TREMORS FELT IN ENGLAND
On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the United States carried out the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 2,00,000 innocent citizens. This eventually led to the unconditional surrender of the Japanese imperial forces being led by the then Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Hideki Tojo. On the 12th of August 1945, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who was fighting alongside the Japanese army in north-eastern India, left Singapore for Tokyo to finalise the terms and conditions of INA's surrender to the allied forces. It was during this journey of Netaji that the fateful plane crash of August 18th, 1945 took place at the Taihoku Aerodrome, Taipei, Taiwan. The news reached India five days later, on August 23, that the supreme commander of the INA and a nightmare of the British Empire was no more. The national broadcasting agency of Japan declared the demise of Netaji along with Japanese General Sheidei in the plane crash of August 18th. The British were unwilling to digest the fact that Netaji was no more. Because of the absence of the dead body, no death certificate being issued and contradicting statements of the various eyewitness accounts, the then viceroy of India, Mr. Archibald Wavell, had serious suspicions regarding Netaji's death. This suspicion of Wavell was revealed through his personal diary, declassified from the London National Archives in 2012, wherein he said, "That's what you are supposed to believe if he's meant to go underground."
Very soon, this suspicion of the British turned into a nightmare during a press conference convened by Pt. Nehru a few days after the incident. Pt. Nehru was expressing his grief and remorse over Netaji's death when he was suddenly interrupted by an American journalist named Alfred Wagg, sitting in the crowd. Wagg stood up and aggressively said, "No, Mr. Nehru, you are lying. The man whom you are talking about, I have seen that man alive after August 23rd in the Japanese city of Saigon along with various other Japanese commanders. What you are saying is not the truth. " The tremors of this statement were felt even in England. The suspicion that Netaji died strangely on the very same day when Hideki Tojo surrendered to the allied forces was affirmed, and thus the Britishers were sure of the fact that Netaji had faked his death. Numerous intelligence agencies, such as the South East Asian Translation Interrogation Centre (SEATIC), combined section, strategic services, MI5, etc, embarked on their mission to find Netaji and get him dead or alive. And this was the beginning of India's biggest political mystery that engulfed the entire world and remains unsolved till date.
HIS ACTIONS ARE FASTER THAN THOUGHTS
The only testament to the plane crash theory is the statement of Habib-ur-Rahman Khan, the ADC of Netaji, who was supposedly with him in the plane when it crashed. The reason why the plane crash theory doesn't hold up as credible is because of the endless flaws in it that don't add up and the pieces of news popping up from different regions of Netaji being seen there. Firstly, Rahman's testimony was very erratic in nature; he never stuck to one set of facts. The facts and figures used to change with each statement at different forums in front of the media. Secondly, Rahman's testimony didn't exactly match with that of the airport staff, who, as per Rahman's statement, rushed off to save Netaji and douse the fire from his body. For example, the height of the plane at which its engine failed. The disparity between the two accounts was several thousand feet, which is unusual. Similarly, according to Rahman, Netaji didn't really die due to the crash of the plane but because of the fire that it caused. Netaji was sitting under a gasoline tank, and when the plane crashed, the gasoline tank exploded and drenched Netaji completely. When he was trying to get out, his coat caught fire, which led to three-degree burns on his body. Rahman described how he tried to douse the fire, rolled Netaji on the ground, the belt in Netaji's uniform got stuck, and thus he couldn't remove the uniform, which led to a complete blackout of Netaji. But on the other hand, the airport authorities said that when they reached the runway, they found both Netaji and Rahman unconscious and lying on the ground.
Not just testimonies, even top classified files which were buried in governmental records for so many years point towards the same fact that the plane crash theory is a hoax. Declassified voice recordings from the directorate of military intelligence, China indicate that the Japanese authorities were planning to transfer Subhas Bose to Russia through the routes of Japanese occupied Manchuria. Similarly, PES Finney of Intelligence Bureau, 1945, in his final submissions over Netaji's death investigation, highlighted that it could not be firmly established that the man had died in the plane crash or if a plane even took off that day. The declassifications in 2012 and 2015 from the home ministry and foreign ministry under the leadership of PM Modi, have now ascertained that the plane crash theory was just a smokescreen released by the Japanese government so that the real man could escape to Russia without anyone being aware of it. Additionally, Netaji made two radio broadcasts after his alleged death, one in 1945 and the other in 1946.
THE SOVIET RUSSIAN ANGLE
Several conspiracy theorists agree on the fact that Netaji escaped to Soviet Russia through the routes of Manchuria. But the point of contention arises while explaining what happened to him after he reached Soviet Russia. These theorists are divided into two factions on the basis of their belief in what might have happened to Netaji after reaching Russia. One faction, which supports the "Soviet Russian Angle," believes that Netaji was killed at the KGB headquarters during interrogation on the orders of Stalin. Although a very hollow argument, this theory is not supported by significant clinching evidence and facts. In fact, the other faction of theorists have categorically rejected this theory by producing ample evidence that Netaji was alive and there was no chain of events that could have led to Stalin ordering Netaji's execution (with the Indian Government being in the backdrop). Because many members of the Bose family and some credible personalities in our country, such as Maj. Gen. GD Bakshi, support this theory, it is still discussed and not dismissed. It is quite difficult to explain Netaji's tenure in Soviet Russia due to the absence of governmental records from the Russian federation. However, there is credible evidence and accounts to show that Netaji might have returned to India in 1950 and stayed here till the mid 1980s, which eventually gave rise to the "Gumnami Baba Faizabad angle", the most credible and accepted theory regarding Netaji's death in current times.
A HOLY MAN APPEARS
Netaji's ultimate aim of escaping to Russia after the Japanese defeat in World War 2 was to remobilize an army using the INA treasure and again wage a war against the British in India (most probably from the north-east) if India did not attain freedom. Netaji sought to act as a mediator between the Japanese and the Russian government so that peace could be established and necessary assistance could be provided for such a mobilisation. The declassifications from the London National Archives in 2012 have shown that there was a secret pact between the Indian and British governments to hand over Subhas Bose to the allied forces if he was ever detained in Indian territory on the grounds of him being declared a war criminal. Not just this, the Indian government then also exploited the internal intelligence machinery to snoop and spy on Netaji's family and old INA soldiers. Several intercepted calls and letters were obtained as a result of the Indian government's declassifications in 2015 and 2012.
With such a sophisticated setup being in place and an international power exploiting the sovereignty of India freely, it was natural for Subhas Bose to remain underground and not to surface in front of the world. The Faizabad angle, that we shall discuss in the next part, encompasses the entire world, with links being traced to Russia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Latin America, and so on. That's why Subhas Bose's death is not just a national issue but rather involves the entire world community, especially the two most important intelligence agencies, the CIA and KGB.
Subhas Bose's life after death is India's biggest political cover up, and in order to find answers to our questions, we will literally have to awaken the dead from their graves. And that's exactly what we are going to do in the next part.
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