The Government on Saturday started divulging one of the biggest secrets of post-Independence India — the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose after an alleged plane crash at Taihoku in Taiwan on August 18, 1945 — by declassifying 100 confidential files. But in the 17,000 pages of of notes and correspondence, there is no definite clue about his ultimate fate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi declassified the files on the 119th birth anniversary of Netaji in the presence of Bose’s family members at National Archives of India.
The declassification of files triggered a war of words between different stakeholders and placed the Congress on defensive as then PM Jawaharlal Nehru stood accused of addressing Netaji as “your war criminal” in a letter to then British Prime Minister Clemant Attlee in December 1945, four months after the alleged the plane crash on August 18, 1945.
The papers contain 36 files of Prime Minister’s Office, 18 files of Ministry of Home Affairs and 46 files from Ministry of External Affairs from 1956 to 2013. The documents related to the death or disappearance of Netaji, documents of the three commissions of enquiry — Shah Nawaj Commission, Khosla Commission and Mukherjee Commission — into it, those relating to the Indian National Army (INA) or Azad Hind Fauj, the INA treasure, letters by MPs like late Samar Guha and family members, and papers relating to various court cases, many of them demanding clarity on the freedom fighter’s last days.
Historian, researchers and Netaji family members are sharply divided over the speculation that he died in the crash.
While some of his immediate family members, including his daughter Anita Bose Pfaff, have maintained that Netaji indeed died in the crash, others, including his grandnephew, feel that he remained alive in incognito for years after the plane disaster.
Two enquiry commissions concluded that Netaji died in the plane crash while the third enquiry commission disputed this theory. In October last year, in a meeting with members of the Netaji’s family, Prime Minister Modi had declared that the Government would declassify the files relating to the Bose’s disappearance 70 years ago.
In a tweet on Saturday morning, Modi said, “Today (Saturday) is a special day for all the Indians. Declassification of Netaji files starts on Saturday. Will go to National Archives myself for the same.”
In another tweet, Modi said, “Remembering Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary. His bravery and patriotism endears him to several Indians across generations.”
The files did not reveal more than what is already known. Most of the documents declassified were already perused by the three commissions. Though reports of these commissions were never made public, yet most of their findings and evidences places before them have been out in open for years.
There is consistent thread in the files when one goes through the notes of Japanese intelligence unit, their army personnel and records of Hospital Taihoku that Netaji indeed died in the tragedy.
This was the position taken by Nehru in 1962 and the Congress Government in 1995. On May 13, 1962 Nehru wrote to Netaji’s brother Suresh Chandra Bose that he could not send him precise and direct proof of Netaji’s death, but the “circumstantial” evidence of his death has 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 government had, as late as in 1995, adopted the same position that Netaji was killed in the air crash on August 18, 1945.
Among the documents released was also a series of letters exchanged between the Government and various official agencies, after late MP Samar Guha claimed that Netaji had made a speech on Radio Moscow following the signing of the Tashkent Pact between Prime Minister lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan in the presence of Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin on January 10, 1966. Guha and several MPs had also raised the matter in Parliament, quoting Indian and Western press reports.
In the documents, there are several communications and reports that talk about Netaji going underground or being taken in captivity in Russia. For example, a week after the plane crash on August 18, 2014, British intelligence officials exchanged notes that showed that Netaji was indeed alive and in captivity somewhere.
“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 circumstance be welcomed by the Russians,” Sir F Mudie, Home Member, Clement Attlee Government’s India Office, wrote on August 23, 1945, in his reply to Sir EM Jenkins, who had sought for his advise on dealing with Bose. Jenkins was the Home Secretary and the last Governor of Punjab.
Similarly, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is reported to have confided to one of his close friends that Netaji was taken into captivity by the Russians.
There are also notes and correspondences which show that Japanese might have floated the theory of the plane crash and Netaji’s subsequent death in it to create smokescreen so that Netaji could easily go underground and the British should abandon his search.