Press Statement issued by
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi and George Fernandes

DONOT SUPPRESS THE TRUTH ABOUT NETAJI

The Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (JMCI), instituted by the NDA Government in 1999, has conclusively shown that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did not die in any plane crash on August 18, 1945. A reading of the report brings to the fore the role of the Congress in systematically suppressing true information on this great son of Mother India from the very beginning. The Commission's findings raise the most crucial question - "As there was no plane crash what happened to Netaji?"

Why Mukherjee Commission was formed?

In response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the Calcutta High Court on April 30, 1998 ordered the Union Government to "launch a vigorous inquiry ... as a special case for the purpose of giving an end to the controversy" surrounding Netaji's disappearance. Subsequently, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on December 24, 1998 adopted the following unanimous resolution.

"This House is of the opinion that the report of the death of Netaji in an alleged plane crash has not been proved beyond doubt and that the reports of the two commissions of inquiry set up by the Government of India are not believed by the people and scholars of India."

The NDA Government consequently notified on April 14, 1999 that "the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary to appoint a Commission of Inquiry for the purpose of making an in-depth inquiry into a definitive matter of a public importance" viz, the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The terms of references were same as the Court had outlined:

a) Whether Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is dead or alive;
b) If he is dead whether he died in the plane crash, as alleged;
c) Whether the ashes in the Japanese temple are ashes of Netaji;
d) Whether he has died in any other manner at any other place and, if so, when and how;
e) If he is alive, in respect of his whereabouts.

It may be recalled that Prof. Samarguha had moved a resolution in Lok Sabha for considering the Khosala Commisison Report regarding the disappearance of Neta ji. Shri Morarji Desai, the then Prime Minister of India, during the course of his reply to the discussion on August 28, 1978 had stated that while the majority report of the Shahnawaz Committee and the Khosla Commission had held the report of Netaji's death as true, but in view of the reasonable doubts being cast on the correctness of the conclusions of the two reports and because various important contradictions in the testimony of witnesses were found and some further contemporary official documentary records have became available, the Government found it difficult to accept that the earlier conclusions were decisive. Thus doubts on the veracity of these two reports existed even in 1978.

Findings of the Commission

On the basis of "robust circumstantial evidence", JMCI arrived at a conclusion which confirmed the suspicions of the people of India. The Commission emphatically rejected the story that Netaji had died in any plane crash, or that the ashes lying in Renkoji temple were his.

The Report further says that a secret plan was contrived by the Japanese military and Netaji's close aide Habibur Rahman Khan to ensure Netaji's safe passage from the approaching Allied (Anglo-American) forces. Among other things, the report says:

...it stands established that emplaning at Saigon on August 17, 1945 Netaji succeeded in evading the Allied Forces and escaping out of their reach and as a camouflage thereof the entire make-believe story of the air crash, Netaji's death therein and his cremation was engineered by the Japanese army authorities including the two doctors and Habibur Rahman and then aired on August 23, 1945.. Obviously, in cooking up the story of Netaji's death in the plane crash and giving it a modicum of truth they (Japanese military authorities and Habibur Rahman) had no other alternative than resorting to suppression of facts and in doing so they not only invited material contradiction in their evidence . but also left latent loopholes which have now been discovered.

On the "ashes" enshrined in Renkoji temple in Japan, the report states:

...the death of Ichiro Okura (a Japanese soldier) owing to heart failure on August 19, 1945 and his cremation on August 22, 1945 on the basis of a permit issued on the previous day were passed of as those of Netaji.

As regards the journey of the ashes collected by Habibur Rahman from the crematorium at Taipei to the Renkoji Temple in Japan the evidence is consistent and, therefore, needs no discussion. Since the ashes collected were of Ichiro Okura - not of Netaji - the only inference that can be drawn is that the ashes lying in that temple cannot be of Netaji.

What happened to Netaji if there was no crash?

The report gives clear hint as to where Netaji could have gone after the fake crash news. It recalls the statement of Japanese general Saburo Isoda who oversaw Netaji's last known flight on August 17, 1945 before the Khosla Commission, which evidently overlooked it.

The purpose of his (Netaji's) flight was to go to the Soviet Union and with the aid of the Soviet Union he was to continue his independence movement.

The report adds that

The above evidence of General Isoda gets ample support from the other colleagues of Netaji who were with him at the material time including Col. Pritam Singh of INA, Shri E. Bhaskaran, his Confidential Secretary.

However, JMCI was constrained to concur that "the question whether Netaji thereafter landed in Russia or elsewhere cannot be answered for dearth of evidence". In this regard, the Government's role was disappointing. It may be recalled that Dr Murli Manohar Joshi had written to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, seeking immediate steps for approaching the Russian government at the highest level but no action was taken.

Stating on the Soviet angle, the report mentions two noteworthy documents.

An intelligence report dated April 1946 in the file 273/INA (Exhibit 300) says:

Mahatma Gandhi stated publicly at the beginning of January that he believed Bose was hiding and alive. He has not offered any satisfactory reason for the belief he possesses ascribing it to an inner voice. Some reports declared that Congressmen believe that Gandhiji's inner voice is secret information which he has received.

A July 1946 letter (Exhibit 228) written by Gandhiji's secretary Khurshed Naroji, to Louis Fischer the granddaughter of Dadabhai Naroji stated:

At heart the Indian Army is sympathetic with the Indian National Army. If Bose comes with the help of Russia neither Gandhiji nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country.

This letter has been copied from the Princeton University Library and its genuineness cannot be doubted. Since Ms. Khurshid Naroji is dead, evidence of Ms. Khurshid Naroji could not be taken.

The question is why the Government did not approach the Russian Government at the highest level to allow the Commission visit all documents required to know the true facts.

Government's response to JMCI report

The Memorandum of Action Taken Report by the Home Ministry over the 600-plus page report submitted by a reputed former judge of the Supreme Court of India is plainly arbitrary. It simply states that the Government "have examined the Report submitted by the Commission on 8th November 2005 in detail and have not agreed with the findings that - a) Netaji did not die in the plane crash; b) the ashes in Renkoji temple were not those of
Netaji".

It may be well recognised that Shri Tarakeshwar Pal, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the GOI, fairly submitted that there were glaring discrepancies in the evidence adduced regarding the accident as also the date and time of death, death certificate and cremation of Netaji. It is indeed intriguing that even then the GOI rejects the JMCI report.

Going against all evidence to the contrary, the Congress-led Government thus dogmatically holds on to its stand, as expressed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in Parliament in 1952. Nehru had stated that "the question of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death is, I think, settled beyond doubt. There can be no enquiry about that." The Government therefore finds it
convenient to support the reports of two previous official inquiries (ignoring the dissentient report of Suresh Chandra Bose) that the Nehru and Indira regimes had been forced to launch. Both GD Khosla Commission (1970-74) and Shah Nawaz Committee (1956) had concluded -- without ever contacting the Government of Taiwan -- that Netaji had died in Taipei. Shah Nawaz Khan was a Congress MP, and GD Khosla a friend of Nehrus who wrote Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's biography as he disposed off Netaji inquiry work. Both were alleged to have produced made to order reports to suit the Congress line.

The forgotten report

Not many people know that Justice Mukherjee's report isn't the first such report to be rejected by the Government. One of the 3 members of the Shah Nawaz Committee, Suresh Chandra Bose, Netaji's elder brother, had submitted a dissentient report, which was completely ignored. The available residual evidence and witnesses' accounts were enough for Bose to establish that Netaji could not have died, and that he escaped to the USSR. Suresh Bose wrote the following in his report about the other members of the committee -- Shah Nawaz Khan and SN Maitra.

My colleagues, both connected with the Government, have tried their utmost to secure and to manipulate the evidence, so that it could easily conform with the Prime Minister's (Pt Nehru's) statements.

In the last para of his dissentient note Suresh Bose had made the following appeal:

I would, with all humility, appeal to my esteemed countrymen not to accept the reports submitted by learned colleagues or by my humble self, but to make a demand to our Government to place at their disposal the whole of the evidence that was made available to the Committee and. form their own opinion after a careful perusal and consideration of the same, and, if the general opinion be that the aircraft accident did not take place and that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did not die, as alleged, to demand an impeachment of all those, who have taken part in this nefarious game.

This dissentient report of Suresh Bose was not published by the Government.

Congress's reasons for rejection of report

It is not difficult to understand why the Manmohan Singh Government has rejected the Commission's findings in one sentence, without giving any reason. The seven months taken to reject the report clearly reflects the Government's dilemma. The Government could not find any valid reason to reject Justice Mukherjee's findings based on new evidence and sharp reasoning. The reasons for not accepting the truth are as contemporary as they are rooted in the past. The deception continues from the Nehruvian era to this day of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, one of the strongest votaries of Netaji's death.

JMCI report cites an example how Prime Minister Nehru's Government hushed up a crucial evidence on Netaji death issue. A month before the Nehru Government made public the Shah Nawaz Committee report, they had duly received copies of an official report from Taiwan, via the British High Commission in Delhi. However, this report was neither mentioned in Shah Nawaz report, nor heard of again until Justice Mukherjee discovered the
recently declassified original report in London's National Archives. Commission utilises it to reject the official version of Netaji's death.

The report also brings to light the willful destruction of a Top Secret PMO file titled "Investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Subhas Chandra Bose" by the Indira Gandhi Government at a time when they should have made it available to Khosla Commission.

In the circumstances that the Government has rejected the JMCI findings, the onus of proving that Netaji died in the air crash on 18th August 1945 is now on them. The Government must take the nation into confidence and give reasons why they have rejected the report. The Government must also answer questions which have been raised before and after its publication. One of them pertains to mysterious "ashes and other remains" of Netaji, which were received by the External Affairs Minister (EAM) in 1954. The
Commission had asked the Government in August 2004 whatever had become of those "ashes and other remains" of Netaji after they were brought to India. But there was no pertinent answer forthcoming, JMCI report suggests.

The Government must come out with the reasons for rejecting the JMCI report which should be discussed in the Parliament. This act of the Government instead of resoling the controversy has kept it alive. The facts and circumstances as narrated in this Report require a further vigorous probe in this matter. The dissentient report of Suresh Bose as a
member of Shahnawaz Committee should be published. The nation wants to know why the truth about Netaji is not being allowed to be brought before the people.

Clearly, the Congress-led Government has a lot of explaining to do to the nation about the actual fate of Netaji and their disinterestedness in bringing the real facts about Netaji's disappearance. Nation will not allow the truth to be suppressed.

(Shyam Jaju)
Office Secretary

Encloser in PDF File

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