As an ardent admirer of Netaji, I am appalled at the general trend in newspaper articles, books, and everywhere else.  We find very little coming out on the great man’s mission and visions; his achievements from his early days in Congress; and his later work in building up the INA, which came, oh so close!  Instead, what comes out in books and newspaper articles is replete with conspiracy theories – the tired old rhetoric of how he did not die in the plane crash, his imprisonment in Manchuria or Japan, and his several incarnations, the latest and most celebrated being the Gumnami Baba or Bhagawanji of Faizabad.  Then there are the never-ending discussions about the ‘mystery’ of his marriage and his daughter.  Usually, there are doubts expressed by most in the publications.  And of course, there are the periodic denigrations of Gandhi and Nehru – they had done nothing right!  Much of the information, it appears to me is built on nothing but hearsays, innuendos, and fantasies.  Little changed even after the release of the previously classified files under the aegis of the West Bengal and Central governments in late 2015 amid great expectations and a lot of brouhahas.  Very little of substance has come out from them in the over four years.

To me, Netaji’s greatness would not be diminished one iota even if it was proven conclusively that he died in the fateful plane crash,  as Ashish Roy, an established journalist for CNN and a member of the Bose family has done in his latest book. There is also the testimony of Netaji’s trusted Lieutenant Habib-ur-Rahman who was on the same plane and got burnt with him.  The fact that all his trusted lieutenants in the INA: Abid Hasan, Kayani, Nambiar, Lakshmi Sehgal, and others, to whom Netaji meant so much, reluctantly accepted his death in the plane crash should have to count for something!  Then there was Sarat Chandra Bose his elder brother, almost a father figure to Netaji and a major Congress leader in his own right, and his wife, who both painfully accepted his death in the plane crash.

There has been so much written about his life after the plane crash.  Some have said he was incarcerated in China, some said it was Manchuria, and most said it was in Siberia in Russia.  One recent information claims that he was not actually behind bars in Siberia but was an honored guest of Stalin serving some important function.  Many years back, he was sighted as a sadhu in Shoulmari in North Bengal.  Later, in 1965, he was sighted among the Soviet soldiers during Lal Bahadur Shastri’s visit to the USSR in 1965.  But his crowning ‘performance’ was as Gumnami Baba (aka Bhagawanji), a reclusive sadhu in Faizabad in UP.  The Baba allegedly did not come out of hiding for over 30 years, hiding from Nehru but also from Indira Gandhi.  He died in 1985.  All the events noted above are replete with ‘convincing’ evidence ranging from radio broadcasts, letters in his own handwriting, and his personal belongings being recovered from Gumnami Baba.  The evidence often appeared credible, nay impressive.  Some made careers out of these incidents with their books, TV broadcasts, newspaper reports.  Names like Anuj Dhar, Chandrachur Ghosh, and Jayanta Ghoshal immediately spring to mind.

I hold a similar view about Netaji’s marriage and his daughter.  To me, Netaji’s greatness would not be diminished one iota even if he did marry the German woman, Emily Schenkl, and fathered a daughter, Anita.  Conspiracy theories are rife that the marriage and the daughter are nothing but rumors planted by his detractors.  Fingers are generally pointed towards Nehru, Gandhi, and the Congress   They disregard that Sarat Chandra Bose visited Vienna with his wife and family and met Emily and Anita.  There is even a picture of all of them together.  Also, Anita visited Calcutta and the Bose family and from what I have read, had a fair welcome.

I wonder what makes one totally believe in the conspiracy theories. Is it a case of what I call “I will see only what I want to see; and believe only what I want to believe” syndrome? What difference does it make even if they all turned out to be true – there was no plane crash and the Russian incarceration and the Gumnami Baba stories are all authenticated.  How do they matter after all these years and to whom?  The escape from the plane crash, the incarceration in the Russian prison or his hiding from Nehru and Indira Gandhi as Gumnami Baba were not what earned him our universal adulation and made him our Netaji.  To me, an exaggerated emphasis on these issues takes away the focus on the mission and visions of Netaji, his achievements in the Congress and his formation of the INA.  The present and future generations are thus deprived of getting a fuller appreciation of this great man.  I worry that this will most likely result in a diminished image of him in the future Indian psyche.  And that to me would be sad!