 "Was Netaji alive even after 1945?")
Mamata Banerjee’s decision to declassify and release for public scrutiny scores of police files on him gives food for a lot of speculation, as surveillance on his kin continued till at least 1968, by official order
The curiosity around Subhas Chandra Bose was rekindled on Friday with state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declassifying 64 files in possession of the city and West Bengal police on him.
These total 12,744 pages and date from pre-independence times to the late 1960s. Banerjee did not rest with the declassification but stoked a controversy of sorts by saying some of the letters suggest Bose could have been alive after 1945, contrary to the belief that he died in a plane crash in Taihoku, Taiwan, on August 18 that year.
The letter was intercepted (like many or most others) by intelligence officials. The files are a collection of police memos, notes, ‘exact’ copies of intercepted letters. In the British times, it is evident the family, especially Sarat Chandra, and ex-Indian National Army (INA) personnel were subjected to severe surveillance. Anything and everything to do with the INA was recorded — the coming and going of any personnel, their street meetings, exchange of letters, whereabouts, background checks.
But, as was revealed earlier in the year when 10,000 of the 70,000 pages of Netaji’s records were declassified, the family was subjected to the same intense surveillance even in independent India between 1948 and 1968. The files declassified on Friday corroborate this.
A letter from Sisir Bose to his father, dated December 30, 1949, read: “I hope my last letter reached your hands in due time. In the beginning of November, Guard received a report from UPA’s Hong Kong office to the following effect. Peking Radio (which could be distinguished by its all-sign) announced that Subhas Chandra Bose would broadcast. The radio also gave details regarding the time and wavelength of the broadcast. The Hong Kong office tried to listen in according to the details but nothing could be heard. I have asked Guard to let me have further details if possible.”
It is not clear at whose behest the letters were intercepted but memos indicate exchange of information between the Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi, and the Special Branch Office on Lord Sinha Road in Kolkata. In many of the memos, the government order number for the interception is also given.
Did the Special Branch in Kolkata have approval from Bidhan Chandra Roy, chief minister of West Bengal at the time? Or were the IB’s interceptions endorsed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru? Neither is known from the files. What is known is that Amiyanath Bose was being shadowed. Every move, his travel to Bagdogra, Puri or Tokyo.
The original files have been kept in a glass case in the Police Museum, open for public viewing from Monday. The digitised formats were handed over to grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose and former member of Parliament (and wife of Sisir Kumar Bose) Krishna Bose, by Surajit Kar Purkayastha, commissioner of the Kolkata Police.
“This is the beginning. Let the central government also declassify the files and let people judge. If there is nothing to hide, why not declassify the files?” asked Banerjee. “You cannot suppress the truth.”
The central government has already constituted a panel to look into whether the files should be declassified. Even if it does, it will now be a me-too.
The curiosity around Subhas Chandra Bose was rekindled on Friday with state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declassifying 64 files in possession of the city and West Bengal police on him.
These total 12,744 pages and date from pre-independence times to the late 1960s. Banerjee did not rest with the declassification but stoked a controversy of sorts by saying some of the letters suggest Bose could have been alive after 1945, contrary to the belief that he died in a plane crash in Taihoku, Taiwan, on August 18 that year.
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A letter from Amiyanath Bose to Sisir Kumar Bose (sons of Sarat Chandra Bose, elder brother of Subhas) in London, dated November 18, 1949, mentions: “For the last one month a rather strange broadcast is being heard over the radio. We are getting this broadcast on the short-wave, near 16mm. The broadcast only says ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra transmitter katha boltey cheyechhen (in Bengali script)’. This sentence is repeated for hours. We do not quite know where it is coming from because that is not announced. It is possible, however, to find out the location of transmission.”
The letter was intercepted (like many or most others) by intelligence officials. The files are a collection of police memos, notes, ‘exact’ copies of intercepted letters. In the British times, it is evident the family, especially Sarat Chandra, and ex-Indian National Army (INA) personnel were subjected to severe surveillance. Anything and everything to do with the INA was recorded — the coming and going of any personnel, their street meetings, exchange of letters, whereabouts, background checks.
But, as was revealed earlier in the year when 10,000 of the 70,000 pages of Netaji’s records were declassified, the family was subjected to the same intense surveillance even in independent India between 1948 and 1968. The files declassified on Friday corroborate this.
A letter from Sisir Bose to his father, dated December 30, 1949, read: “I hope my last letter reached your hands in due time. In the beginning of November, Guard received a report from UPA’s Hong Kong office to the following effect. Peking Radio (which could be distinguished by its all-sign) announced that Subhas Chandra Bose would broadcast. The radio also gave details regarding the time and wavelength of the broadcast. The Hong Kong office tried to listen in according to the details but nothing could be heard. I have asked Guard to let me have further details if possible.”
It is not clear at whose behest the letters were intercepted but memos indicate exchange of information between the Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi, and the Special Branch Office on Lord Sinha Road in Kolkata. In many of the memos, the government order number for the interception is also given.
Did the Special Branch in Kolkata have approval from Bidhan Chandra Roy, chief minister of West Bengal at the time? Or were the IB’s interceptions endorsed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru? Neither is known from the files. What is known is that Amiyanath Bose was being shadowed. Every move, his travel to Bagdogra, Puri or Tokyo.
The original files have been kept in a glass case in the Police Museum, open for public viewing from Monday. The digitised formats were handed over to grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose and former member of Parliament (and wife of Sisir Kumar Bose) Krishna Bose, by Surajit Kar Purkayastha, commissioner of the Kolkata Police.
“This is the beginning. Let the central government also declassify the files and let people judge. If there is nothing to hide, why not declassify the files?” asked Banerjee. “You cannot suppress the truth.”
The central government has already constituted a panel to look into whether the files should be declassified. Even if it does, it will now be a me-too.