Background
Subhas Chandra Bose was a charismatic leader of the Congress party. Initially he was selected for the ICS (Indian Civil Service), but resigned his job to take part in the freedom struggle. He for a time towed Gandhi’s line on Non-violence and non-coperation, but soon he parted ways with the Mahatma. Bose was a fire-brand leader and he disagreed with Gandhi’s approach. He advocated a mass struggle, violent if necessary to overthrow the British Raj. Bose was popular in the congress party and at the 1939 session of the Congress party, he defeated Gandhi’s nominee for the post of Congress president. This was a blow to the Mahatma who started a policy of non-cooperation with Bose. Bose unable to act due to this policy of Gandhi resigned from the Congress and formed a separate group called the Forward Bloc.
Bose and the Axis Powers
With the break out of the Second World War on 01, September 1939 between England and Germany, Bose was put under house arrest at his house in Calcutta. In a daring escape he left Calcutta and travelled to Afghanistan and thence to Moscow and further on to Berlin. There he met the German leader Adolf Hitler and requested for help to free India. This led to the formation of the India League with Bose at its head. Bose realized that Germany could not take part in a campaign to liberate India and so at his request he was transferred to Tokyo by sea. The voyage was completed in 2 stages, the first part by a German U-boat where a rendezvous with a Japanese submarine took place. Bose was transferred by a rubber dinghy to the Japanese submarine amid inclement weather in mid-ocean. The submarine now took him to Tokyo where he met the Japanese war-time prime minister General Hideki Tojo and this led to the INA being re-formed a second time.
The dropping of the atomic bombs resulted in Japans surrender. The Japanese advised Bose to escape being tried as a war criminal. It must be mentioned here that Nehru, Jinnah and Gandhi gave an undertaking to the British that they would hand over Bose to them if he came back to India; hence Bose had very limited options.
Purported Death of Bose
Subsequently news came that Bose had died in an air crash in Taipei in Formosa, in an attempt o escape to Manchuria and on to the Soviet Union. His ashes are supposed to have been kept in a temple in Tokyo in Japan. But the mass of Indian’s refused to believe that Bose was dead and many harbored belief that he was alive and his death in the Formosa air crash was a sham.
Commissions of Inquiry
Bowing to public pressure the government of India appointed 3 commissions to verify whether Bose had really expired in the Taipei air crash. The first two commissions concluded that Bose had died in the air crash and requested the matter be treated as closed. But a closer look at the findings of the two commissions of inquiry and the data presented along with it, the fact emerged that all aspects of Bose’s death were not covered The seeds of doubt were thus sown. Bowing to Public pressure the Vajpayee government convened another commission under Justice Mukherjee to verify the truth. The commission gave a revolutionary finding and by a series of reasoned arguments brought out that Bose had escaped to Russia and he did not die in the air crash. The Vajpayee government did not accept the findings of the Justice Mukherjee commission.
The Possibilities
What are the facts? New light has emerged that in fact Bose may have escaped to Russia and net the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Some reports also suggest that an Azad Hind Government in exile was formed in Russia. There are also reports that the Indian ambassador to Russia Dr S Radhakrishan was shown Bose in a prison cell in Siberia. Thus there is a distinct chance that Bose went to Russia and after some time he was imprisoned by the soviets.
Gumnaam Baba
There is another mystery that concerns a man called Gumnaam baba who died in 1996. He was cremated in the middle of the night and many people suggested that this man was in reality Subhas Chandra Bose. The Mukherjee commission examined all data and found the possession of the baba a little odd. Certain books were found in his possession, that would do justice to only a man of letters and the baba was supposed to be illiterate. However no opinion was expressed by Justice Mukherjee, though in a private chat Justice Mukherjee conceded that Gumnaam baba could have been Bose.
Epilogue
All this is in the realm of conjecture and everything will only clear out by 2021 when the royal archives regarding Bose are opened and made public. Perhaps Nehru knew the truth, but he could not have allowed Bose to come back to India as he (Nehru) would have lost straight away. But then again in case Gumnaam baba was Bose, why was he residing incognito. The mystery of Bose will take some more years to unravel. Perhaps some more light may shine once the papers kept in the Kremlin are given access to Indian researchers.