NETAJI

 Netaji  Living Dangerously by Kingshuk Nag;

​Published by  Rupa ; Pages 181 ; Price Rs.195/-

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London-based  journalist Ashish Ray, related to Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, studied the disappearance of Netaji and declared, “The data is overwhelming and irrefutable that Netaji died in an  air-crash and his remains are preserved on the altar of Tokyo’s Renkoji temple in an urn wrapped in white cloth with Netaji’s name written on it with indelible ink and interred in a small pagoda.”

This has been refuted strongly by Kingshuk Nag who was a journalist with The Times of India for the last twenty-two years. He has worked across the country in various capacities. An alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics Nag has several books to his credit. He is a recipient of the prestigious Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Reporting and Analysis for his coverage of political events in Gujarat.

The  book under review is an in-depth analysis of one of the world's best kept secrets. Nag’s  writing is so strong and backed with research that  you are apt to believe all that he has to say. 

 According to Nag the Indian government made believe that Netaji died in the air crash in Taiwan and that the ashes stored in an urn at Tokyo’s Renkoji Temple was that of the patriot. However, latter communications revealed that this was totally false, for no  air crash had taken place on that given day. The Government even spied upon the Bose family believing that Netaji would try to establish some kind of contact with them.

 Did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose die in an air crash in Taihoku (Taipei, Taiwan) on 18 August 1945? Was he sent off to Siberia by Joseph Stalin? Did he die there? Or did he escape? Or was he let off, eventually to make his way back to India? Was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh? If so, how did he find his way back? Why did Bose leave India when he did? Was it on account of his political approach, which was opposed by the then high command of the Congress party that wanted a quick transfer of power from the British? The past comes alive as Nag  answers  these  questions at a time when there is a considerable renewal of interest in Netaji's fate with old records tumbling out, the latest being the declassification of secret  files on the subject. Will the governments in Moscow and London be approached for new leads?

 Mourned Netaji's wife and daughter  " Whenever we tell we are related to him, rather than the pride people come back with "Oh isn't he the guy who died mysteriously?".

  Netaji hoped to get some help from other countries including Russia and Germany to ensure freedom for India. Nag analyses the  power struggle between Netaji and Nehru .  Netaji was forced to resign from the coveted post of Congress President by the  Gandhi Coterie. Gandhi was a politician non-pareil.

  Intelligence officials in their various reports have in the past demonised Netaji. According to them  Bose never married Emilie Schenkl and she was just his live-in partner. He  is reported to have had a passionate affair with a lady politician from Bengal and later with someone in Burma. These reports were just to portray him poorly  compared to the  Congress politicians like Nehru who came to rule the country after Independence.’

 INA and Azad Hind Government form an important part of the book. It tells us about the success and even failure of these institutions. The book informs  us how  Mountbatten would use Edwina’s power over  Nehru.  He influenced Nehru into believing that Bose's return would destabilize his position. "Thus as India became Independent, Netaji went into an abyss."

 It was the British that made it difficult for Netaji to return to India according to  Nag .He  has argued that British intelligence hatched a plot to nail Netaji after being embarrassed by his Great Escape from Kolkata in 1941 and again when he fabricated his death in a fictional air crash at Taihoku four years later. It misled the Soviet counterpart into believing that Subhas Chandra Bose was a British spy. This is what led to Netaji being sent to a gulag or forced labour camp in Siberia

 The Centre’s act of declassifying secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose may not help in unravelling the mystery surrounding his disappearance. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just promised, he is yet to act on that. Even if all the central government files are declassified, I am not sure, if they will have all the answers that people are seeking to know about Netaji,”  according to Nag.  “I doubt if the files will have all the information, because some of the important files may be missing, may be doctored long before Modi became the prime minister,” According to Nag  “The declassification of the first round of  files with the Government of India has not brought us closer to unraveling the mystery of Bose’s disappearance,”

The Prime Minister  assured he would request foreign governments, including Russia, to declassify files related to Netaji available with them. Nag, who in his book has dealt about the various theories surrounding Netaji's disappearance following an alleged air crash in Formosa (now Taiwan) on August 18, 1945, claims the answer to Bose's disappearance lie hidden in secret files with the Russian, British and the Japanese governments. 

This is a totally absorbing book that is at once  thrilling and entertaining. Nag has a  logical approach and he has made available all  facts and left it to the reader to decide.

An excellent book, strongly recommended for all students of politics, history of India.

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P..P.Ramachandran.

11 /02 /2018

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