By Anuj Dhar

January 23, 1979 would have been Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 82nd birthday. Something really unexpected happened in Kolkata on that day. Janata Party MP and noted Netaji follower Samar Guha displayed a picture of a man at a press conference and said:

"I swear in the name of God that he is Netaji. He is a free man and in perfect health. He will come out in the public when he feels it necessary. I cannot tell you the exact time but no power will then be able to resist him. I am publishing this photograph with the permission of some persons who have been in regular contact with Netaji."

Samar Guha was in touch with Bhagwanji.

The picture that he produced in 1979 showed the head of Netaji and a much bigger torso. Barely a day after, an agitated Congress (I) member Subrato Mukherjee, currently the mayor of Kolkata, charged that Guha's antics amounted to defaming Netaji and slapped two cases against him.

Mukherjee said the picture was a fake - the head of Netaji was juxtaposed on the photo of his elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose. Both the cases, however, were later dismissed by the court and the matter fizzled out.

In 1986, while sifting through countless letters and documents of Bhagwanji in Faizabad, the civil and judicial officers along with saint's followers stumbled upon the same picture. After some time, they found some letters that gave an account of the whole episode.

The letters were written by Dr Pabitra Mohan Roy, INA Secret Service agent, and most trusted follower of Bhagwanji. The letters said the picture was a fake but the episode made Bhagwanji quite furious. He stopped interacting with his followers, including Roy.

The correspondence resumed after some months after an evidently terrified Pabitra wrote, reaffirming his loyalty to Bhagwanji. He swore in the name of Mother India. He also vouched for the loyalty of five other Kolkata-based followers of Bhagwanji.

Roy went on to express shock at the events and wrote to Bhagwanji that he had been keeping track of the issue. He subsequently sent him a detailed report on the whole episode. It was a blow-by-blow account about the developments before and after the press conference. It avoided the use of Netaji's name and restricted itself to the use of "his", or just "--".

Giving details of the plan, Roy wrote that the plan was hatched in Delhi and the picture was meant to be sent to selected ministers, MPs and newspapers.