LEGENDS OF BOSES SURVIVAL: IMMEDIATE POST-WAR LEGENDS: BOSES - TopicsExpress



          

LEGENDS OF BOSES SURVIVAL: IMMEDIATE POST-WAR LEGENDS: BOSES EXPLOITS HAD BECOME LEGENDARY LONG BEFORE HIS PHYSICAL DEATH IN AUGUST 1945. FROM THE TIME HE HAD ESCAPED HOUSE ARREST IN CALCUTTA IN 1940, RUMOURS HAD BEEN RIFE IN INDIA ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT HE WAS ALIVE. HIS APPEARANCE IN FARAWAY GERMANY IN 1941 CREATED A SENSE OF MYSTERY ABOUT HIS ACTIVITIES. WITH CONGRESS LEADERS IN JAIL IN THE WAKE OF THE QUIT INDIA RESOLUTION IN AUGUST 1942 AND THE INDIAN PUBLIC STARVED FOR POLITICAL NEWS, BOSES RADIO BROADCASTS FROM BERLIN CHARTING RADICAL PLANS FOR INDIAS LIBERATION DURING A TIME WHEN THE STAR OF GERMANY WAS STILL RISING AND THAT OF BRITAIN WAS AT ITS LOWEST, MADE HIM AN OBJECT OF ADULATION AMONG MANY IN INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA. DURING HIS TWO YEARS IN GERMANY, ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN ROMAIN HAYES, IF BOSE GRADUALLY OBTAINED RESPECT IN BERLIN, IN TOKYO HE EARNED FERVENT ADMIRATION AND WAS SEEN VERY MUCH AS AN INDIAN SAMURAI. THUS IT WAS THAT WHEN BOSE APPEARED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA IN JULY 1943, BROUGHT MYSTERIOUSLY ON GERMAN & JAPANESE SUBMARINE, HE WAS ALREADY A FIGURE OF MYTHICAL SIZE AND REACH. AFTER BOSES DEATH, BOSES OTHER LIEUTENANTS, WHO WERE TO HAVE ACCOMPANIED HIM TO MANCHURIA, BUT WERE LEFT BEHIND ON THE TARMAC IN SAIGON, NEVER SAW A BODY. THERE WERE NO PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN OF THE INJURED OR DECEASED BOSE NEITHER WAS A DEATH CERTIFICATE ISSUED. ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN LEONARD A. GORDON: THE WAR WAS ENDING; ALL WAS CHAOTIC IN EAST ASIA, AND THERE WERE NO OFFICIAL REPORTS RELEASED BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF INDIA OR BRITAIN. THESE GOVERNMENTS DID NOTHING TO PREVENT THE CONFUSION. EVEN MEMBERS OF INDIAS INTERIM GOVERNMENT IN 1946 WAFFLED ON THE MATTER. ENDURING LEGENDS: BOSE HAD DISAPPEARED SEVERAL TIMES EARLIER IN HIS LIFE; SO RUMOURS BEGAN AGAIN IN 1945 AND A POWERFUL MYTH GREW. WHEN NEWS OF BOSE DEATH WAS REPORTED, MANY IN THE INA REFUSED TO BELIEVE IT AND WERE ABLE TO TRANSMIT THEIR DISBELIEF TO A WIDER PUBLIC. THE SOURCE OF THE WIDESPREAD SKEPTICISM IN THE INA MIGHT HAVE BEEN BOSE SENIOR OFFICER J. R. BHONSLE. BHONSLE, UNLIKE SOME OTHER SENIOR OFFICES, HAD BEEN KEPT IN THE DARK ABOUT BOSE FINAL PLANS, IN PART BECAUSE HE HAD ALREADY BECOME AN AGENT FOR THE BRITISH. WHEN A JAPANESE DELEGATION, WHICH INCLUDED GENERAL ISODA, VISITED BHONSLE ON THE 19th AUGUST 1945 TO BREAK THE NEWS AND OFFER CONDOLENCES. BHONSLE RESPONDED BY TELLING ISODA THAT BOSE HAD NOT DIED, RATHER HIS DISAPPEARANCE HAS BEEN COVERED UP. EVEN GANDHI SWIFTLY SAID THAT HE WAS SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE AIR CRASH, BUT CHANGED HIS MIND AFTER MEETING THE INDIAN SURVIVOR HABIBUR RAHMAN. AS IN 1940, BEFORE LONG, IN 1945, RUMOURS WERE RIFE ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO BOSE, WHETHER HE WAS IN SOVIET-HELD MANCHURIA, A PRISONER OF THE SOVIET ARMY, OR WHETHER HE HAD GONE INTO HIDING WITH THE COOPERATION OF THE SOVIET ARMY. LAKSHMI SWAMINATHAN, OF THE ALL-FEMALE RANI OF JHANSI REGIMENT-INA, LATER LAKSHMI SAHGAL, SAID IN SPRING 1946 THAT SHE THOUGHT BOSE WAS IN CHINA. RUMOURS SPOKE OF BOSE PREPARING FOR HIS FINAL MARCH ON DELHI. THIS WAS ALSO THE TIME WHEN BOSE BEGAN TO BE SIGHTED BY VARIOUS PEOPLE, ONE SIGHTER CLAIMING HE HAD MET BOSE IN A THIRD-CLASS COMPARTMENT OF THE BOMBAY EXPRESS ON A THURSDAY. IN THE 1950S, STORIES APPEARED IN WHICH BOSE HAD BECOME A SADHU, OR HINDU RENUNCIANT. THE BEST-KNOWN AND MOST INTRICATE OF THE RENUNCIANT TALES OF SUBHAS BOSE, AND ONE WHICH, ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN LEONARD A. GORDON, MAY PROPERLY BE CALLED A MYTH, WAS TOLD IN THE EARLY 1960S.[35] SOME ASSOCIATES OF BOSE, FROM TWO DECADES BEFORE, HAD FORMED AN ORGANIZATION, THE SUBHASBADI JANATA, TO PROMOTE THIS STORY IN WHICH BOSE WAS NOW THE CHIEF SADHU OF AN ASHRAM (OR HERMITAGE) IN SHAULMARI (ALSO SHOULMARI) IN NORTH BENGAL. THE JANATA BROUGHT OUT PUBLISHED MATERIAL, INCLUDING SEVERAL NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. OF THESE, SOME WERE LONG LIVED AND SOME SHORT, BUT ALL, BY THEIR NUMBER, ATTEMPTED TO CREATE THE ILLUSION OF THE STORYS NEWSWORTHINESS. THE CHIEF SADHU HIMSELF VIGOROUSLY DENIED BEING BOSE. SEVERAL INTIMATES OF BOSE, INCLUDING SOME POLITICIANS, WHO MET WITH THE SADHU, SUPPORTED THE DENIALS. EVEN SO, THE SUBHASBADI JANATA WAS ABLE TO CREATE AN ELABORATE CHRONOLOGY OF BOSES POST-WAR ACTIVITIES. ACCORDING TO THIS CHRONOLOGY, AFTER HIS RETURN TO INDIA, BOSE ALSO RETURNED TO THE VOCATION OF HIS YOUTH: HE BECAME A HINDU RENUNCIANT. HE ATTENDED UNSEEN GANDHIS CREMATION IN DELHI IN EARLY FEBRUARY 1948; WALKED ACROSS AND AROUND INDIA SEVERAL TIMES; BECAME A YOGI AT A SHIVA TEMPLE IN BAREILLY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIA FROM 1956 TO 1959; BECAME ALSO A PRACTITIONER OF HERBAL MEDICINE AND EFFECTED SEVERAL CURES, INCLUDING ONE OF TUBERCULOSIS; AND ESTABLISHED THE SHAULMARI ASHRAM IN 1959, TAKING THE RELIGIOUS NAME SRIMAT SARADANANDAJI. BOSE, MOREOVER, WAS ENGAGED IN TAPASYA, OR MEDITATION, TO FREE THE WORLD, HIS GOALS HAVING BEEN BROADENED, AFTER HIS FIRST GOAL=FREEING INDIA=WAS ACHIEVED. HIS ATTEMPT TO DO SO, HOWEVER, AND TO ASSUME HIS TRUE IDENTITY, WAS BEING THWARTED JOINTLY BY POLITICAL PARTIES, NEWSPAPERS, THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT, EVEN FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. OTHERS STORIES APPEARED, SPUN BY THE JANATA AND BY OTHERS. BOSE VARIOUSLY WAS STILL IN THE SOVIET UNION OR MAOIST CHINA; ATTENDED ALSO THE INDIAN PRIME MINISTER JAWAHARLAL NEHRUS CREMATION IN 1964, BUT, THIS TIME, NEGLECTING TO DISALLOW A JANATA-PUBLISHED NEWSPAPER TO PHOTOGRAPH HIM; AND GAVE NOTICE TO THE JANTA OF HIS RETURN TO CALCUTTA, FOR WHICH SEVERAL MUCH PUBLICIZED RALLIES WERE ORGANIZED.[38] BOSE DID NOT APPEAR.[38] THE JANATA EVENTUALLY BROKE UP, ITS REPUTATION MARRED BY SUCCESSIVE NON-APPEARANCES OF ITS PROTAGONIST. THE REAL SADHU OF SHAULMARI, WHO CONTINUED TO DENY HE WAS BOSE, DIED IN 1977. IT WAS ALSO CLAIMED THAT NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV HAD REPORTEDLY TOLD AN INTERPRETER DURING HIS NEW DELHI VISIT THAT BOSE CAN BE PRODUCED WITHIN 45 DAYS IF NEHRU WISHES. STILL OTHER STORIES OR HOAXES—ELUCIDATED WITH CONSPIRACIES AND ACCOMPANIED WITH FAKE PHOTOGRAPHS—OF THE NOW-AGING BOSE BEING IN SOVIET UNION OR CHINA HAD TRACTION WELL INTO THE EARLY 80S BOSE WAS SEEN IN A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN BEIJING, INEXPLICABLY PARADING WITH THE CHINESE RED ARMY. BOSE WAS SAID TO BE IN A SOVIET GULAG. THE SOVIET LEADERSHIP WAS SAID TO BE BLACKMAILING NEHRU, AND LATER, INDIRA GANDHI, WITH THE THREAT OF RELEASING BOSE. AN INDIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, SAMAR GUHA, RELEASED IN 1979 WHAT HE CLAIMED WAS A CONTEMPORANEOUS PHOTOGRAPH OF BOSE. THIS TURNED OUT TO HAVE BEEN DOCTORED, COMPRISING ONE-HALF BOSE AND ONE-HALF HIS ELDER BROTHER SARAT CHANDRA BOSE. GUHA ALSO CHARGED NEHRU WITH HAVING HAD KNOWLEDGE OF BOSES INCARCERATION IN THE SOVIET UNION EVEN IN THE 1950S, A CHARGE GUHA RECANTED AFTER HE WAS SUED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE CENTURY AND INTO THE NEXT, THE RENUNCIANT LEGENDS CONTINUED TO APPEAR. MOST PROMINENTLY, A RETIRED JUDGE, WHO HAD BEEN APPOINTED BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT IN 1999 TO UNDERTAKE AN ENQUIRY INTO BOSES DEATH, BROUGHT PUBLIC NOTICE TO ANOTHER SANNYASI OR RENUNCIANT, GUMNAMI BABA, ALSO KNOWN BY HIS RELIGIOUS NAME, BHAGWANJI, WHO WAS SAID TO HAVE LIVED IN THE TOWN OF FAIZABAD IN THE INDIAN STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH.[42] ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN SUGATA BOSE. IN OCTOBER 2002, HE (THE JUDGE) SENT LETTERS TO MEMBERS OF THE BOSE FAMILY ASKING THEM TO DONATE ONE MILLILITER OF BLOOD FOR A DNA MATCH WITH ONE GUMNAMI BABA, WHO SOME PERSONS HAD CLAIMED WAS NONE OTHER THAN NETAJI SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE. THE EVIDENCE NATURALLY DID NOT SUPPORT THIS BIZARRE THEORY. EARLIER, IN 1977, SUMMING UP THE EXTANT BOSE LEGENDS, HISTORIAN JOYCE CHAPMAN LEBRA HAD WRITTEN: STORIES PERSIST THAT NETAJI HAS BECOME A SANNYASI (HOLY MAN) AND HAS BEEN SEEN IN THE NAGA HILL COUNTRY OF ASSAM; THAT HE WAS A MEMBER OF A MONGOLIAN TRADE DELEGATION IN PEKING; THAT HE LIVES IN RUSSIA; THAT HE IS IN THE CHINESE ARMY. ... PICTURES HAVE BEEN PRODUCED TO PROVE THAT NETAJI IS STILL ALIVE. BOSES FAMILY HAVE ANNOUNCED AT VARIOUS TIMES THAT HE IS STILL IN HIDING AND WILL RETURN TO INDIA WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT. IN FEBRUARY 1966, SURESH CHANDRA BOSE ANNOUNCED IN THE PRESS THAT HIS BROTHER WOULD RETURN IN MARCH. TO DATE, HOWEVER, BOSE HAS NOT REAPPEARED TO CONTRADICT THE EVIDENCE THAT HE DIED IN THE CRASH ON TAIWAN. BUT THE MYTH LIVES ON. PERSPECTIVES ON DURABILITY OF LEGENDS: ACCORDING TO HISTORIANS CHRISTOPHER BAYLY AND TIM HARPER: THE LEGEND OF NETAJI BOSES SURVIVAL HELPED BIND TOGETHER THE DEFEATED INA. IN BENGAL IT BECAME AN ASSURANCE OF THE PROVINCES SUPREME IMPORTANCE IN THE LIBERATION OF THE MOTHERLAND. IT SUSTAINED THE MORALE OF MANY ACROSS INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA WHO DEPLORED THE RETURN OF BRITISH POWER OR FELT ALIENATED FROM THE POLITICAL SETTLEMENT ACHIEVED BY GANDHI AND NEHRU. AMID ALL THIS, JOYCE CHAPMAN LEBRA WROTE IN 2008: JAPANESE HAVE ALWAYS WISHED TO RETURN THE ASHES TO BENGAL, AS THEY BELIEVE THAT A SOUL WILL NOT REST IN PEACE UNTIL THE ASHES ARE BROUGHT HOME. THE PROSPECT OF HAVING NETAJIS ASHES IN BENGAL, HOWEVER, HAS BEEN KNOWN TO INCITE RIOTING, AS HAPPENED ONE YEAR AT THE ANNUAL 23 JANUARY CONVENTION AT THE NETAJI RESEARCH BUREAU IN CALCUTTA. HOT-HEADED YOUNG BENGALI RADICALS BROKE INTO THE CONVENTION HALL WHERE FUJIWARA, THE FOUNDER OF THE INA, WAS TO ADDRESS THE ASSEMBLAGE AND SHOUTED ABUSE AT HIM. APPARENTLY SOME NEWSPAPER HAD PUBLISHED A RUMOUR THAT FUJIWARA HAD BROUGHT NETAJIS ASHES BACK. ENQUIRIES: FIGGESS REPORT 1946: CONFRONTED WITH RUMOURS ABOUT BOSE, WHICH HAD BEGUN TO SPREAD WITHIN DAYS OF HIS DEATH, THE SUPREME ALLIED COMMAND, SOUTH-EAST ASIA, UNDER MOUNTBATTEN, TASKED COLONEL (LATER SIR) JOHN FIGGESS, AN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, WITH INVESTIGATING BOSES DEATH.[33] FIGGESSS REPORT, SUBMITTED ON 25 JULY 1946, HOWEVER, WAS CONFIDENTIAL, BEING WORK DONE IN INDIAN POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE (IPI), A PARTIALLY SECRET BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. FIGGESS WAS INTERVIEWED IN THE 1980S BY HISTORIAN LEONARD A. GORDON AND CONFIRMED WRITING THE REPORT. IN 1997, THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT MADE MOST OF THE IPI FILES AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC VIEWING IN THE INDIA OFFICE RECORDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY. HOWEVER, THE FIGGESS REPORT WAS NOT AMONG THEM. A PHOTO-COPY OF THE FIGESS REPORT WAS SOON ANONYMOUSLY DONATED FOR PUBLIC VIEWING TO THE BRITISH LIBRARY IN THE EUROPEAN MANUSCRIPTS COLLECTION, AS EUR. MSS. C 785. GOOD CANDIDATES FOR DONOR, ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN LEONARD GORDON, ARE FIGGESS HIMSELF, WHO HAD DIED IN 1997, OR MORE LIKELY ANOTHER BRITISH INTELLIGENCE OFFICER IN WARTIME INDIA, HUGH TOYE, THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK, TOYE, HUGH (1959), THE SPRINGING TIGER: A STUDY OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY AND OF NETAJI SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE, BOMBAY: ALLIED PUBLISHERS, ISBN 978-81-8424-392-5. THE CRUCIAL PARAGRAPH IN THE FIGGESS REPORT (BY COLONEL JOHN FIGGESS, INDIAN POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE, 25 JULY 1946,) IS: AS A RESULT OF A SERIES OF INTERROGATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS NAMED IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS IT IS CONFIRMED AS CERTAIN THAT S.C. BOSE DIED IN A TAIHOKU MILITARY HOSPITAL (NAMMON WARD) SOMETIME BETWEEN 1700 HOURS AND 2000 HOURS LOCAL TIME ON THE AUGUST 18, 1945. THE CAUSE OF DEATH WAS HEART FAILURE RESULTING FROM MULTIPLE BURNS AND SHOCK. ALL THE PERSONS NAMED BELOW WERE INTERROGATED AT DIFFERENT TIMES BUT THE SEVERAL ACCOUNTS OF THE EVENT AGREE BOTH IN SUBSTANCE AND DETAIL AT ALL POINTS WHERE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUBJECTS COULD HAVE BEEN DEEMED TO BE BASED ON COMMON EXPERIENCE. THE POSSIBLITY OF A PRE-ARRANGED FABRICATION MUST BE EXCLUDED SINCE MOST OF THE INDIVIDUALS CONCERNED HAD NO OPPORTUNITY OF CONTACT WITH ONE ANOTHER PRIOR TO INTERROGATION. THE REMAINING FOUR PAGES OF THE FIGGESS REPORT CONTAIN INTERVIEWS WITH TWO SURVIVORS OF THE PLANE CRASH, LT. COLS. NONOGAKI AND SAKAI, WITH DR. YOSHIMI, WHO TREATED BOSE IN THE HOSPITAL AND WITH OTHERS INVOLVED IN POST-DEATH ARRANGEMENTS.[45] IN 1979, LEONARD GORDON HIMSELF INTERVIEWED LT. COLS. NONOGAKI AND SAKAI, AND, (IN ADDITION, PLANE-CRASH SURVIVOR) MAJOR KONO; DR. YOSHIMI ...; THE JAPANESE ORDERLY WHO SAT IN THE ROOM THROUGH THESE TREATMENTS; AND THE JAPANESE OFFICER, LT. HAYASHITA, WHO CARRIED BOSES ASHES FROM THE CREMATORIUM IN TAIPEI TO JAPAN. BOTH THE FIGGESS REPORT AND LEONARD GORDONS INVESTIGATIONS CONFIRM FOUR FACTS: (A) THE CRASH NEAR TAIHOKU AIRPORT ON 18 AUGUST 1945 OF A PLANE ON WHICH SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE WAS A PASSENGER; (B) BOSES DEATH IN THE NEARBY MILITARY HOSPITAL ON THE SAME DAY; (C) BOSES CREMATION IN TAIHOKU; AND (D) TRANSFER OF BOSES ASHES TO TOKYO. SHAH NAWAZ COMMITTEE 1956: WITH THE GOAL OF QUELLING THE VARIOUS RUMOURS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE AFTER MID-AUGUST 1945, THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN 1956 APPOINTED A THREE-MAN COMMITTEE HEADED BY SHAH NAWAZ KHAN. KHAN WAS AT THE TIME A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AS WELL AS A FORMER LIEUTENANT COLONEL IN THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY, AND THE BEST-KNOWN DEFENDANT IN THE INA TRIALS OF A DECADE BEFORE. THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE WERE: S. N. MAITRA, ICS, WHO WAS NOMINATED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL, AND SURESH CHANDRA BOSE, AN ELDER BROTHER OF BOSE. THE COMMITTEE IS REFERRED TO AS THE SHAH NAWAJ COMMITTEE OR THE NETAJI INQUIRY COMMITTEE. FROM APRIL TO JULY 1956, THE COMMITTEE INTERVIEWED A TOTAL OF 67 WITNESSES IN INDIA, JAPAN, THAILAND, AND VIETNAM. IN PARTICULAR, THE COMMITTEE INTERVIEWED ALL THE SURVIVORS OF THE PLANE CRASH, SOME OF WHOM HAD SCARS ON THEIR BODIES FROM BURNS. THE COMMITTEE INTERVIEWED DR. YOSHIMI, THE SURGEON AT THE TAIHOKU MILITARY HOSPITAL WHO TREATED BOSE IN HIS LAST HOURS. IT ALSO INTERVIEWED BOSES INDIAN COMPANION ON THE FLIGHT, HABIB UR RAHMAN, WHO, AFTER THE PARTITION, HAD MOVED TO PAKISTAN, BUT WHO TOO HAD BURN SCARS FROM THE PLANE CRASH. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE MINOR DISCREPANCIES HERE AND THERE IN THE EVIDENCE, THE FIRST TWO MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE, KHAN AND MAITRA, CONCLUDED THAT BOSE HAD DIED IN THE PLANE CRASH IN TAIHOKU ON 18 AUGUST 1945. BOSES BROTHER, SURESH CHANDRA BOSE, HOWEVER, AFTER HAVING SIGNED OFF ON THE INITIAL CONCLUSIONS, DECLINED TO SIGN THE FINAL REPORT.[34] HE, MOREOVER, WROTE A DISSENTING NOTE IN WHICH HE CLAIMED THAT THE OTHER MEMBERS AND STAFF OF THE SHAH NAWAZ COMMITTEE HAD DELIBERATELY WITHHELD SOME CRUCIAL EVIDENCE FROM HIM, THAT THE COMMITTEE HAD BEEN DIRECTED BY JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TO INFER DEATH BY PLANE CRASH, AND THAT THE OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS, ALONG WITH BENGALS CHIEF MINISTER B. C. ROY, HAD PRESSURED HIM BLUNTLY TO SIGN THE CONCLUSIONS OF THEIR FINAL REPORT. ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN LEONARD A. GORDON: OUT OF THE 181-PAGE REPETITIOUS DOCUMENT THAT CONSTITUTES SURESH BOSES REPORT, ONE MAIN PRINCIPLE FOR DEALING WITH THE EVIDENCE EMERGES: IF TWO OR MORE STORIES BY WITNESSES HAVE ANY DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THEM, THEN THE WHOLE TESTIMONY OF THE WITNESSES INVOLVED IS THEREBY DISCREDITED AND ASSUMED TO BE FALSE. USING THIS PRINCIPLE, BOSE IS ABLE TO ... FIND THAT THERE WAS NO CRASH AND THAT HIS BROTHER LIVES. THERE ALSO APPEARS TO BE ONE OTHER HALF-STATED ASSUMPTION: SUBHAS BOSE COULD NOT DIE BEFORE INDIA ACHIEVED HER FREEDOM. THEREFORE HE DID NOT DIE IN THE PLANE CRASH TAKEN PLACE ON AUGUST 18. KHOSLA COMMISSION 1970: IN 1977, TWO DECADES AFTER THE SHAH NAWAZ COMMITTEE HAD REPORTED ITS FINDINGS, HISTORIAN JOYCE CHAPMAN LEBRA WROTE ABOUT SURESH CHANDRA BOSES DISSENTING NOTE: WHATEVER MR BOSES MOTIVES IN ISSUING HIS MINORITY REPORT, HE HAS HELPED TO PERPETUATE UNTIL THE PRESENT THE FAITH THAT SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE STILL LIVES. IN FACT, DURING THE EARLY 1960S, THE RUMOURS ABOUT SUBHAS BOSES VARIOUS EXTANT FORMS ONLY INCREASED. IN 1970, THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA APPOINTED A NEW COMMISSION TO ENQUIRE INTO THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BOSE. WITH A VIEW TO HEADING OFF MORE MINORITY REPORTS, THIS TIME IT WAS A ONE-MAN COMMISSION. THE SINGLE INVESTIGATOR WAS G. D. KHOSLA, A RETIRED CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE PUNJAB HIGH COURT. AS JUSTICE KHOSLA HAD OTHER DUTIES, HE SUBMITTED HIS REPORT ONLY IN 1974. JUSTICE KHOSLA, WHO BROUGHT HIS LEGAL BACKGROUND TO BEAR ON THE ISSUE IN A METHODICAL FASHION,[46] NOT ONLY CONCURRED WITH THE EARLIER REPORTS OF FIGESS AND THE SHAH NAWAZ COMMITTEE ON THE MAIN FACTS OF BOSES DEATH, BUT ALSO EVALUATED THE ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS OF BOSES DISAPPEARANCE AND THE MOTIVES OF THOSE PROMOTING STORIES OF NETAJI SIGHTINGS. HISTORIAN LEONARD A. GORDON WRITES: JUSTICE KHOSLA SUGGESTS THE MOTIVES OF MANY OF THE STORY-PURVEYORS ARE LESS THAN ALTRUISTIC. SOME, HE SAYS, HAVE CLEARLY BEEN DRIVEN BY POLITICAL GOALS OR SIMPLY WANTED TO CALL ATTENTION TO THEMSELVES. HIS PATIENCE IN LISTENING TO SOME TALES IS SURELY REMARKABLE. WHAT COULD HE, OR ANYONE, HAVE THOUGHT AS HE LISTENED TO THE TESTIMONY OF P. M. KARAPURKAR, AGENT OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA AT SHOLAPUR, WHO CLAIMED THAT HE RECEIVES DIRECT MESSAGES FROM BOSE BY TUNING HIS BODY LIKE A RADIO RECEIVING APPARATUS. MUKHERJEE COMMISSION 1999-2005: IN 1999, FOLLOWING A COURT ORDER, THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT APPOINTED RETIRED SUPREME COURT JUDGE M. K. MUKHERJEE TO PROBE THE DEATH OF BOSE. THE COMMISSION PERUSED HUNDREDS OF FILES ON BOSES DEATH DRAWN FROM SEVERAL COUNTRIES AND ALSO VISITED JAPAN, RUSSIA AND TAIWAN. THOUGH ORAL ACCOUNTS WERE IN FAVOUR OF THE PLAN CRASH, THE COMMISSION CONCLUDED THAT THOSE ACCOUNTS COULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AND THAT THERE WAS A SECRET PLAN TO ENSURE BOSES SAFE PASSGE TO RUSSIA WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF JAPANESE AUTHORITIES AND HABIBUR RAHMAN. THE COMMISSION ALSO OBSERVED THAT THE ASHES KEPT AT THE RENKOJI TEMPLE, REPORTED TO BE BOSES, WERE OF ICHIRO OKURA, A JAPANESE SOLDIER WHO DIED OF CARDIAC ARREST. THE MUKHERJEE COMMISSION SUBMITTED ITS REPORT TO ON NOVEMBER 8, 2005. THE REPORT WAS TABLED IN THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT ON MAY 17, 2006. THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTED THE FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION WITHOUT ASSIGNING ANY REASON. SOME MEMBERS OF THE BOSE FAMILY WELCOMED THE GOVERNMENTS DECISION WHILE SOME OPPOSED IT. BUT MUKHERJEE STOOD BY HIS REPORT AND SAID THAT HE WAS HAPPY WITH WHATEVER HE HAD DONE AND THAT THE PRESENT DAY INDIAN GOVERNMENT MAY FIND IT DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT IT. RESPONSE TO RTI REQUESTS: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS REFUSED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION UNDER RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT. IN RESPONSE TO RTI FILED BY SUBHASH AGRAWAL PRIME MINISTER OFFICE DECLINED TO DECLASSIFY FILES RELATED TO DISAPPEARANCE OF NETAJI SAYING THAT, “DISCLOSURE OF DOCUMENTS CONTAINED IN THESE FILES WOULD PREJUDICIALLY AFFECT RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES. AS SUCH, THESE FILES ARE EXEMPTED FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER SECTION 8(1) READ WITH SECTION 8(2) OF THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT”. OUT OF 41 FILED RELATED TO DISAPPEARANCE OF SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE ONLY 2 HAVE BEEN DECLASSIFIED. THESE DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN SEEN BY MUKHERJEE COMMISSION.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 06:30:02 +0000

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