Let the right history be known

On 19 September the West Bengal government declassified 64 files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. A long standing demand fulfilled but only partially. The demand has been there as the son of the soil who could muster forces across the globe to stand against the British oppression through the Indian National Army, has gone down as an unsung hero of India’s freedom struggle. In 67^th year of its independence, the country is still in dark about the whereabouts of Neta ji.

Born in 1897, there have been different version about the cause of death. Netaji a strong Congressman had been a leader of the younger radical wing of the Indian National Congress and rose to become the President of the Congress in 1938 and 1939 only to be ousted from the leadership position in 1939 following differences with Mahatma Gandhi. It’s alleged that India’s first prime minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru was anxious of Bose’s return to India and had government agency spy upon Bose’s near and dear ones.  Nehru was sceptical of Netaji’s popularity and was fearful that his return could cause the masses to ask Nehru to make way for Netaji.

Even the theory of Bose’s demise as propagated by Congress remained under doubt. When it was reported that Bose was fatally wounded and had subsequently died in an air crash on 18 August 1945, Congress leaders did not believe it entirely. He disappeared without leaving any trace. There are no records of the plane crash. The records in the hospital where Netaji was allegedly treated are considered to be inconclusive. No photographs of the dead bodies of the alleged plane crash exist. Even Nehru said that British and American military circles did not entirely believe the Japanese report about his death.

One such intelligence file declassified in 1997 reports that eight months after Netaji purportedly died in that air crash Mahatma Gandhi had publicly said that he believed Netaji was alive.  Four months after he made the statement at a prayer meeting in Bengal, Gandhiji wrote an article, saying, “no reliance can be placed on such unsupported feeling”. There have been claims and counter claims too.   Chicago Tribune‘s journalist Alfred Wagg has claimed that he saw Netaji in Saigon after the latter was “officially declared dead”. One of Archibald Wavell’s notes, approved by the British cabinet in October 1945, indicates they too disbelieved the death story. Netaji’s elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose published in 1949 that Netaji was in Red China. Justice Mukherjee said in 2005 that Netaji might have gone to the USSR. Some people believed he was in India. Some saw him in France.

Since then there has been no effort by government of India to find out the whereabouts of Bose, however the Intelligence Bureau was deployed to keep a close eye on Neta ji’s relatives for tracking their movements and the contents of the letters they wrote and received. Perhaps the ruling Congress party wanted its hypothesis of plane crash to remain the only theory.

The sleuths were particularly interested in Netaji’s nephews, sons of his brother Sarat Chandra Bose. The nephews were close to Netaji during his years as a Congress activist. They were also in touch Netaji’s wife Emily Schenkl and exchanged letters with her, and her letters were too snooped upon. The declassified files reveal that Nehru was trying to get the history written in his own way. Wanted the nation to believe one theory while making the efforts to the contrary.  Another such file disclosed that India even shared the snooping details British Security Service (MI5).

With each passing day, more skeletons are emerging from the closet and so are teh demands.  The Pandora box is now open as the family of India’s second prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri has now demanded that  long-forgotten files about the his death be made public, as the circumstantial evidence shows that Shastri’s death was not merely a heart attack during the sleep but there is more to it. His son Anil Shastri revealed that his father Lal Bahadur Shastri’s face turned blue and it had white spots on the forehead.

History is like that, the ruling class always tend to get it written the way that is brings the right limelight to it.  It has been done in India too by Congress that ruled for close to 60 years, but at the cost of its own party leaders!  India’s first Prime Minister had tried his level best to put Netaji and Shastri in the hidden shades of history.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while announcing the declassification of the files made it a point to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to do the same with the files that are with the Central Government. But Modi government is being watchful and have cited that it would need more time to study and to deliberate. It’s strange that BJP has regularly hammered successive Congress governments for not being fair to Bose and transparent on his files.

Not agreeing to declassify the files related to Netaji and Shastri is akin to rejecting people’s right to know. The truth about Neta ji and Lal Bahadur Shastri will put to rest two major conspiracies and finally position them appropriately in world history.