millions who take the path of unknown to secure the most cherished dream of the masses of his time i.e. the freedom from the barbaric British Raj. His resolve for attaining the cumulative goal of crores of his fellow Bhartiyas inspired him to relinquish the comforts of life as a civil servant and join the freedom struggle with Indian National Congress, the sole major political representative of the Bhartiyas at that time.
Though, after serving a long period of time in the Congress, Netaji was determined to follow a more aggressive path to attain the dream of an independent Bharat leading to his resignation, establishment of forward block and heroic escape from the country subsequently via Afghanistan, what followed aftermath is history marked in golden words.
However, as glorious was his appearance on the national scene and his subsequent emergence as a hero of billions of Bharatiya when he dared to take the mighty British army head on as the supreme commander of the Indian National Army (INA), the man cherished by millions mysteriously disappear from the global stage right at the time when he was close enough to reap the fruits of his years of hardship and unmatched service to the motherland.
What left behind were the conspiracy theories stemming out of the mysterious disappearance of the leader of the masses who gave the enemies countless of sleepless night and was nothing but a pricking throne in their eyes even after his alleged death in 1945. However, the cherished dream of crores that Netaji, the man loved by everyone beyond communities should be at the helm of the affairs of the nation shattered forever.
Alleged plane crash in Taiwan
Following the mysterious disappearance of Netaji, the most common theory which was floated around that time and which subsequently became the official line of the respective union governments since then that Netaji was died in a plane crash in Taihoku (now Taipai) on August 18, 1945.
The same has been confirmed/supported by back to back commissions i.e. the Shahnawaj Committee/Commission of enquiry constituted in 1956 and Khosla commission of enquiry in 1970 to enquire about the mysterious death of the legendry freedom fighter.
And it was only in the year 1999 that the then government of India led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the formation of a third commission following a court order commonly known as the “Mukherjee Commission” with retired supreme court justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee as its chairman.
Findings of the Mukherjee commission
After examining a flurry of the witnesses and evidences over the years and persuading whatever could be achieved in order to extract the very truth behind the mystery, what unfolded in the report of the commission was nothing short of a shocker.
The commission in its final reports submitted to the then UPA government led by Manmohan Singh in the year 2005 rejected the alleged plane crash theory, an official line held by the respective governments of India mostly of the Congress party of which Netaji was a president prior to his resignation and parting ways.
In its five-point concluding summary the commission noted the following prominent findings: –
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is dead;
- He did not die in the plane crash, as alleged
- The ashes in the Japanese temple (Renkoji) temple are not of Netaji
This summarise the findings of the commission which is believed to be by far the closest in unveiling the layers of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Netaji, underscoring that the theory of the plane crashed as floated since 1945 was nothing but a façade in some way.
What the commission did to unravel the mystery
The commission after its formation did a robust enquiry into examining the evidences/records linked to the alleged plane crash theory, this includes the chairman of the commission himself visiting the place of alleged crash and requesting for a DNA examination of the ashes kept in Renkoji temple only to be informed by the experts that the critical elements required for the test most likely be destroyed due to excessive heat.
Despite unending hindrances in conducting a DNA test of the ashes kept in the temple, the commission determined to unravel the mystery surrounding the alleged ashes run from pillar to post to secure the selection of less charred bones in order to conduct a scientific test but eventually couldn’t proceeded further due to unwillingness shown by the then Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs as stated in its final report in the year 2005.
The commission also did a thorough enquiry in all the other theories linked to the death of Netaji, eventually arriving on a conclusion that none of the theories about his death hold substance barring the alleged death of Netaji in Ram Bhavan about which the commission cites lack of clinching evidences and opted to state that it need not to be answered.
Response of the then UPA government and the opposition BJP
Despite a thorough enquiry into the matter ranging from examining a total of 131 witnesses along other available records, the commission’s findings were not accepted by the then union government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The development prompted a sharp reaction from the then opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who in a press release issued on July 18, 2006 had termed the very development as an attempt to suppress the truth about Netaji.
The opposition while questioning the very intent of the Congress government behind rejection of the findings cited the statement given by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in parliament in the year 1952 in which the latter had stated that “the question of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose death is I think settled beyond doubt. There can be no enquiry about that.”
The BJP’s response further had underscored the dissent shown by Netaji’s elder brother, Suresh Chandra Bose who was a member of the committee led by Shah Nawaj Khan (a former member of the INA who later served as a minister in the Congress government) which supported the plane crash theory. It further cited, that the other commission formed by the government was led by GD Ghosla who later wrote biography of Indira Gandhi.
Was the hero given his due credit
It’s an open secret that the popularity of Netaji in Bharat was second to none towards the dying years of second world war which was also evident during the trial of the soldiers of the INA held in red fort in the year 1946, a year after his disappearance.
However, the beloved son of Bharat was in reality never believed to be given his due credit for his exceptional role in ousting the British and it took over four decades for the government (led by P.V Narsimha Rao), to announce to confer upon the Bharat Ratna to Netaji (Posthumously), though rightly rejected by the family given the mystery surrounding his death.
Ironically, it took even longer and made possible only under the incumbent union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that Netaji exceptional contribution in the freedom struggle was recognized in a way which should have been done a long ago.
This includes celebrating the birth anniversary of Netaji as Parakram Divas, unveiling of a statue of his at the heart of the Kartavya Path (formerly Rajpath), hoisting of the national flag at red fort on the 75th anniversary of the “Azad Hind” government and announcement of building a war memorial on “Subhas dweep” to mark respect towards to one of the greatest son of the soil.
Conclusion
Although, it needs no efforts to underscore the significance of Netaji contribution in clinching Bharat independence from the British, the irony is that even after 77 years of independence the country of a 1.4 billion has failed to unveil the layers of mystery surrounding its beloved son who did everything in his capacity to serve the mother India.
The fact that for decades the countrymen for which Netaji sacrificed his all are led to believe that the charismatic leaders loved and celebrated by billions met his end in the alleged plane crash theory (a line still held by the GOI officially) is indeed more suprising given no further significant course of action has been taken to either re-examine or accept the findings of the Mukherjee commission.
Astonishingly the very fact quoted by the commission while denying the plane crash theory that it was due to lack of clinching evidence that the commission believes that the question pertaining one of the greatest son of the soil breathing his last in the Ram Bhavan near Ayodhya need not to be answered was never persuaded deeply either.
Ironically the hero of the billions who even managed to form a free government right under the nose of the mighty allied was never given a state funeral either. Such was the height of injustice done to the one of the most beloved son of Maa Bharti by fate as rightly quoted in the book (If there is anything ever to believe in the theory) mentioned earlier “that we are only 13 to see him off on his last journey there should have been 13 lakhs”.
(Note: The article is based on the findings of Mukherjee commission and references cited by investigative journalist and author Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose in the book ‘Conundrum’).
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