STALIN --- TYRANT TO WHAT END? NETAJI --- A VICTIM OF STALIN?

Joseph Stalin, one of the worst dictators of all time, the perpetrator of a genocide to the tune of tens of millions, the cowardly captain of the Soviet Union in the initial stages of the German invasion, killer of kulaks and the redoubtable Leon Trotsky, the paranoid perverter of Marxism-Leninism, vile defiler of every human value, he lives on accursed in the memory of the inhabitants of erstwhile Soviet Russia and their progeny, a vast populace that suffered a tyranny of three decades at the hands of this demon who masqueraded as a man. And, yet, it was Stalin's dogged insistence on resistance to the Nazis later on during the German occupation and his lieutenant, Marshall Zhukov's military pugnacity that carried the day for the Allies as they came out triumphant over the dead bodies of 26.5 million Soviet soldiers and civilians in vanquishing the Nazis.

Stalin made a curious compromise with his arch enemies Britain and USA to save the Soviet motherland from the horrors of fascism before he launched a worse tyranny again on his own people to completely cripple revolutionary progress leading eventually to the downfall of communism the world over.

Stalin, a shoemaker's son, Georgian-born, roguish in bearing, ravaged by a rough father in childhood, could never muster refinement enough to career the Soviet Union to a civilised communist order which to most today is, perhaps, a contradiction in terms after all. He maintained his iron control over the Soviet Union with constant extermination of opponents, real and perceived in his mind full of paranoia, till his very death amidst mysterious circumstances in 1953, when finally the de-Stalinisation process began to rid Soviet society of his curse.

Of interest to us, Indians, is that there is a very strong possibility that Netaji had taken refuge in Stalinist Soviet Russia post 18 August, 1945, when he, so to say, literally vanished into thin air. Did he set foot in Russia whereupon Stalin incarcerated him in a Siberian gulag? Or, did the dictator keep Netaji interned in Moscow itself but away from public gaze? Or, perhaps, did the British get access to their enemy number one on account of a secret pact with the Russians and executed him during interrogation in his Siberian prison cell, strangulating the hero with a plastic bag? What is the truth after all? Did Netaji die in Russia or did he survive the ordeal to return to his homeland after a perilous journey once again? Did he then live incognito, a nameless wandering monk settling for a while in Neemasar, Purani Basti and Ayodhya before finally settling down in Faizabad, hidden behind a veil of secrecy that never lifted till his 'death' in 1985, the last act again being shrouded in mystery? Was Justice Manoj Mukherjee right, after all, in affirming with cent percent conviction on camera to film-maker Amlan Kusum Ghosh that the Faizabad monk was none other than Netaji in disguise? He had chaired the Justice Mukherjee Commission Enquiry that had investigated into the disappearance of Netaji and, as such, it stands to reason to assume that he ought to know his facts well enough to be in a position to thus categorically affirm what he did. Or did he err in judgement as well in his bid to believe in what he said in spite of insufficient evidence to support his conviction?

Does it not behove the Prime Minister of India then for all his tall talk on Swamiji and Netaji to be honest about his intentions and aggressively pursue the declassification of all pertinent Russian files on Netaji?Ought he not to formally request President Vladimir Putin of Russia to pursue the policy of glasnost regarding Netaji, in so far as Russia is concerned? Does Purabi Roy have any further clue on Netaji in Russia than she has as yet disclosed to the public? What is Maj Gen Gagandeep Bakshi's take on this? I request all to deliberate on this vital matter of national interest as we attempt to bring the pertinent facts to light so as to successfully bring about a closure to the Netaji disappearance case once and for all. Jai Hind!