Declassifying Netaji Files - India's Pandora's Box
- In Current Affairs
- 12:11 PM, Jan 28, 2016
- Ranabir Bhattacharyya
On 119th birth anniversary of the great Indian patriot Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept his earlier promise and released the digitized copies of 100 files related to Netaji in front of family members of Netaji. He has also iterated that from now on, 25 Netaji files will be declassified and released every month. This has not only created furious debates within the political circles of India, but also hijacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's ploy of garnering nationalist sentiment with Netaji. It isn't that all the 100 files have conclusive documentation, but they have given new angles or perspectives to historical occurrences. Among those 100 files, 33 of them are from Prime Minister's Office (PMO) whereas the remaining include regular communications between Government of India and the governments of Russia and Japan. In the following paragraphs we will discuss these new revelations in declassified files with a certain new level of understanding.
- Was Netaji called a war criminal? Although there has been a debate regarding a fake letter from Nehru to Clement Attlee in a declassified file it has been revealed that post World War II, Indian High Commission in UK clarified that Netaji's name was never part of the list of war criminals, which only included Japanese and German citizens who fought against the Allies. A letter written by eminent British Historian Peter Simkins reveals that, Netaji's name was not in the British government’s list of war criminals. He added that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was considered a 'traitor'.
- The British didn't believe the Taihoku crash: One of the declassified documents clearly reiterates the fact that the British government didn't at all believe the news of Netaji's death and they continued to discuss ways to 'deal with him'.
- 'I want to sleep' – These were Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's last words.
- Information on Netaji's cremation: One of the files say that on 20th August 1945, Netaji’s body was cremated. His ashes were carried to Tokyo in September 1945.
- Nehru's financial aid the Bose family in Vienna: On June 12, 1952 Jawaharlal Nehru asked the Finance and External Affairs Ministry whether Netaji's widow can be given any financial help. As the Ministry agreed, a sum of 100 pounds in cash or gifts was decided to be sent to Emilie Schenkl through private channels in Vienna. Incidentally Netaji's wife didn't accept it. From a 1966 letter it has been revealed that AICC paid Netaji's daughter until she got married in 1965.Netaji's nephew was informed of all such developments with regard to financial aid.
- Was Indian government truly 'indifferent' to its national hero? In one of the declassified files, the Indian embassy in Tokyo makes a note that Renkoji temple authorities feel the Indian government was “indifferent” to its national hero who fought all his life for his motherland.
- Khosla Commission: In 1970, amidst much uproar on Netaji's whereabouts in Indian Parliament, one-man Commission was formed led by Justice G.D. Khosla. Three time Member Parliament from Bengal, Samar Guha wrote a letter to Mrs Indira Gandhi pointing at allegations against Justice Khosla and even voiced his opinion in this regard in the Parliament. On September 21, 1974 Indira Gandhi clarified in a letter to Dr Dhillon. Samar Guha also stated that no air crash happened on that spot and journalist Harin Shah faked the crash with photos and documents submitted to Jawaharlal Nehru related to alleged plane crash in Taihoku.
- Bringing Netaji's ashes to Indian soil: Much later, in the later 70's, when Indira Gandhi was on the verge of imposing Emergency, she stressed on not bringing Netaji's ashes to India as it may have given foothold to 'insignificant' Forward Bloc. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) advised the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in this regard on August, 1976. India government was willing to increase the payment for the ashes kept in Rankoji Temple in Japan. India has paid Rs. 52,66,278 between 1967-2005 to the Renkoji temple in Tokyo for keeping Netaji’s remains although the government has never conducted any DNA test to ascertain whether those ashes belonged to Netaji or not .
- Nazis killing Indian soldiers: From a 1969 newspaper clipping, it is evident that Indian soldiers who created factions within the German army were shot dead for refusing to fight against the Soviets.
- Posthumous Bharat Ratna to Netaji? The PV Narasimha Rao government decided to give posthumous Bharat Ratna award to Netaji, but postponed the decision as politicians from Bengal complained against the term 'posthumous' and Netaji's daughter Anita Pfaff said it was too late to give such an award to Netaji. Thus even after issuing a press communication mentioning Netaji's name on the list of recipients, the decision was reverted back.
There is no denying that these 100 files which have been released in digital format don't have any conclusive evidence whether Netaji was alive after the Taihoku ‘crash’ or not. This year, Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Bengal where the BJP is struggling hard to make a foothold. The timing of the release of the 100 digitized files will certain have a positive impact for BJP in Bengal where the Netaji cover up is still discussed with much concern. Last year Mamata Banerjee declassified 62 Netaji files which were under her state government archive. Now Narendra Modi led government has taken the momentous decision to declassify the Netaji files. Even LK Advani confessed that as Home Minister that in spite of his serious efforts he couldn't make a move on declassification of those top secret files.
Another theoretical debate that has been seen recently is how can BJP celebrate both Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose together and antagonize Nehru legacy. Interestingly, Vallabhbhai’s elder brother, Vithalbhai Patel gave three-fourths of his estate to Subhas Chandra Bose in his will. Vallabhbhai filed a case in court and ultimately triumphed in the legal tussle. When Subhas Chandra Bose won re-election in Tripuri Congress session, defeating Gandhi backed candidate Pattabhi Sitarammayya, Vallabhbhai Patel in a letter to Rajendra Prasad expressed his inability to work with Subhas Chandra Bose. Ultimately, this led to Subhas Chandra Bose leaving the Congress Party and forming Forward Bloc. Despite all this it would be extremely unjustified to say that post independence, Vallabhbhai Patel held grudges against Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as he played a significant role in providing relief to soldiers of INA and talked about financial aid to Netaji's wife Emilie and her daughter Anita.
Just after the release of first lot of declassified Netaji files, Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose joined BJP in presence of Amit Shah. It remains to be seen whether Chandra Kumar Bose can bring political dividends to BJP in West Bengal. There have been speculations that some of the yet-to-be-declassified files may have explosive stuff which can rattle BJP's main political opposition, Indian National Congress. This however remains a speculation for now. Whatever be the future, the nation owes to Narendra Modi for his honest effort in declassifying files on India's forgotten hero.
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