Netaji Subhas Chandra BoseLast year, when the Justice M.K. Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry into the alleged disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visited Japan in search of evidence of his death 57 years ago, many people thought it was yet another governmental exercise in historical futility.Two such inquiries in the past-the Shah Nawaz Khan Committee in 1956 and the Khosla Commission in 1974 - had put the same rumpled pages of evidence under the magnifying glass and examined nearly the same witnesses twice over. Both agreed Netaji died on August 18, 1945, at an army hospital after his bomber aircraft crashed in Taihoku (now Taipei).And that Bose was cremated two days later and his ashes deposited at the Renkoji temple in Tokyo in early September 1945. But the doubt over his death, whether accidental or otherwise, continued to haunt admirers of the nationalist hero. The Mukherjee Commission was set up by the NDA Government in 1999 with the hope of finally bidding sayonara to one of India's most charismatic freedom fighter.But if the commission's objective was to reaffirm the findings of its predecessors, departure from the script has begun to show. When Mukherjee visited the Renkoji temple in September, the wooden box that presumably contains Netaji's ashes was tightly closed. It was a national holiday in Japan on that day so he could not find a mechanic to help him.Mukherjee left for his next destination after writing to the Indian ambassador requesting him to send a report on the contents of the casket. The report says there are bone fragments and a complete set of jaw bones wrapped in brown paper, but no ashes. The Indian Embassy has sent a photograph of the contents.The absence of ashes is not bewildering. Japanese Staff Officer Major Nagatomo, who had been assigned by the Nippon Army to oversee Netaji's funeral, had told the Shah Nawaz Committee that on the morning after his body had been put in a furnace, he pulled out the sliding plate and, "according to the Buddhist custom, I first picked a bone from the throat with two chop-sticks and placed it in the box. Then I picked a bone from every portion of the body and placed it in the box".But what is confounding is the "solidity" of the mandibles - as evident from the photograph-even after eight hours of incineration at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius. Commission Secretary P.K. Sengupta says, "We will send the bone pieces for forensic analysis and possible DNA testing, provided some strains can be recovered."Interestingly, the earlier inquiries did not touch upon the wooden box. There is hardly any dispute over the last few days of Netaji. It is believed that he left Singapore on August 16 after hearing of the Japanese surrender, 10 days after America dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.He reached Bangkok the next day from where he left for Saigon. But Bose loyalists have always doubted the official version after his take-off from Saigon on August 17 in a twin engine aircraft of the "Sally" class, with only one comrade of the Indian National Army (INA), Colonel Habibur Rahman, by his side.As the official story goes, the bomber reached Tourane (now Da Nang) on August 17, left for Taihoku the next morning and crashed soon after take-off. The conspiracy theorists, including some members of the Bose family, believe Netaji, a master of disguises, created the "air-crash drama" to make his way to the Soviet Union incognito.Dr T. Yoshimi, 89, who was a senior officer in charge of the Taihoku Military Hospital where Netaji was reportedly brought after he suffered third-degree burns in the crash, says that the "Chandra Bose" who was brought to him "had burns all over his body from head to toe". That makes future identification from photographs impossible.Subrata Bose, son of Netaji's elder brother Sarat Bose and a Forward Bloc MLA who accompanied the commission to Japan, believes his illustrious uncle had a clear vision of the Cold War and went underground "behind the smokescreen of an air crash", much like many Nazi generals did after their Fuehrer's end in April 1945.The Mukherjee Commission was set up for a period of six months but it is unlikely that it will wind up before mid-2004. While it is bound to throw up many more surprises, the ultimate issue is whether it can decide if Netaji died in the Taihoku crash.Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who is making a film on Netaji's last five years, has carefully made his story leap across the flight from Singapore, to pick up the thread again at the British-arranged trial of the INA accused in 1946. As he says, "Somewhere the ghost has to find its resting place."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 17, 2003--- ENDS ---
