Netaji for sure did not die in any air-crash at Taihoku Airport or anywhere for that matter. He had escaped into Soviet territory and in all probability was interned there in Siberia by Stalin. What happened to him then? Was he executed there or did he stage yet another dramatic escape via China to India in a few years’ time and spend the rest of his life in the guise of a wandering monk? There are all sorts of evidence shreds which point to Netaji being alive in India and living the secretive life of an extraordinary holy man, a nameless mendicant dubbed Gumnami Baba and later Bhagawanji who died in Faizabad in 1985. Leela Roy, an old-time associate of Subhas Chandra Bose in his Congress days had met Bhagawanji and was stunned to see that the saint was none other than Netaji in disguise. There were a few others as well who met him and came to the same conclusion that he was indeed Netaji but the entire revelation was kept a closely-guarded secret on the express orders of the holy man. Eventually when Bhagawanji died in 1985, his belongings were sealed off by court order and they remain till date as such. Justice Manoj Mukherjee of the Mukherjee Commission probing the Netaji Disappearance Case informally stated on camera that he was 100% sure that the aforesaid holy man was Netaji although of course he could not corroborate his view officially ‘due to lack of clinching evidence’.
Now, who was this nameless monk who lived in such secrecy over decades, had reportedly a commanding personality, was an erudite scholar, had considerable military knowledge, was conversant with intimate details of the past associations of Subhas Chandra Bose and, finally, whose handwriting matched with that of Netaji as vouched by a non-governmental handwriting expert? These are questions and many others whose answers lie locked in the classified files on Netaji over which the Government of India has been sitting for far too long. It is time now to release these files for research into the whereabouts of the missing hero but for whom we would not have been free from the clutches of British imperialism. If successive Congress Governments have been terribly unjust to our great patriot by keeping all information about him stacked up in endless classified files, then it is time to expose them and resurrect the hero and accord him his rightful place in the annals of Indian and World history. Should the Modi Government miss this golden opportunity of resurrecting the true history of the freedom-struggle when apparently it may have nothing to benefit from hiding facts about the hero? We earnestly hope that the Prime Minister will set in the process of the declassification of all Netaji files immediately so that the long-suppressed truth about Netaji may be revealed irrespective of whose reputation is thereby tarnished for having tampered with evidence or having connived with foreign powers to keep the hero at bay. History always takes her revenge in her own sweet time but it eventually does. None can escape the vengeance of history, however towering the personalities may be in the political firmament. Knowing this to be true, Mr. Prime minister, allow yourself the privilege to be remembered by posterity alongside the resurrected Netaji by doing the hero this bit of service for you owe your chair of Prime Minister of free India to our Great Liberator Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and countless others who sacrificed their everything to making their Motherland free. It is your holy duty to uphold the truth about Netaji and we believe you will take adequate steps to do the needful. But expedite the process please lest a change of power at the Centre again raises its sinister hands to smother the voice of truth. So, forthwith declassify all Netaji files. Jai Hind!
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