The declassified Netaji files have come as a major source of embarrassment for the Congress party with documents showing that in 1945 Jawaharlal Nehru addressed Netaji as “your war criminal” in a letter to then British Prime Minister Clement Attlee and expressed outrage on reports that the Russian had allowed Netaji to enter their territory.
The PMO file No: 915/11/C/6/96 contains a note on the contents of the book The Mysteries of Netaji’s life and Death by Pradip Bose. The note reveals Nehru’s controversial letter to British PM Attlee on December 1945. The note refers to a deposition by Nehru’s stenographer Shyam lal Jain before Justice Khosla commission.
Following is deposition Jain made before the commission:
“I solemnly affirm and state on oath that in one evening (the date may be 26 or 27 Dec, 1945) I was told by Shri Jawaharlal Nehru on the telephone to come to the residence of Shri Asaf Ali with a typewriter as he had a lot of work to be typed by me. After getting some papers typed by me, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru drew out a paper from the pocket of his Achkan and asked me to make four copies of it for him. The said paper was a hand written matter and somewhat difficult to read. Now what was written in that paper, I am trying to reproduce from memory:
“Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose proceeded by aeroplane from Saigon, arrived today August 23, 1945 at Dairen (Manchuria) at 1.30 afternoons.
The said plane was a Japanese bomber plane. It was full of gold in the share of bars, ornaments and jewellery. Netaji carried attaché cases, one in each hand. On alighting from the plane Netaji took tea with bananas.
"When Netaji finished tea, he along with four others, of whom one was Japanese named Gen Shedie, (and others have lapsed from memory) took their seats in a jeep standing nearby. The said jeep proceeded towards Russian territory. After three hours, the said jeep returned and informed the pilot of the plane who flew back to Tokyo."
Shyam lal Jain added, "After handing over the said paper to me for typing, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru went to Mr Asaf Ali and remained busy in conversation with him for 10-15 minutes. I could not complete the work, because the name of the writer on that letter was not readable, and I kept waiting for Shri Jawaharlal Nehru to come and tell the name. In the meantime I went through the letter several times and this is all that I could remember to the present day. Shri Jawharlal Nehru could not discern the name of the writer and asked me to pull out the papers and hand them over to him as they were.
"I solemnly affirm and state on oath that thereafter Shri Jawaharlal Nehru gave me four papers from his writing pad to make on the typewriter four copies of a letter, which he would dictate to me on typewriter. The contents of the letter as far as I could remember were as follows:
To Mr Clement Attlee,
Prime Minister of Britain, 10 Downing Street, london.
Dear Attlee,
I understand from a reliable source that Subhas Chandra Bose, your war criminal, has been allowed to enter Russian territory by Stalin. This is clear treachery and betrayal of faith by the Russians. As Russia has been an ally of the British-Americans, it should not have been done. Please take note of it and do what you consider proper and fit.
The declassification of Netaji files also reveal that for the past six decades several communications have gone from Ministry of External Affairs to Britain to ascertain, whether the UK had declared Subhash Chandra Bose as a war criminal. The documents revealed that the UK never gave a specific answer to India's unending quest on Netaji. Among the volumes of letters in 2002, the UK only confirmed that there was consideration in 1945 on how to handle Netaji and his INA members.
The revelations comes in the letter forwarded on May 29, 2002 by then India's Political Counselor Vikas Swarup, the current Spokesperson of MEA. Swarup was forwarding the communications information from Army Historical Branch and Imperial War Museum of the UK to Ministry of External Affairs.
"With reference to the specific question you posed whether Subhas Chandra Bose was included by the Unitech Kingdom in its 'list of war criminal' drawn up after the Second World War, I have been unable to find any evidence that any such action was taken by the United Kingdom.
"I should add that the question of how to treat Subhash Chandra Bose and other members of the Indian National Army was considered in 1945 by the Government of India in consultation with HMG. The relevant official papers relating to this process are in the public domain. Some of the most pertinent are to be found in Volume VI of the 'Transfer of Power' series. Others are available at the Public Record Office or the Indian Office library collections in the British library," said the communication from Army Historical Branch.