Country Remembers
NETA JI, Whose Heart Throbbed for India
By Parmanand Pandey
This is
125th birth anniversary year of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and even after more
than 75 years of his death on 18th August 1945 in a plane crash
in Taipei (Taiwan), his death continues to be an enigma, a conundrum shrouded
in mystery. Till the early seventies, it was believed by a large section of
people that he was still alive although there was no plausible reason for the
belief, which was absolutely baseless. Netaji had caught the
imagination of young Indians particularly of those who were against the
non-violence Satyagrah of Mahatma Gandhi. He was a legend then and continues to
be now as well. Many books have been written on his life, activities, and feats
of Netaji. A biographical book of Subhash Chandra Bose and his elder brother
Sarat Chandra Bose ‘BROTHERS AGAINST RAJ’ by LEONARD A.
GORDON throws dispassionate and detached light on them. This book does
not suffer from the vice of hagiography, which is commonly found among most of
the Indian biographers, which is natural also, because Indians cannot remain
uninvolved with the life and times of the person, who is being written about.
It is an incontrovertible fact that Netaji could never have allowed bearing the
ignominy of not participating in the celebration of the freedom by not
appearing in the public and hiding somewhere by the fear of being arrested by
the Britishers. This itself is the solid proof that he was not alive at
the time of the independence of the country.
Those who express
doubts over the death of Netaji in a plane crash have obviously been blinded
with a passionate attachment to him rather than by reality and logic. A
person whose efforts for the freedom of the country from the clutches of the
Britishers was next to none of any freedom fighters. His heart was throbbing
every moment for the mother India, how could he remain, a silent
spectator, when the country attained independence on 15th August
1947? A patriot like him could never have remained hidden if he were alive on
that date. So, there could not be even a shred of doubt about his death
because all the available evidence conclusively prove that he died in the plane
crash.
There were two
reasons for the confusion about his death in the plane crash, but they were so
feeble that they could be dismissed at the threshold itself. The first reason
that was being attributed to why no post-mortem was done to the body of
Netaji? The second was that why no death certificate was issued by
the hospital? But at a time when the whole world was in the throes of
war, such discrepancies were not unusual. On the other hand, there was definite
evidence of his death including the statements of Habibur Rehman and Lakshmi
Swaminathan two of the colleagues of Netaji in the INA (Azad Hind Fauj).
The life of Netaji
and his elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose could fascinate any person. Both were
modern in outlook, a patriot to the core, the epitome of sacrifices, highly
educated, supporters of women’s empowerment and arch enemies of the British
Raj. The elder brother was certainly more religious than his younger and more
eminent brother. While Netaji was more carefree, his elder brother was a person
with family-responsibilities. He had earned name, fame, and wealth as a legal
practitioner of the Calcutta High Court, but Netaji had a single-minded aim to
free mother India from the yokes of the bondage of the British Raj.
Government of India
had set up many committees and commissions to enquire about the death mystery
of Netaji but none of them could give an unambiguous report. The first
Committee was set up way back in 1956 under the chairmanship of INA veteran
Shah Nawaz Khan, which consisted of Suresh Bose, the elder brother of Netaji
and SN Maitra, ICS, a nominee of the Government of West Bengal. Shah Nawaz Khan
was also the Member of Parliament at that time. This committee collected
information from April to July 1956 in India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam but
never visited Taiwan, which was the site of the plane crash, sating doubts to
the truth the report.
There were three
survivors in the plane crash, they were severely injured, but did not succumb to
their injuries as they had not sustained the third-degree burns. Even
Suresh Bose, the brother of Netaji had signed on the report of Shah Nawaz Khan
Committee but later he retracted and wrote his Dissentient Report, which he
published in 1956 itself claiming that the Shahnawaz Committee did shoddy and
dishonest work. He said that Committee was directed from the start to find
that Subhas Bose had died in a plane crash. The role of the
Committee, as he wrote, was to gather evidence supporting this hypothesis and
to ignore other evidence. He indicated that the direction was from the top,
that is, from Prime Minister Nehru. After the findings of the Shah Nawaz
Committee was published, the rumours about the survival of Subhas Bose did not
diminish but, in fact, it got increased. The tale of Shaulmari sadhu was
widely propagated saying that the sadhu was no one else but the Subhas Bose
himself.
Other
stories were spread that Netaji was in Russia or China. From 1963 to 1965 many
rallies were announced at which Netaji was supposed to appear and identify
himself, but Netaji could never have appeared because he was not alive.
It was also rumoured that Netaji was seen in the funeral of
Pandit Nehru. So much so, even a photograph of a monk with a shaved head,
resembling plump and elderly Netaji was published in Bengali newspapers
thickening the rumour of his being alive. In 1970 the Government of India set
up a second enquiry Committee to investigate the disappearance of Subhash Bose
and it consisted of only one man namely, G.D. Khosla, the retired Chief Justice
of Punjab and Haryana High Court, He started his work in 1970 itself but
submitted his report in 1974.
Justice Khosla’s
report was mainly based on the hue and cry made by Professor Samar Guha, who
was the Member of Parliament at the time and who always insisted that Netaji
was still alive. As a matter of fact, Shri Guha also wrote a book- Netaji
Dead or Alive in March 1978 but the book did not contain any
credible evidence to suggest that he was alive. It was all figment of his
imaginations.
There was also a
story that is sadhu at Ayodhya, who was looking like Netaji was living in an
Ashram. A news magazine carried a series of articles trying to establish that
the sadhu was Netaji but there was no truth in it. This was really an example
of irresponsible journalism. Netaji was a genius. He declined to join the
coveted ICS because his heat was throbbing for Mother India. He lived for the
motherland and died for it. Even during his lifetime, the communalism of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Suhrawardy was at peak but both brothers were always
opposed to the vivisection of the country on communal lines. His greatest
contribution to the unity of the country was that he had made Hindi be
compulsorily used in all walks of life.
Although he had serious
differences with Mahatma Gandhi, who was the supreme leader of the Congress
Party and yet he could become the President of the Party defeating Pattabhi
Sitaramayya, who obviously had the support of Gandhiji, showed his
immense popularity even among diehard Congresspersons. However,
Netaji realised that without the support of Gandhiji nobody could have run the
organisation, so he resigned and decided to pursue the path of armed struggle.
In this process, he met the fascists and Nazis.
His slogan
was ‘give me your blood and I will give you freedom’. He used to say that
‘seeds of freedom are sown from the blood of martyrs. That is how Netaji lives
in the historical imagination of the countrymen. Netaji and brother Sarat
Chandra Bose were bound by love and common cause, they struggled against
imperialism with great perseverance and courage. They had their successes and
failures, but their central concern was complete independence from the British
Raj. We must, therefore, remember to both of them for the zeal and devotion
they gave to their country as they tried to fulfil India’s destiny.
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