Netaji Files Declassification: New Revelations Deepen Mystery
NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had in 1962 told the family members of Netaji that he was dead.
Such revelations in the 100 secret files, which could throw some light on the controversy over the disappearance or death of Subhas Chandra Bose, were made public by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Netaji’s 119th birth anniversary here Saturday.
As per the declassified files, Nehru had written a letter to Netaji’s brother Suresh Chandra Bose on May 13, 1962 stating that he could not send him precise and direct proof of Netaji’s death, but that all the ‘circumstantial’ evidence had been sent to an enquiry committee. “The lapse of time now and the extreme improbability of his being alive secretly somewhere, when he would be welcomed in India with great joy and affection, adds to circumstantial evidence,” the letter said.
The 100 files comprise over 16,600 pages of documents, ranging from those of the Nehru era to as late as 2007, an official said, after the ceremony at the National Archives of India (NAI) where the Prime Minister declassified the secret papers. Also present at the ceremony were members of the Bose family and Union Ministers Mahesh Sharma and Babul Supriyo.
Repeated reasoning for not revealing these documents was that it would affect India’s relations with involved countries. But, the documents released on Saturday do not have any such sensitive material. In addition to the 100 files, the NAI plans to release digital copies of a set of 25 declassified files on Bose every month. The NAI also launched a dedicated website to store all the declassified files related to Bose.
Besides the controversy over whether Subhas Bose died in the 1945 air crash at Taihoku in Taipei or not, those who believe he was alive after that have different theories about what happened to him. One of the theories says Bose fled to the former Soviet Union to continue to fight for India’s independence but was later killed there. Another claims Netaji returned to India as an ascetic named Gumnami Baba and continued to live in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad till 1985.
One of the documents said the intelligence bureau and the government were not in favour of bringing back Netaji’s ashes owing to opposition from Bose’s family and leaders of the Forward Bloc, a party founded by Bose. In a note written in 1976, IB joint secretary TV Rajeshwar said if the ashes were brought back, they will have to be enshrined in a monument, which may complicate the matter given the opposition by the family. He advised against bringing back the ashes saying it would be construed as government hosting a false story during the Emergency.
1995 Cabinet Note accepted crash theory
“There seems to be no scope for doubt that he died in the air crash of 18th August 1945 at Taihoku. Government of India has already accepted this position. There is no evidence whatsoever to the contrary,” says a Union Cabinet note of February 6, 1995, signed by then Home Secretary K Padmanabaiah. The note further says, “If a few individuals/organisations have a different view, they seem to be more guided by sentimentality rather than by any rational consideration.” The note was prepared for the government to take a stand on bringing the “mortal remains” of Netaji from Japan to India, kept in the Bose Academy in Tokyo.
British Weighed Options five Days after Alleged Aircrash in 1945
Full five days after Subhas Chandra Bose was reported killed in a 1945 air crash, a top official of the British Raj had weighed the pros and cons of “trying” Netaji as a “war criminal” and suggested that the “easiest way” would be to leave him where he was and not seek his release. “In many ways the easiest course would be to leave him where he is and not ask for his release. He might, of course, in certain circumstances be welcomed by the Russians. This course would raise fewest immediate political difficulties, but the security authorities consider that in certain circumstances, his presence in Russia would be so dangerous as to rule it out altogether,” said Sir R F Mudie, Home Member, of the Clement Attlee government’s India Office.
Did Nehru Call Netaji a War Criminal?
A letter, allegedly dictated by Nehru to his stenographer Shyamlal Jain, and addressed to then UK PM Clement Attlee says Netaji ‘your war criminal was allowed to enter Russian territory by Stalin.’ There is a reference to this letter in one of the files but the letter, if at all genuine, is not in the files and remains unverified.