A branch of Netaji's family as also many others outside believe that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan on Aug 18, 1945, and the ashes are preserved in the Renkoji temple in Tokyo. But there is also a strong second opinion across the nation which nixes the aircrash theory and does not consider the Renkoji ashes as those of Bose.
“I don't have the ashes. It is not that I go over to the temple and say please hand them to me, as they are the remains of my father. It is not a private matter.
Instead, it involves highly formal and diplomatic relations between two nations. The two nations need to agree on that,” she said.
Anita Bose Pfaff is the daughter of Netaji and his Austrian wife Emilie Schenki. She is Netaji's only child and was born in Vienna in 1942. Netaji had fallen in love with his Emilie, daughter of a veterinary surgeon, when he had gone to Austria in 1934 for medical treatment. They married in 1942 in Bad Gastein as per Hindu customs to avoid Nazi conjugal law.
Anita is married to a former German Social Democratic MP Prof Martin Pfaff, and they have three children: Peter Arun, Thomas Krishna and Maya Carina.
