A relative of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose demanded that the central government constitute another inquiry commission to unearth the mystery over his death. Chandra Bose, grand nephew of the freedom fighter and a senior BJP leader from West Bengal, also urged the NDA government to table the report of the Mukherjee commission in both houses of Parliament.
Talking to THE WEEK, Chandra Bose said, “We have requested the prime minister to constitute another commission. We have also requested him to set up a committee to look into the files being released by the central government. Most of those files are codified and very tough to understand. There should be a committee to unravel the mystery within the files.”
Netaji's death mystery was earlier investigated by Khosla commission constituted by Indira Gandhi government and Mukherjee commission set up by Atal Behari Vajpayee government. Before them, Jawharlal Nehru had in 1956 set up a probe panel led by Netaji’s comrade in arms Shah Nawaz Khan. While both Khosla commission and Shah Nawaz commission said Netaji died in a plane crash, Mukherjee commission disputed that theory.
“The Mukherjee commission was constituted by the Vajpayee government, but its findings were rejected by the UPA government. So the current NDA government needs to look into the findings of the commission in details,” Bose told THE WEEK.
Mukherjee commission headed by retired justice Manoj Mukherjee had said that Netaji did not die in plane crash in Taiwan. However, it also rejected the claims that he was still alive.
Bose said the files being classified by the Indian government were not conclusive as many of the earlier files could have been destroyed over the years. Also, there have been a lot of technicalities attached to the files which is difficult for common people to understand. “Intelligence officials in those days referred to Bose in different codes,” he said.
Bose said the new commission could be headed by a former judge but they should be empowered to look into all the files in India in details, and the central government should write to Russian government to give the commission access to their files as well.
“Only then the truth will come out. We must know whether Netaji arrived Russia after August 18, 1945 or not,” said Bose. He said the Netaji mission, set up by many of his family members, will take to street to press this demand.
Bose also ridiculed the recent Japanese report on Netaji which said he had died in the air crash. “Earlier also, the Japanese government had said similar things,” he said.
Bose said he found Prime Minister Modi very much interested in finding out the truth about Netaji. However, others in the government were not as effective as the PM, he said.
“PM’s nod alone will not do. The entire government should take up the challenge to help PM’s wish come true. Not everyone in the government is as committed as PM to get the truth unearthed,” he said.
