CHAPTER 2: Inferno( Bose & Nehru)

- by Ritweek Singh
IIT(BHU) Varanasi , India

"मरे हुओं की जासूसी नहीं की जाती"

  The dead are not spied

PART I-BOSE: 

Subhas Chandra Bose who died/went missing on 18 August 1945, but he was going to affect the fate of India for the next two decades. In the last chapter, I have explained his role in independence but this chapter is focused on the aftermath of Bose's death/escape.

Did Netaji die in a plane crash in 1945?

 Ans: NO. 

From the 64 files declassified by West Bengal Gov on Sep 18, 2018, and  75 files declassified by the center in batches, along with circumstantial evidence prove that Netaji did not die on 18 august 1945.

I'm not going to throw pages of documents. Instead, I will just present the facts Pointwise. If someone is interested all documents are available on the site of national Archives http://nationalarchives.nic.in/content/netaji-papers as well as on http://www.netajipapers.gov.in/

• DEATH CERTIFICATE

 

 The death certificate presented to GoI has the name Okara Ichiro. The Japanese never gave a certificate with Name as Subhas Chandra Bose. Colonel Habibur Rehman Khan who was with him on the so-called last flight advocates for his death. He tells Netaji came out of the plane covered in fire, they tried to cover him and extinguish the fire but were unsuccessful. Later he(Bose) died in hospital. 

The flaw in Rehman's claim is that why he himself had no burnt marks. Let's assume he was lucky and was out of the aircraft unburnt but if he tried to save Bose he must have burn marks at least on his hands. He was loyal to Bose and was probably following his orders. Other INA officers were also interrogated. After questioning each story had slight differences but all ended the same way, "Netaji died due to his burns in hospital".

I leave the interpretation for readers. It's pretty obvious though, and therefore both the British as well as Indian officials were convinced that bose was not dead. Note they had evidence that he didn't die in a plane crash but they didn't have evidence that he was alive. Since then he has become Schrodinger's Bose.(Bad joke I know).

Thus we had both British and Indian intelligence looking for him.

 After Rahman was released, he was questioned at length by Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Bose's elder brother Sarat Bose, the man he knew his brother more than anyone else. While Gandhiji made a public statement that Rahman convinced him about the veracity of the Taiwan death theory, his private statements showed otherwise. In fact, a letter written in July 1946 on his behalf to an eminent American stated his belief that Bose was in Soviet Russia. 

In a letter written in July 1946 to American journalist and Gandhi's biographer Louis Fischer on Gandhi's behalf by his secretary Khurshed Naoroji. "If Bose comes with the help of Russia neither Gandhiji nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country"

The declassified accounts reveal Gandhiji had apparently spoken in the presence of the Journalists saying that, Habib is merely carrying out the leader’s orders – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
” I do not believe that Subhas died in any air crash,” Gandhi had mentioned. 
      Gandhi also told Subhash Chandra Bose's family not to perform any funeral.

 So, on paper and in public every one accepted the plane crash story but everyone knew Bose was not dead.

• Espionage by India as well as British.

 Two declassified Intelligence Bureau (IB) files have revealed that the Jawaharlal Nehru government spied on the kin of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for nearly two decades. British Intelligence also had a miserable time searching for bose. 

Did they find any evidence of his existence?

Ans: As a matter of fact, nothing concrete.

Thus we know what didn't happen on 18 August. but we know nothing about what happened on or after 18 Aug 1945.

 In this series, I'm writing only facts but ill take the liberty to at least discuss the probable conspiracies surrounding Bose.

•  I personally believe this, I can't state anything, but all intelligence reports, declassified documents and self-analysis lead to this conclusion.

    Most probably he went to Manchuria and from there went to Russia. According to this claim, rather allegation, Bose was compelled to seek asylum in Soviet Russia over charges of war crimes and the machinations of Jawaharlal Nehru and Krishna Menon.

Nehru and Bose were not enemies. They respected each other. In fact, INA has a wing called Nehru Brigade. The problem was both were extremely ambitious and after India was independent their relation soured on who will rule the country.

 Bose had a much larger stature than Nehru. If he would have come to India, unarguably he would have been the prime minister. Nehru knew this. Bose, on the other hand, feared Nehru as he may influence the international committees to put WAR CRIMES on Bose. Remember the trials on INA leaders in the previous chapter. Just imagine those with Bose in the picture.

Stalin used this situation to his advantage. Krishna Menon categorically asserted in favour of Nehru and urged Stalin not to divulge the information since Nehru was about to become prime minister. He assured Stalin that Nehru would follow a strict pro-Soviet policy. 

Hence Stalin kept Bose as a prisoner. He used Bose as a means to bargain and enforce soviet interests in India. Ever wondered how CPI and Socialist Party gained so many seats in the first election. This means they had funding from some foreign source. If they had foreign funds someone in GoI was allowing it. I believe the readers are intelligent enough to analyse the complete situation. I cant conclude because it can lead to legal action on me under Defamatory laws.

Swetlana Alliluyeva the only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has died in the US, aged 85. In 1967 she travelled to India to scatter the ashes of her Indian Communist lover in the river Ganges. During that visit, she defected to the US causing a political sensation.

 Swetlana Alliluyeva said in Delhi that Netaji was in Siberia’s yarkutaskjail. She also gave barrack (Cell) No.45 of the gulag in Siberia. This statement of her was published at that time in the Indian newspapers. 

"Netaji’s was detained in a VIP Camp- in Cell No. 45 of Irkutsk Gulag near Baikul Lake and Ural Mountains. Indian Revolutionary Abani Mukherjee was kept in Cell No. 53 in the same camp."

 -Declassified documents of Mamta Banerjee’s West Bengal Government.

The same cell number by Stalin's Daughter in 1967 and files of WB Gov in 2018 cannot be just a coincidence. 

Later Bose was gassed and died around 1968 in Russia.

These are extremely conclusive and rational evidence to this Claim.

Till 2014 the GoI didn't declassify these documents on the grounds of National Security and disruption in International relations in modern times. Even many files were destroyed on purpose. They(Gov at that time) are correct, let me explain why.

1. Government machinery runs on trust of people. Such a state-sponsored conspiracy would destroy that trust. This can crumble the whole governance system.
2.  People will lose faith in many political parties which will lead to a political crisis. 
3. Especially in the State of West Bengal and parts of the country affected by Naxalism can have a Civil War like situation. I can't explain why (due to legal obligations) but I believe you are smart enough. Still, you know Naxals and some extreme left-wing parties are still funded by foreign sources to disturb the nation's stability and promote communist propaganda. These disclosers would threaten their(extreme left organizations) very existence on an ideological level and they will have a desperate attempt to prevent that from happening.
4. All this disruption for the truth of Netaji is not worth it in modern times. As they say, Truth is a privilege.

Current Gov has disclosed many documents but not all. Just enough to give the hint of truth.

• some claims are also made that he lived in china and dies there.
• some claims are made that he returned to India and lived as Gumnami Baba.

 I personally don't believe the two as they don't answer the rational reasoning and political scenario of that time. They also lack any evidence. Even the Justice Sahai Commission clarifies in its findings that Gumnami Baba was not Netaji, but his follower.

*This is a controversial topic. I respect opposing views. I welcome any rational debate in comment section if the reader has opposing views.

What happened to the INA gold then?

ANS: Solen! and we had our first and probably the biggest financial scam of modern India.

INA GOLD:

So Nehru became the PM , Stalin successfully infiltrated India by communist parties, but why did the Japanese help in the conspiracy. I mean they were allied to Bose the why did they betray him. Answer- GOLD.

With the defeat of the Japanese empire and dissolution of the INA, Bose packed the treasury - over 80 kg of gold estimated at Rs 1 crore in 1945 - into the boxes that he carried into an aircraft flying to Manchuria.File No 25/4/NGO-Vol III in the Ministry of External Affairs, one of 100 'Netaji files', records in great detail the only inspection of the 11-kg remnants of the INA treasure, since it had been brought to New Delhi from Japan in 1952.

Nehru knew about the missing gold but he did nothing. The sources were unauthorised so I won't quote but they claimed that Nehru as well as Mountbatten, both were given huge sums of money to let the gold go.

On May 21, 1951, Tokyo Mission head K K Chettur wrote to com ..

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50859255.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

On May 21, 1951, Tokyo Mission head K K Chettur wrote to com ..

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50859255.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 Bose “must have carried very much more than has now been handed over to us [by Murti and Ayer], and even if allowances are made for the loss of the part of the treasures when the plane crashed,” Tokyo Mission Head, KK Chettur reported.

On May 21, 1951, Tokyo Mission head K K Chettur wrote to com ..

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50859255.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 Government officials suspected two ex-aides of Netaji Subhash Bose. On 21 May 1951, Tokyo Mission head KK Chettur wrote to the commonwealth relations secretary B N Chakravarty raising suspicions about two key Bose aides, propaganda minister SA Ayer and head of the Indian Independence League in Tokyo, Munga Ramamurti. Even after this Nehru welcomed Ayer by appointing him, in 1953, as an advisor for the publicity of his flagship five-year plans. Ramamurti, on the other hand, flourished in Japan for a little while longer.

 I didn't find any documents revealing the truth, but connecting all the dots it's for sure Ayer and Ramamurti who managed INA's treasure, later in absence of Bose and defeat of INA looted the treasure and gave huge bribes to Nehru, Mountbatten as well as Japanese officials for not investigating in the treasury controversy.

If someone wants to dig deeper in INA treasury controversy he can read the book ‘India’s biggest cover-up' by author Anuj Dhar.

PART II- NEHRU:

 Leaving apart his controversies and scams, I have talked too much on it. In this part, I will focus on him only as of the first PM of India. He was a great leader. After independence, he gave India the image of a peace-loving country in the world, but he was the worst strategist. His foreign policies were a total disaster. Nehru didn't have the ability to take bold decisions, let me tell why.

Nehru and the UN

Nehru believed too much on UN. He was an ambitious world leader probably seeking for a Nobel peace prize. He wanted India to be the leader of the third world. Thus he lead the non-aligned block. 

Kashmir was just the starting of the mess he was going to create due to his devote belief on UN.

Nehru believed in Gandhian ideology, too ideal thus impractical. He believed that excessive expenditure on the army was unnecessary. He believed that India will maintain good relations with all its neighbours, still if any invasion occurs UN peacekeeping forces would protect India. 

To show his goodwill towards neighbouring states he made a number of strategic disasters.

 

1. Gave few strategically important Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal to Burma(now Myanmar) as a gift. Later Myanmar will give these islands to china which China would use them as a part of its String of Perls{detail in CHAPTER 6}.
2. Gave away the Permanent Membership of UN security council when it was offered informally by USA through Indian Ambassador. He said India should not get involved in the hazardous COLD WAR and replied China is a bigger nation so they should have it.
3. "Hindu-Chini bhai bhai", India was extremely(foolishly) nice towards china. Under his foreign policies, India was not acting as a state but as a high moral Child.
4. Silent support of the  Chinese annexation of Tibet.
5. Panchsheel Pact

A series of events and ultimately the Chinese Invasion of 1962 would open his eyes that UN was not a picture-perfect body but a tool for USA to exert its soft power.

Nehru's Domestic Policies

Though flawed foreign policies, his domestic policies were pretty remarkable. Nehru was deeply inspired by the Russian Revolution. Thus many of our policies were similar to soviet. One can argue that this was due to Stalin's pressure(explained in partI), but he never resisted much.

Most iconic being a closed Economy to protect our local businesses, state run-heavy industries(PSUs) and 5 Year Plans. 

I advocate for Center-Right economical model today, but after independence, the socialist model was undoubtedly the best model. If we had an open market from the beginning then India would have been a neo-colonial country ruled by an oligarchy and foreign corporates. For example like the states of Latin America.

A closed economy with centralised planning gave Indian businesses time to grow and mature. The PSUs gave jobs to a lot of people and fulfilled our needs of metals, power and coal.

First two 5 Year plans were focused on industrial development and were successful, like the formation of SAIL.

We also saw creation of Technical Institution like our IITs. Originally IITs were created to fulfil the need for technical workers and develop countries technological research. 

The subsidised "Ration" and ultimately increasing the food security were one of his greatest achievements.

Nehru and The Indian Army

As I told earlier Nehru was never in favour of having a large army. He underfunded defence. In the field of defence, Nehru was basically following the advice of the second most powerful man of India, V. K. Menon. He was the defence minister of India. 

At that time the officers were still the British Indian officials. The generals didn't cooperate and were always pulling each other's legs. Their promotions were based on the relation with the administration rather than merit. Menon transformed the whole system and reorganised the military. Still, that happened later.

Still, a weak military was a blessing in disguise. We all brag that all our neighbouring countries had military coup and India never had one. Ever wondered why?

A weak military for around a decade gave our civil government time to mature, strengthen and gain experience of governance. A restructuring of the army was possible because it didn't had the ability to resist. After 10 years when the gov finally started empowering the armed forces, the structure was restructured and the new officers were not the British ones but Indian Trained officers from the NDA. They were trained to cooperate and respect their superiors in a merit-based system. 

Still, the major difference was these officers respected the civil government and had a very strong sense of nationalism and patriotism.

This phenomenon can be seen throughout the world.

1. USA. When USA gained independence it didn't had a very strong military. They gained independence with aid from the French. It was after the American Civil War that US military especially navy grew strong.
2. France. After the french revolution, the military was still strong. Thus after the 2-year reign of terror, Napoléon was able to acquire power. After the defeat of Napoléon, the French army was purposefully weakened. Thus the civil government had time to mature. Later France became the greatest military power but still, the army always worked under the government.

These were the two opposite examples, but one can verify by looking on Russia and many other Latin American states. If any state had a strong military after independence it resulted in a coup or dictatorship.

What I am trying to explain that a strong military is a double-edged sword. It protects the country but if mishandled it can destroy the country. Personifying the situation: you don't give a child a sword until he is matured enough to handle it or he will hurt himself. Same can be applied to nations. A new civil government is unstable, it becomes stable with time. The military generals or any powerful person can use this vulnerability of new unstable governments to establish a dictatorship.

FORMATION OF MODERN STATES

  

  The two maps show the change after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Various reports submitted suggested that Linguistic states were not a good idea for a new nation, because it threatened the integrity of India as a state. Not being a racist, but most of the demand for separation on the basis of language come from southern India, which are often violent. Same happened in 1950s. 

Especially the state of madras had violent conflicts between Tamils and Telugus. They created a civil war-like situation in the country. Nehru Gov finally agreed for the formation of linguistic states if:

1. They protected other languages in that state.
2. Ease the governance and are economically viable.
3. Do not threaten the integrity of India.

 Government still didn't accept all the demands. Like that of Gujrat and Punjab. Gujrat and Maharashtra had a conflict on Bombay. Bombay was in Maharashtra but was dominated by Sindhi and Gujrati businessmen. GoI proposed to make Bombay a UT, but after violent student protests finally, both the states were separated. For Punjab Gov was worried of Sikh militancy of khalistan{In detail Chapter3(next)}

GOA

 

Today we know Goa as a fun place but in its annexation was the most dangerous. As you all know Goa was a Portuguese territory. At that time Portugal was under the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. 

The problem was Salazar considered Goa not as a colony but as Portuguese territory. Thus an attack on Goa meant attack on Portugal. Portugal was a NATO member (Attack on one means attack on all). He was in no mood to leave Goa. He increased forces in Goa, any protest was crushed and forceful religious conversions were carried out. 

Thus India was afraid to carry out any military action. To increase pressure India sealed the border with Goa cutting all the essential supplies. This created havoc in Goa but had no effect on Salazar's determination.

Let's track everything from the beginning.  Ram Manohar Lohia launched a satyagraha on 18 June 1946. He was arrested and expelled, but the spark was created. A series of satyagraha took place both inside as well as outside Goa. Any Satyarah inside Goa was put down by force sometimes even firing at the crowds. On 2nd may 1954 Lata Mangeshkar had a concert in Pune, the funds collected were used to buy ammunitions for the Indian army to fight Portuguese . 13 Jun 1955 Jansangh intervened. They organised a series of satyagraha in India and finally marched into Goa via boats. They all were arrested and tortured. Following this on 15 Aug 1955 around 8000 satyagrahis tried to enter Goa, Portuguese open fired killing 32 satyagrahis. Next 6 years passed in tension. This period also saw militancy in Goa against the Portuguese government. 

FINAL BLOW

While Jawaharlal Nehru advised the U.S., the then Soviet Union, and other big powers to abjure force and work towards disarmament, he was himself faced with a dilemma in 1961: whether or not to use force to liberate Goa.

In Nov 1961 Portuguese shot down an Indian vessel killing few fishermen. This changed India's stance on military action. V K Menon convinced Nehru to launch a military operation known as Operation Vijay.
Though advised by American President John F. Kennedy, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and UN Secretary-General U Thant to postpone action, Nehru made up his mind.

On 17 Dec 1961 Indian army invaded Goa from three sides. In just 48 hours Goa was free. As Indian troops advanced deep in Goan territory people welcomed with joy and crowed around them to celebrate.

Wondering why NATO didn't attack? 

One word answer the Soviet Union.

 Goa was not worth it for NATO to enter a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union.

CHINESE INVASION 1962

Panchsheel Pact or Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence are a series of principles that have formed the basis of the relationship between India and China. 

 This pact was going to become meaningless by a War, started off due to a Highway.

The only but humiliating defeat for India. This defeat was actually a failure of India's intelligence.

Everything started with China building a highway 219 (G219) through Aksai Chin. Indian intelligence were so incompetent that India was unaware of this road for 2 years.

After identifying the Highway Nehru raised serious objection to the Chinese Government.
In 1960, Zhou Enlai proposed that India drop its claim to Aksai Chin and China would withdraw its claims from NEFA(now Arunachal Pradesh). Nehru denied. Tensions continued for two years.

Nehru on the advice of IB  adopted "Forward Policy". I.e. aggressive stance and cross border patrolling. Then the Chinese government took this policy as an act of aggression and anticipated it as a probable annexation of Tibet by India, as India gave refuge to Tibet's spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Finally, on October 20, 1962, China attacked India on both Aksai Chin and NEFA. India was not prepared were as the Chinese had planned the invasion for months. They had huge amounts of ammunition, Ak47s from Russia and a good supply line. Indian soldiers didn't even have high altitude gear like Warm clothes, Shoes, Goggles etc. Indian soldiers were fighting with wooden rifles with no high altitude equipment. 

Chinese occupied both Aksai Chin and came 60km inside Indian territory in NE. Neighbouring to many Assamese villages near the Brahmaputra within 4 days followed by a 3-week ceasefire of unsuccessful negotiation as it had humiliating terms for India. War broke out again on 14 Nov.

 

Honorary mention of Battle of Rezang La 

This is a pass in Ladakh near an Indian airstrip Chinese wanted to capture. Here 123 brave men of 13th Kumaon Regiment led by Major Shaitan Singh(Param Veer Chakra) killed around 1000 Chinese soldiers defending their posts at around 17000ft without proper equipment. 114 men were martyred and their bodies were found after a year at same location buried under snow.

Nehru asked USA's assistance. USA was busy in Cuban Missile crisis at that time thus immediate help could not arrive but they were planning to send their airforce . China analysing the situation itself declared a ceasefire. They didn't want to engage with US because their objectives were achieved.

They had Aksai Chin as well as they had established their dominance in the region. They left NEFA(Arunachal Pradesh) and went back to McMahon line.

Why this was a failure of Indian intelligence.

1. India never used it's superior airforce as they thought China would use it's airforce and destroy Indian cities. China didn't have a sizable airforce at that point whereas India had British aircraft left after WWII in good condition.
2. IB was also not able to predict the attack and know their preparedness.

Nehru's stature after this attack was destroyed both domestically and Internationally. India's weaknesses and flaws were also exposed.

It still had some positive side.

India started building its military complex. Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report was submitted to the GoI which explained India's mistakes in great detail and remains classified till date. The USA developed a soft corner for India, thus the relationship improved which had soured after the annexation of Goa.

PART III- INDIA AFTER NEHRU

Gulzarilal Nanda was made the caretaker immediately after the death of Nehru. We all know the Prime ministers of India. I.e. we know the Kings, nothing bad everyone remembers the name of the kings what we don't remember are the names of kingmakers. 

After Nehru's death the kingmaker of India for nearly 20 years was going to be K. Kamaraj.

Lal Bahadur Shastri was not even in the race. Morarji Desai was leading. It was Kamaraj who had decided even before Nehru's death that Shastri was going to be the next PM.  After Nehru's death, Kamaraj's Syndicate made all the important decisions. He made sure that Morarji Desai was not the PM, he influenced other leaders and got Shastri as the 2nd PM of India.

Shastri came from a very poor family. His daughter died due to lack of medicine as Shastri could not afford it. Even after becoming the PM he bought one car on loan.

My next statement may lead to backlash but it is a harsh truth. Shastri was not a very strong leader. Kamaraj made him PM so that he can control him. Kamaraj had put the Congress party above PMO. The syndicate controlled all the important decisions. Shastri was not even able to defend Teenmurti Bhawan as official residence of PM of India. Frustrated he remarked " मैं अब तीन मूर्ति भवन की तरफ देखूंगा तक नहीं".  
PAK while this time had strengthened both its military and relation with the USA. PAK annexed parts of Rann of Kutch. Due to international pressure India had to agree to give that territory to Pakistan. This raised serious questions on Shastri's administration.  

This was the time when Nehru's sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit made the famous remarked that PM and his colleagues have become prisoners of indecision.
I know now you might be wondering why do we praise Shastri then. The answer is the Indo-Pak war of 1965.

INDO-PAKISTAN WAR 1965

Pak army at that time was much superior to the Indian army due to American aids.Their analysis was:

1. The Indian army was inferior
2. it had just lost a war to china 
3. India was facing food shortage
4. they had the backing of USA
5. Shastri was a weak leader

All other points were correct except for the last one. 
They attacked the Chamb sector of J&K. This was a vulnerable point and could cutoff J&K from India. They were advancing with heavy artillery and the Indian army was not able to resist. Then Defence Minister Yashwantrao Chavan without consulting the cabinet ordered the use of Airforce. This meant an escalation of war but was decisive to save J&K or else we would have lost Kashmir then only.

Pakistan was still advancing in Kashmir. This was the point when Lal Bahadur Shastri took the bold and historic decision that was going to change the course of the war. Shastri ordered the Army to open the international border and open multiple fronts. This would either lead to victory or total destruction. For the first time, India used all its wings of Navy, Army and Airforce and captured large territories of Pakistan.

"jai jawan jai kisan slogan", we were not winning due to the superior training, tactics or weaponry. We were able to face much superior Pak Army only on basis of willpower, High moral and Bold decisions. We were near Sialkot. On 12 September 1965 Indian army reached Lahore, though they didn't advance much in the city but they had gained the control on Shastri's order.

UN intervened when Pakistan was losing. India also had to stop advancing due to international pressure. A ceasefire was declared and leaders from both nations went to Tashkentfor peace talks.

This is why we praise Shastri today. He won a war against a superior army with international support at a time when India was suffering from food shortage and economic crisis with no allies.



I would cover Tashkent Declaration in next Chapter as its results and Shastri's death would take India into the cold war.

CHAPTER 3: INTO THE COLD WAR