Subhash Chandra Bose survived 1945 air crash, suggest newly declassified files
A fresh tranche of files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose indicate that he may have survived the 1945 plane crash and lived beyond that.
New Delhi: A fresh tranche of files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose declassified by the Narendra Modi government on Tuesday indicate that the legendary freedom fighter may have survived the 1945 plane crash and lived beyond that.
One of the declassified files documents the evidence of three broadcasts made by Netaji much after the plane crash on August 18, 1945, that is believed to have killed him.
The content of these three broadcasts are mentioned in File No 870/11/p/16/92/Pol from the Prime Minister’s office.
It is believed that the contents came from the Governor House in Bengal. It is mentioned in the file that P C Kar, an official appointed there when P C Ray was the Bengal Governor, claimed that the broadcasts were recorded on the 31-metre band by the monitoring service. Casey was also informed by P C Kar about the broadcasts.
According to the declassified files, Netaji in his first broadcast on December 26, 1945 said, "I am at present under the shelter of great World powers. My heart is burning for India. I will go to India on the crest of a Third World War. It may come in ten years or even earlier. Then I will sit on judgment upon those trying my men at the Red Fort."
The second broadcast came on January 1, 1946 in which Subhash Chandra Bose said, "We must get freedom within two years. The British imperialism has broken down and it must concede independence to India. India will not be free by means of 'non-violence'. But I am quite respectful to Mahatma Gandhi."
The third and last broadcast came just a month after the second broadcast in February 1946. In this, Netaji said, "This is Subhas Chandra Bose speaking, Jai Hind. This is the third time I am addressing my Indian brothers and sisters after Japan's surrender... The PM of England is going to send Mr Pethick Lawrence and two other members with no object in view other than let the British imperialism a permanent settlement by all means to suck the blood of India."
The declassified file also discloses a letter from Gandhi Ji’s secretary Khurshed Naoroji to Louis Fischer in which he said, "At heart, the Indian Army is sympathetic to the INA. If Bose comes with the help of Russia, neither Gandhiji nor Nehru nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country."
The declassified files further point to a discussion of the British government with Prime Minister of UK on the matter of Netaji’s death in an air crash. The discussion involved the consideration as to what was to be done with Subhash Chandra Bose in the post-war situation. A confidential note, regarding ‘finalisation of a policy towards Bose’, sent by Lord Wavell, the then Viceroy of India, was also discussed by the British cabinet.
It also takes note of certain revelations in Lord Mountbatten’s diary of him having received a post from British military intelligence directorate after the broadcast of Netaji’s death in an air crash. The message said: "When Bose was preparing to leave Burma by plane, the Chinese intercepted a message from the Japanese asking him to remain in Burma. Bose subsequently escaped to Thailand."