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Well, none can exactly say what happened to Subhas Chandra Bose until all the files with central govt. are declassified.But there 3 major theories behind his death.
- The plane crash theory
- USSR LINK
a. Was jailed in Siberia and then hanged him to death
b. Got assylum in Russia - Gumnami Baba aka Bhagwanji Theory
- The plane crash theory
It states that
At 2 pm on August 17, 1945, a Mitsubishi Ki-21 heavy bomber took off from Saigon airport. Inside the aircraft were 13 people, including Lt Gen Tsunamasa Shidei of the Imperial Japanese Army, Col Habibur Rahman of the Indian National Army and one man who sat in a seat a little behind the portside wing – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
After an overnight halt in Vietnam, on August 18, the plane arrived to refuel in Taihoku, Formosa (now Taipei, Taiwan). Moments after the flight took off again, passengers heard a loud ‘bang’. Ground crew saw the port side engine fall off, and the plane crashed. The pilots and Lt Gen Shidei were killed instantly, Col Rahman fell unconscious. Bose survived, but his gasoline-soaked clothes ignited, turning him into a human torch.
A few hours later, in coma in a hospital, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose passed away.
Now, The problem with this theory is
- TAIWAN(Now,TAIPEI) says there was NO PLANE CRASH in that region on that day.
- No one has seen Netaji’s deadbody. And no death certificate was issued.
The reason behind faking Netaji’s death was to give him some space to move into Russia,because Netaji knew if he remained in Japan controlled territory after Japan’s fall,he would have been prosecuted as an war criminal by the americans.
2. USSR LINK
So, after he faked his death,he went to USSR keeping in mind the cold tussle between America and USSR and asked for asylum.Now,there are two versions of what happened to him in USSR.
a. Was jailed in Siberia and then hanged to death
This version says Netaji was jailed in Siberia and then killed by Stalin by 1953.
On October 17, 1970, Sinha, then in his 60s, was summoned before the Khosla Commission constituted by Indira. The files running into hundreds of pages reveal that Sinha had a trove of information regarding Netaji. He told the commission that Netaji did not die in the plane crash and was imprisoned by the Soviets in Siberia. This was Sinha’s first appearance before the commission and under oath, he testified that in 1954, he met Kozlov in Moscow, who told him that Netaji was lodged in Yakutsk Prison. It appears from the proceedings that the commission had received overwhelming evidence from Sinha but ultimately decided to ignore them.
Excerpts from the proceedings regarding the meeting between Kuzlov and Subhas Chandra Bose:
Khosla Commission: I want you to be more specific about this information which you received. Who gave you the information and what were the exact words used by him as far as you can remember?
Sinha: Kuzlov was the name of the man who was connected with the training of Indians till 1934. The same man was later treated by Stalin as a Trotskyist and sent to Yakutsk prison. From there, after the war, he had come back. I met him in Moscow. He said that he had seen Bose in Cell No. 45 in Yakutsk.
Commission: Did he name Bose or did he say some important Indian?
Sinha: He knew Bose. He had been a Soviet agent in India in 30s. He had met Bose in Calcutta and he knew his residence.
Link: The Prisoner of Yakutsk
BJP’s Subramanian Swamy alleges ,
“According to the papers that exist with us, Bose had faked his death and escaped to Manchuria in China which was under Russian occupation, hoping Russia would look after him. But Stalin put him in a jail in Siberia. Somewhere around 1953, he hanged or suffocated Bose to death,”
b. Got assylum in Russia
It says Netaji got assylym in USSR.
In 1995, a team from Calcutta’s Asiatic Society, researching Indo-Soviet ties in Moscow, found a bunch of declassified files that hinted at Bose having been in the USSR after 1945. Dr Purobi Roy, a member of the team of scholars, said she found a document stamped “most secret”, dated 1946, in the military archives of Paddolosk, near Moscow, which mentioned Stalin and Molotov discussing Bose’s plans — whether he would remain in the USSR or leave.
Dr Roy also said she found a KGB report in Bombay from 1946, which said, “it is not possible to work with Nehru or Gandhi, we have to use Subhas Bose”. This implies Bose was still alive in 1946.
There are reports that Dr Saroj Das, of Calcutta University, told his friend Dr RC Muzumdar that Dr Radhakrishnan had told him that Bose was in Russia.
3. Gumnami Baba aka Bhagwanji Theory
Now,the third the most unbelievable though convincing story till date. It says Netaji came back from USSR and started living in Faizabad as a sadhu. Locals called him Bhagwanji aka Gumnami baba. He died on September 16, 1985.
Gumnami baba’s belongings included-
“Gold-rimmed spectacles identical to what Netaji was always pictured wearing, powerful German binoculars, a colour photograph of Swami Vivekananda, Bengali books, the original copy of the summons issued to Suresh Chandra Bose to appear before the Khosla Commission, a map of undivided India, an album containing family photographs of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”
Aprat from this,the reasons behind this theory are,
- Handwriting Match(Checked by B. Lal who held the highest post of a handwriting expert)
- INA veterans connection
- Descriptions by the locals and the people who were in contact with bhagwanji
- Justice Mukherjee‘s(head of Mukherjee Commision) absolute surety over the issue that bhagwanji was netaji himself.
The counter theory of this bhagwanji angle is Neheru planted an IB agent as Bhagwanji to refute the “killed in USSR by Stalin in Nehru’s direction” story.
Conclusion
There will be theories and counter theories until all the files under central govt. are declassified. But, as of now it is established that plane crash theory is totally bogus. So, either “jailed and killed in USSR” or “Gumnami baba” theory is true. So, you are now on your own to guess what happened to Netaji. But to know the actual truth RAISE YOUR VOICE TO DECLASSIFY ALL THE NETAJI FILES irrespective of your political ideology.
Thank you.
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