NEW DELHI:Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai had no love lost between them. They disagreed on everything but, probably, for one issue: the then prime ministers agreed to accept that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose died in an aircrash in 1945 and no further probe was needed in the matter. Desai and his Home Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh even ignored new evidences which had surfaced in the public domain.
This startling revelation is contrary to the popular public perception since last 38 years that Desai and his Janata Party government had rejected the Indira-instituted Khosla Commission report which concluded that Bose died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. In fact, the Janata government was of the view that the fresh inquiry would be “waste of time and national resources”.
A recently declassified ‘Bose File’, No. I/12014/9/77-DIII, exposes the sinister plot of Desai and Charan Singh to scuttle the demand for fresh probe into the disappearance of Netaji that was supported by all the MPs cutting across party lines after a motion was moved by Janata MP Samar Guha on August 3, 1977.
N K Sinha, the then Deputy Secretary of home ministry’s Internal Security division, in his note argued that “the question has been debated off and on during the last 32 years... any move to reopen the issue will have to be firmly resisted. Orders of HS/HM (Home Secretary/ Home Minister) may be obtained for taking this stand.”
Sinha’s subsequent note put up before the then Joint Secretary, Internal Security, R L Mishra for approval pointed out that Desai was not in favour of fresh inquiry.
“FR is a memorandum submitted to PM in which an appeal has been made to the present government to go into the question of the disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose afresh. The memorandum has been signed by 18 persons. On 19/8/1977 Cabinet Secretary has recorded on the body of the memorandum that he has discussed the matter with PM (Desai) and PM does not favour a fresh inquiry.”
Sinha said, “In view of observation of PM and in view of the fact that nothing new has been stated by Guha, I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that the motion should be vigorously opposed. Government is saddled with numerous pressing problems and it will be inappropriate to fritter away time and resources on a fresh inquiry which cannot but prove to be of no significance.”
Mishra in his note on September14, 1977, endorsed Sinha’s letter saying even PM does not appear to be in favour of any fresh inquiry. “We already have had two inquiries on this subject and irrespective of any conclusion that may be arrived at by a fresh inquiry, I feel confident that Prof. Guha and others of his conviction would continue to believe that Netaji was still alive and even a fresh inquiry into the matter would not set at rest the controversy for all times to come. The doubts regarding the conclusion of Shah Nawaz Commission report seem to arise not from any rational premises but on account of emotional attachments and preconceived notions and , there fore, no inquiry, however independent or thorough can really bury this problem once for all,” Mishra wrote.
Mishra said he agreed with Sinha that any demand for a fresh inquiry should be firmly resisted. Mishra noted since Guha’s motion has only been partially debated and would come up again in the next Parliament session, it would be appropriate to take a decision at the highest level to enable the government to take a clear stand in the matter.
“Incidentally, as pointed out by Deputy Secretary (IS) in Paragraph 3 at Page 11/n, PM does not also appear to be in favour of any fresh inquiry in this subject,” he further added.
Later, Home Minister Charan Singh, who was flooded with letters from public and Parliamentarians requesting to launch a fresh probe, decided to move a cabinet note opposing any fresh inquiry. Subsequently a cabinet note was prepared by the Home Ministry on November 17, 1977 and signed by TCA Srinivasa Varadan, the then Home Secretary, soliciting cabinet approval to reject demand for fresh inquiry.
“Even a fresh inquiry is unlikely to set at rest the controversy for all times to come, or at this distance of time, to be more illuminating than the earlier ones. The Ministry of Home Affairs is, therefore, of the view that no useful purpose would be served by holding another inquiry. It is, therefore, suggested that the demand for a fresh inquiry made in motion moved by Samar Guha may not be accepted… The Home Minister (Charan Singh) has seen and approved this note,” the declassified Top Secret cabinet note said.