Was Stalin responsible for Netaji's death?

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Controversy

Was Stalin responsible for Netaji's death?

By Dipak Basu

(The author is Professor in International Economics, Nagasaki

University, Japan.)

M.V. Kamath in his article `Netaji an Enigma: His Death a Mystery' on

May 29, in Organiser wrote "Has anyone asked Putin, the current

Russian leader, whether any records are available of those times?

And, at this point of time, would Putin refuse to cooperate? There is

no answer."

 

I am afraid there is an answer provided by Purabi Roy, a researcher

in the Jadavpur University of Calcutta, who during the early 1990s

spent two years in Russia searching the archives to find out anything

related to Subhas Chandra Bose. Her finding are:

 

* There is a lot of material on Subhas Bose in the Military Archive

in Tomsk, where the free government of India in Exile (or Azad Hind

government) had a consulate during the Second World War, as the

Soviet Union along with Japan and Germany has recognised the Azad

Hind government. Just a request from the Government of India would be

sufficient for the Russian authority to open that archive. Purabi Roy

wrote to the Government of India about it and as a result her

research was terminated by the Indian government and she could not go

back to Russia again.

 

* Purabi Roy found out a report by a KGB agent in Bombay, written in

1948 on the political situation in India. The report says, "..it is

not possible to work with Nehru or Gandhi; we have to use Subhas

Bose". That implies in 1948, Subhas Bose was still alive.

 

The office of the Prime Minister had refused to release the report

made by Prof. Praful Chakravarty, professor of history in Calcutta

University, made in early 1950s about the disappearance of Subhas

Bose. That report was commissioned by Nehru, but he refused to

release it. The Shah Nawaz Khan Commission and the Chopra Commission

had never visited Russia to investigate

 

The investigation commission of Justice Mukherjee initiated at the

time of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, is now cut short and

Justice Mukherjee was not allowed to go either to Taiwan or Russia to

investigate. Kamal Pandey, the then Home Secretary, had refused to

give any access to Justice Mukherjee to the documents still in the

hands of the Government of India. The office of the Prime Minister

had refused to release the report made by Prof. Praful Chakravarty,

professor of history in Calcutta University, made in early 1950s

about the disappearance of Subhas Bose. That report was commissioned

by Nehru, but he refused to release it. The Shah Nawaz Khan

Commission and the Chopra Commission had never visited Russia to

investigate; nor did they seek any help from the Soviet authorities.

 

BBC World Service reported on February 4, 2005 that according to the

Taiwan government, there were no plane crashes at Taipei between

August, 14 and September, 20, 1945; thus Netaji could not have died

on August 18, 1945. On August 18, 1945, invasion of Japan by the US

was in full swing. There were literally hundreds of Allied battleship

and aircraft carriers all around Japan and USA had complete control

over the airspace of Japan. It was impossible for any Japanese

military aircraft to leave Taipei for Tokyo without being attacked by

the US. Why on earth would Netaji like to go back to Tokyo to

surrender himself to the US Army who would have definitely handed him

over to the British to be killed `on the spot', as demanded by Lord

Mountbatten? Given the fact that Japan had no clash with the USSR

during the Second World War, it was only natural for Netaji to go

back to the Soviet Union.

 

After 1955, when Stalin was denounced in the Soviet Union, and the

victims of Stalin's policy were rehabilitated, there was no reason

for the Soviet authorities to hide the facts about Subhas Bose, who

was most possibly killed by Stalin. The Soviet Union had acknowledged

that Stalin has killed two other Indian freedom fighters—Abani

Mukherjee, founder of the Communist Party of India and Varindranath

Chattopadhya, brother of Sarojini Naidu and an associate of Veer

Savarkar and who had attempted to kill M.N. Roy. All of them, just

like Netaji, had escaped to the Soviet Union from the British

clutches, but ultimately suffered at the hands of Stalin as a result.

The Indian government has never asked the Soviet Union in this

matter.

 

(The author is Professor in International Economics, Nagasaki

University, Japan.)