NETAJI vs GANDHI & NEHRU

(NOTE: I AM A BENGALI AND MY WIFE IS A KASHMIRI RELATED TO THE NEHRU FAMILY. WE AGREE TO DISAGREE ON MATTERS SUCH AS THIS ARTICLE).

I remember reading somewhere (and I cannot recollect where) : “Indira Gandhi’s personal secretary read some classified documents regarding Netaji’s death/ dissapearance, in British archives and stated if ever these documents were released there will be RIOTS IN INDIA TODAY.

That got me thinking – what could cause riots in India today? What is the government trying to hide? I am yet to come up with any compelling answers.

In the early days of the struggle for India’s freedom, Netaji’s influence and impact on the freedom movement was equal to (if not more than) that of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru…Unfortunately the relationship between Netaji on one hand, and Mahatma on the other was uneasy and fraught with disagreements.

Netaji’s re-election to the post of Congress President in 1939 created further tension between him and the Mahatma - especially as he had won the post defeating Pattabhi Sitaramaiah (who was Gandhiji’s nominee).

Gandhiji apparently took Sitaramayya’s defeat personally and is believed to have remarked: “I consider Pattabhi’s defeat as my own”. (VERY IMPORTANT & SIGNIFICANT REMARKS).

In a letter dated March 28, 1939, from Manbhum, Bihar - Bose complained bitterly to Nehru of Gandhi’s quiet campaign of non-cooperation with him. Bose had just won the Presidency of the Indian National Congress, defeating Gandhi’s chosen nominee, Dr Pattabhi. At first, Gandhi had tried to talk Bose out of running for the post, and tried to work out a backroom deal for Dr Pattabhi’s ascension (as he had done on many earlier occasions). But Bose was determined to seek the mandate of Congress activists, and won by a handsome margin in an election where the official machinery of the Congress had put all its weight behind Gandhi’s hand-picked nominee.

But Gandhi, along with Patel and Nehru formed a tactical block against Bose, and prevented him from functioning effectively as leader of India’s preeminent national organization. In vain did Bose make his case with Nehru, who remained unmoved, and eventually, it led to Bose having to quit the Congress, and organize outside it’s tedious confines.

Gandhi’s supporters now resigned, and Bose found himself unable to form a new Working Committee against Gandhi’s opposition. He tried hard to work out a compromise with Gandhi. He even offered to let Gandhi nominate the entire Working Committee, if Gandhi would only accept Bose’s plan to launch an agitation for immediate independence. Gandhi politely refused, and Bose had no option except to resign, four months into his second term as president.

One of the interesting things about this whole episode is that Bose blamed Nehru more than he blamed Gandhi. He never completely cut his ties with Gandhi, and continued to try to rebuild his bridges. But he never forgave Nehru for not helping him during this crisis.


Late Amritlal Seth, editor ‘Janmabhumi’

Late Amritlal Seth, former editor of the Gujarati Daily Janmabhumi, who accompanied Nehru during his visit to Singapore told late Sarat Chandra Bose immediately after his return from Singapore that Panditji was warned by the British Admiral that, according to his report, 'Bose' did not die in the alleged air crash and if Nehru played up too high with the legends of Bose and demands for re-absorption of the INA (Azad Hind Fauz) in the Indian Army, he would be taking the risk of presenting India on a platter to Bose when he reappeared.


Journey of Gold-Diamond loaded Trunks:

What happened after August 18 remains shrouded in mystery. While conducting her research in Moscow and England Professor Purabi Roy pursued a war time major of MI5 who had snooped around Bose. Roy met the agent in Oxford and he told her that a huge amount of 'INA money' was handed over to Lord Mountbatten and a senior Congress leader in Singapore, and that is the key to Bose's disappearance (and the subsequent reluctance to unravel the mystery) could be solved to a great extent by ascertaining the route that the funds travelled."


Research scholar Purabi Roy on Wednesday claimed that thousands of men belonging to the Indian National Army (INA) were massacred at a camp in 1946. She made this revelation while addressing a discussion on the implications of the Justice Manoj Mukherjee commission report.

“When Nehru visited Malaya to meet the INA men captured by the British forces, three ships had already left for Chittagong, Madras and Calcutta carrying the soldiers. About 29,000 INA men were taken to a camp in Nilgunge and massacred when negotiations for the INA property were on,” Roy said.

“INA’s property was worth $72,000 and that was divided among India, Pakistan and Britain,” she pointed out. Roy also claimed that the INA owned gold mines, diamond mines and rubber plantations. Commenting on the Centre’s rejection of the Justice Mukherjee commission report, Roy said successive Congress governments have not allowed the facts regarding Subhas Chandra Bose to come out.

“Whenever they are in power, inquiries into Netaji’s life and death are aborted. For 12 years, I have been struggling with this subject. Hopefully, one day we will be able to answer the questions raised by Justice Mukherjee about what happened to Netaji if he did not die in the air crash,” she added.

Former Union human resources development minister Murli Manohar Joshi said the Centre had not extended full cooperation to the Justice Mukherjee commission. “Unless the Centre takes up the matter with the Russian government, the archives there will not open their doors,” he claimed.

“In 1954, Prime Minister Nehru as foreign minister had received the ashes and remains. If this is true then whose ashes are kept in Renkoji? When the Shahnawaz committee was set up, the Indian government was aware that the death certificates issued in Taiwan were not related to Netaji but this fact was suppressed,” he added.

Joshi said Netaji’s early life has also been ignored. “It is not just that his death is shrouded in mystery. Even his earlier life is not presented properly. The history books eulogise only a few leaders. He was the first person to set up an Indian government in-exile. He was the first to declare India free.”