Those were the days when anyone belonging to the
German Nazi party was either captured or killed by the allied forces and
their supporters. Even the ones who were with other countries that
fought alongside Germany in the World War II were not spared. Subhash Chandra Bose had nothing to do with either the Nazi party of Adolf
Hitler or the Axis powers in the Second World War. His only goal was to
secure India's independence.
Because British belonged to the Allied forces,
Subhash Chandra Bose has decided to take the help of some country that
was fighting against the British. That was the probable reason behind
his alignment with Japan. Officially the Indian National Congress
supported the British and the allied forces in the Second World War as
the fight was against the Axis powers which were fascist in nature.
Subhash Chandra Bose was then not part of the Indian National Congress
and was heading the Forward Bloc. The Axis powers were fighting a losing
battle in 1945 when the Japanese radio announced the death of Subhash
Chandra Bose in a flight crash. The then British Indian Government
rejected the claim of his death. They dismissed the report saying that
the actual meaning of the announcement was that he went underground.
After that there were many stories in the media regarding the mystery,
but no story was sufficient to solve the mystery. Four different
commissions of inquiry were appointed by different Governments, but
there appeared gaps in the findings of each of those. The Mukherjee commission was the latest one to have submitted the report as late as in
2006. It stated that Subhash Chandra Bose's death in flight crash was
probably a cover up for his escape to USSR but also stated that it could
not find any evidence of his presence in USSR. The central Government
rejected the report.
Considering that there is really a cover up on the story of Bose's death, one wonders what the motive could be behind such a cover up. India after all achieved independence in 1947 and Bose should have come back to the country to be part of active politics.
The following are the most possible scenarios that could have happened.
Scenario 1: The USSR, USA, UK were all part
of the allied forces in the Second World War. They ensured all the
leaders on the side of the axis powers were either captured or killed.
Once it was clear that the allied forces were winning the war, the
announcement through the Japanese radio might have been influenced by
the other friendly leaders of Indian National Congress to save one of
India's greatest leaders of the times from being captured by the allied
forces. Probably he might have returned to India. The Indian Government
might have kept him in hiding to escape controversies. If it is
revealed, what is the guarantee that the allied forces will not ask for
the head of Bose? How can a newly formed India create enemies among the
big powers of the world? There were some revelations that the Special
Operations team was asked by the British Intelligence to assassinate
Bose when they realized that he was trying to forge an alliance with the
Axis powers.
Scenario 2: Bose might have been captured by
the USSR and kept in as a captive. The USSR of those days used to be
secretive in all its activities. Right from the start of the regime of
Stalin, millions were murdered ruthlessly inthe country. Even if some
outsiders are held either captive or killed, the USSR never used to
reveal the news to the outside world. Any news used to come out only
through its official news agency. May be even the Indian Government was
not aware of the whereabouts of Bose if USSR captured him. In this
scenario, Bose might have spent the rest of his life in jail or might
have been executed.
Scenario 3: Bose might have been captured by
the USSR and the Indian Government might have known it. The USSR
probably was not interested to release him in order to investigate his
role in the Second World War. India being dependent on Soviet Union
during the initial years after independence, the Indian Government would
have probably thought of not pressing for his release. At the same
time, the Government might have kept the news under the carpet to
prevent emotional uprising in India. Any emotional uprising in those
days would have been tragic for the country as that would have meant
curtains for Indo-Soviet friendship.
Scenario 4: As Bose did not take the line of
Indian National Congress during the World War, the leaders of the
congress party themselves might have allowed Bose's capture or execution
outside India in some allied country to prevent any political
competition in independent India. Bose returning back would have ensured
competition for the Indian National Congress from day one.
After reading all the above scenarios, one may
wonder why the central Government is not releasing the documents related
to Subhash Chandra Bose even through the RTI channel. Well, the
Government refused to release such documents saying that it will have a
negative impact on India's relations with some foreign nations. What
does that mean? It means there is some mystery surrounding his death.
That is now clear. If the Congress Government alone has something to
hide, why have the other non congress Governments that ruled India
though for brief periods kept quite? If it is only a problem for the
Congress party in internal politics, other political parties ruling the
country would have by now made the news public. But it did not happen.
Hence there is something in the classified documents that really will
impact India's relations with some countries.
Following are some possible scenarios of what's there in the classified documents.
Scenario 1: The Governments in India might
have hidden Bose in some secret destination to save him from the allied
forces and that would have been reported in the secret documents.
Scenario 2: During the freedom movement,
though the Indian National Congress and its leaders have taken a
decision to support the allied forces against the axis powers, they
probably thought of having a back up in case the axis powers defeat the
allied powers in the world war. Then India's relationship with Japan
would have helped a long way. May be the Indian freedom fighters have
consciously taken a decision to have a friendship with the other group
as well. If such information exists in the secret documents, then it
would open lot of debates in the countries and communities that were
victims of the German's Nazi party. India's position will then become
uncomfortable in international scenario. That's why probably the
documents were not released.
There can be many more such view points. Many more
will continue to emerge until the secrets are some day revealed by some
Indian Government.
