Lately I have started to take an active interest in Indian History, and have started reading some books and watching some online videos that are available by subject matter experts. For some reason, I have an aversion towards writers who have been loyal to the Congress Party of India. At least on the matter of Netaji, they would be the last people whom I’d read or listen to. I’d, for that matter, trust a street drunkard any day over these people in matters relating to Indian History. Never before, has any political organisation, been more responsible for manipulating (and destroying) facts to suit their own advantage. Anyway, this post is not about to rant about my political preferences.
Just now, I came across this Youtube video. The orator, as known to many, is a former Major General of the Indian Armed Forces. There are some people whom I’ve followed closely for information pertaining to Netaji. One of them is this man, another is Anuj Dhar (former journalist of Hindustan times, and currently founder member of Mission Netaji). Interestingly, these two people have come to different conclusions about the famous mystery concerning Bose. As Anuj portrays in this lecture, there are only three conclusions to the Netaji mystery viz. he died in a plane crash, or he was killed in Russia, or the Gumnami Baba Theory. All recent reports have pointed out that the first point is bullshit, and that the crash never happened. So that leaves us with two possibilities. Mr.Bakshi concluded, after his research that Netaji was killed in Russia, on the behest of the British (and possibly Nehru – see the reason now why I don’t favour reading people who’ve been associated with Congress?). Dhar, on the other hand is a strong proponent of the last option – the Gumnami baba theory. So much for the prologue, now let’s get to the main story.
If you happen to go through the Youtube Video that I shared (I recommend that you do), you’ll find that General Bakshi pointed out a few strong points about why the possibility that Netaji was killed in Russia, may turn out to be true. I didn’t know about this pact between the British and the Russians (1941 & 1944) that they shared their secret services information. I was always of the view that Stalin would never have killed Bose on the behest of Nehru (be it mentioned that he disliked Nehru). But this theory now makes sense, because the British, exercising the terms of the pact, could well have had access to a captive Bose. At this angle, let’s see what the Indian Home Secretary has to say about the records linking to Bose’s mystery. It says that the files are classified, and if leaked, ‘can lead to a serious law and order problem in the country especially in West Bengal’.
Here comes the twist in the tale!
Let’s assume for a second that Bose was indeed, Gumnami Baba! I don’t think that would be a major problem for the Congress to cover it up. If the secret files indeed revealed that the man behind the curtains was actually the saviour of India, Congress can gleefully float a theory saying that ‘Netaji wanted to live anonymously in his free India on his own choice, and there was barely a thing that we could’ve done about it. We respected his decision to keep this a secret and move on!’ But what if, the other theory is true, and it is the one that has been documented in the files?
If Netaji was indeed killed in Russia by Stalin, then that would
1. soil the image of Nehru bitterly, as it would be considered a brutal political failure on the government’s part.
2. If it was indeed on the behest of Nehru, there would be serious repercussions of this. This includes a ‘law and order problem in the country’ and would be difficult to handle (I’d like to believe that people still command a huge respect for Bose).
On a side note, much like Gumnami Baba, there was a Shoulmari Baba angle involved with the mystery. And Major Bakshi claims involvement of the IB in this. But from what’s available on the internet, I found that the IB snooped on this poor baba for quite some time to figure out if he indeed was Netaji. And here comes another twist – Nehru and the british shared cordial relations with each other – at least on a personal level. Bose, was disliked by the british and the Congress honchos (Nehru) equally. If indeed, the British would’ve killed Bose in Russia, it’s probable that they’d have shared this information, on a secret level, with Nehru. Why would Nehru have used his intelligence resources to spy on Bose’s family? Even if the Gumnami Baba angle is false, there seems to be no way that news of Bose’s murder in Russia , if carried out by the British, would remain out of the Headquarters of the Congress Government. And be it noted that men of prominence were involved in the snooping angle, like R.N.Kao (founder of RAW) – so it’s almost improbable that either Nehru, or the British killed Netaji in Russia.
There still remains 3 dominant theories
- Bose was in Russia even after Stalin’s death, and he met the then PM of India, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri at the peace agreement between Indian and Pakistan at Taskent, Russia (1966)
- Netaji was murdered by Stalin
- He was Gumnami baba
Note that 1&3 do not go hand in hand. Gumnami Baba surfaced up in the mid 1950’s – in essence it was much before 1966 Taskent Agreement. Gumnami Baba, can very well, be an IB plant – but then what’s the point in having this?
The other possibility lies that maybe, just maybe, Stalin murdered Netaji – and he kept it a secret! There are sources that claim Netaji was murdered in Russia, but these are yet to be confirmed. However, this looks plausible since for some reason, Stalin believed Bose to be a British spy. And only then, would this murder be kept as a secret, otherwise the British or(and) Nehru would surely have known this fact. Dr.Purabi Roy has done extensive research and claims that Bose indeed died in Russia.
So Gumnami Baba being an IB plant, is almost out of the window. There’s absolutely no reason for IB to plant a ‘Bose’ among Indians. If Nehru/British killed Netaji, they wouldn’t have snooped over his family for so long – in essence, there is no way the IB-Gumnami Baba love story fits in this puzzle. So if we keep this aside, and consider the facts that are coming out in the modern days about this Baba as authentic, there’s plenty to conclude that he was Netaji, but, as Justice Mukherjee concluded – maybe, there no “clicnching evidence” to prove or disprove the same.
It’s time I get some sleep! Goodnight everyone 😀
Interesting insight, although very hard to believe.