New Delhi: Were the remains of Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose brought back from Japan to India under
intimation of the Prime Minister in 2006?
Nearly 65 years after being presumed dead in a plane
crash in Taiwan, a new controversy about the remains of Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose seems to be brewing as Prime Minister's
Office has denied having any information that his remains were
brought from Japan to India as mentioned in a recent book on
the life of the leader by his relative.
The fiery leader, who founded the Indian National Army to
liberate the country from British rule, is presumed to have
died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945 en-route to
Tokyo under mysterious circumstances. His alleged remains have
been kept in the Renkoji Temple in Tokyo, Japan since then.
Recently, Harvard University Professor Sugata Bose, also
a relative of the INA founder, in his recent book "His
Majesty's Opponent" mentioned two significant points in the
footnotes of the last chapter "A Life Immortal".
It mentions that the founder of the Indian Independence
League in Tokyo, Rama Murti had hidden a portion of alleged
cremated remains of Bose as "extra precaution" in his house
and secondly, this portion has been brought to India in 2006
and Prime Minister was informed about the development.
Citing these foot-notes, an RTI applicant Chandrachur
Ghose sought to know from the PMO whether the information that
the leader's ashes were brought from Japan is true or not.
Replying to his queries, the PMO said, "As per records,
no such information exists."
The efforts to contact author Sugata Bose did not
fructify despite repeated emails to his official email-id.
"According to the Murti family, as an extra precaution,
Rama Murti divided up the cremated remains and hid a portion
in his home. This is stated by his nephew Anand J Murti in a
signed affidavit attested by the Embassy of India in Tokyo,
dated August 18, 2008," the footnote states.
Another such note mentions, "Manoj Mukherjee, Report of
the Commission; Parliamentary Proceedings, 2006. The portion
of Netaji's mortal remains kept in the Murti home was brought
back to India in March 2006, in consultation with Netaji's
daughter Anita, and the Prime Minister of India was informed
of this development. The urn preserved in the Renko-Ji Temple
has not yet (as of 2010) brought back to India."
"The timing of this hush-hush transfer (of remains) is
suspicious because it happened just before Mukherjee
Commission report into the controversy surrounding Netaji's
death was made public," Ghose's colleague Anuj Dhar, who had
obtained information from the Government of Taiwan that no
plane carrying Bose had ever crashed there, said.
The Mukherjee Commission report tabled in the Parliament
on 17 May 2006 concluded that Bose had not died in Taiwan and
the Renko-ji remains were actually of a Japanese solider.
The report was however rejected by the Congress-led
Government.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 16:28