North East News Agency

There is little doubt that a freedom fighter and leader of the stature of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is born once in ages. But the story of the better part of Netaji’s life and his death still remains shadowed in mystery for all his own countrymen. The latest findings of the Mukherjee Commission have deepened the mystery. After the UPA Government rejected it, there have been voices heard from all over the country and as far as the North-East to get to the actual truth of the matter.

In mid-June, a citizen convention on the findings of Mukhjerjee Commission was held in Guwahati and Chitra Ghosh, the niece of Netaji attended the convention. But in end-June another convention on the same matter was convened by Netaji Bhavna Manch in Guwahati and Shillong and the proceeds of these conventions created ripples in the political as well as media circles.

The Netaji Bhavna Manch convention in Guwahati was attended by noted scholars, researchers and few former INA members from North-East. Noted scholar and Netaji researcher from Kolkata Dr. (Mrs) Purovi Roy was the chief guest as well as chief speaker. Dr. Roy came down heavily on Government of India and leaders of some political parties for intentionally suppressing the truth regarding Netaji’s disappearance. The convention came up with the view that the findings and markings of Justice Mukherjee Commission are correct and true. The probe concluded that Netaji did not die in an air crash in Taiwan, as commonly believed and that the ashes at the Renkoji Temple, near Tokyo, do not belong to Netaji Subhash Bose.

Dr. Roy said that rare files that Russian intelligence had given to India related to Netaji have mysteriously disappeared. She said that even after all these years, the ‘when, where and how’ aspect of Netaji’s disappearance is far from being clear and what the Government of India has made to establish is only make belief for the countrymen. She said that a death certificate of Netaji signed as late as 1988 is the evidence that he did not die in 1945, as is generally taken and made to understand. Some other speakers and researchers were harder hitting at the Congress Government. “The Nehru-Gandhi family always wants its hegemony and cult image to be maintained. It felt threatened by Subhash Bose and his dynamism. So there was an international attempt to suppress all truth related to his life and death,” they said.

Dr. Roy was also critical of the Action Taken Report (ATR) of the UPA Government of the findings of the Mukherjee Commission report. The ATR was tabled at the fag end of the last Parliament session intentionally so that no debate/discussion could be held. Moreover, the ATR only says that the government disagrees and nothing more. Dr. Roy asked the media to counter the government on this. “The Parliament will again start on July 24 and this session will surely see a debate on the ATR of the government. But I ask the media to put pressure on the government to clarify the reason of the rejection of Mukherjee Commission report on the floor of the Parliament before initiating any debate on the matter,” she said. Dr. Roy believes that Russia has the key to the mystery. “Documents in the Russian archive will clear the mystery. I personally know that Russia is willing to come forward and co-operate but for it the inclination and the desire has to be shown by the Government of India,” Dr. Roy said. 

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