Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is one of the most enigmatic figures in India’s recent history. Ironically, with the recent declassification of hitherto secret papers that mystery has only deepened. The circumstances of his death, the pivotal role he played in speeding up India’s agonisingly slow march towards freedom and the subsequent cover-up, force one to misquote Churchill: “A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. But perhaps there is a key. Sadly that key for us will have to wait until the 133 more papers are declassified.
The hard question is will that smoking gun still remain elusive. Probably yes, and very likely this riddle will never get solved. Much like that infamous grassy Knoll mystery in the Kennedy assassination. Some riddles fascinate us so much that we won’t let go even when a simple explanation stares us in the face.
But what are the facts in this case? And what are the politics of the recent disclosures?
Broadly there are three possible situations here despite the many contradictory committee findings and some wild speculations concerning Netaji’s last days. Strangely the bizarre rumours carry more credibility than the official anodyne conclusions, wherein, there is an unseemly haste to conclude that the great man died in an airplane crash in 1945 in Taiwan and that is all there is to it. The other possibility being touted is that Bose never died in that air crash, but fled to erstwhile Soviet Union only to die there in captivity. Apparently Stalin had a hand in this and the Nehru government acquiesced in this skulduggery, some even going to the extent of saying India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was complicit in this dastardly act. Unthinkable, but stranger things have happened in history.
The third possibility, which is even more weird, is that of Netaji actually coming back to India and living in disguise as a monk in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, until his death in 1985. But why did this tall leader, who took on the might of the British Empire, remain silent all those years? Having said that it is not easy to dismiss this apparently ludicrous possibility because there are many coincidences to infer that the monk was indeed Netaji: Handwriting experts have testified to similarities and what was stranger was the monk’s abilities to describe some strange places in Afghanistan that Netaji may have traversed when he was fleeing from his captors. Family members have also testified to voice matches and tell us that Netaji was a master at masquerade. It appears Netaji had a passion for disguise even as a child.
The tantalising question hanging in the air is why was there a cover-up? There is clear evidence now that Nehru was party to this cover-up and so were succeeding Congress governments at the Centre. The obvious reason touted by those who dislike Nehru and the Congress party is that Netaji would have made a much better prime minister and it was in their interest to sustain the myth that Netaji died in that air crash. Also the snooping that was carried out on Netaji’s family members was critical so that decisive action could be taken should Netaji surface at a time and place to his liking. Don’t forget he was younger than Nehru and in 1985, when he purportedly died disguised as a monk, he was 88; not a spring chicken but he could have risen to be the prime minister. More so, since prior to her death in 1984, former prime minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi was fighting with her back to the wall — the Allahabad High Court having earlier delivered a body blow to her prestige.
Let’s turn to the machinations of the Congress party and Nehru. Netaji’s historical differences with Mahatma Gandhi have been well chronicled. The ‘Father of the Nation’ wanted Netaji out and their paths to freedom were diametrically different. The apostle of non-violence wanted no truck with a leader who swore that no nation could win its freedom without shedding blood. The Indian National Army was solely Netaji’s creation and he passionately believed this would be the sword arm to demolish the hated British rule. Netaji miserably failed in his attempt to throw out the British and his alliances with fascist powers like Germany and Japan of the 1940s were morally and strategically unsound, but his defeat had unintended consequences. Diehard Netaji followers will dispute the word unintended for though he lost the battle, they are still convinced that he had won the war for freedom because his call for insurrection to the famed British-Indian Army was deliberate and it was this fear that broke the back of the English. None other than former British prime minister Clement Atlee had testified that this rallying cry hastened the march to freedom.
We must wait for the 133 papers to be declassified to answer all the unknowns of this riddle. But let’s weigh in on two intriguing questions. Curiously, the Modi government, which has spearheaded this whole effort to declassify the secret files on Netaji, has suddenly got cold feet. Why? Next, why did Nehru, the great democrat, wilfully become party to this cover-up; for indeed his hands are not clean and this will break the heart of many a Nehru admirer, including this columnist!
The key to the riddle, perhaps stares us all in the face. Much as many Netaji followers cry hoarse that he would have made a better prime minister than Nehru, a closer reading of Netaji’s utterances, beliefs and values reveal the contrary. At heart he was a semi-fascist and his economic and ideological mindset was far left of even Nehru’s. It would have been a disaster to have him as India’s first prime minister. Gandhi was right to deny him this honour.
Was this the reason why Nehru lent his hand to the cover-up? And is it possible there is no smoking gun in the 133 papers that are yet to be declassified? Is that why India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is holding out? And their Nehru-bashing strategy is coming apart!
Ravi Menon is a Dubai-based writer, working on a series of essays on India and on a public service initiative called India Talks.
