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Even INA critic and Subhas Bose baiter, Jawahalal Nehru spoke
in their defence. Of course, those who had the eyes to see,
knew it was the politician and not the patriot, in Nehru who
advocated the INA case.
Nehru made other observations too. He had watched with particular
interest Shah Nawaz's rise to popularity. Shah Nawaz was a
Muslim, and it suited Nehru to foist the former for political
gains. So, when independence came in 1947, Shah Nawaz was
given a berth in the Nehru Cabinet and all the luxuries that
came with it.
For Shah Nawaz the choice was clear. Netaji was presumed
dead. The INA was no more. The Indian National Congress had
led the country to freedom. And a high leader of the party
had just sent him an invitation. It was a chance of a lifetime.
It definitely required a man of steel and rare honour to
pass up a chance of being a minister in the first government
of free India, even if it was not an India of Netaji's dream.
Shah Nawaz was definitely not such a man.
Events that followed his appointment to the ministry, quickly
confirmed my fears about Shah Nawaz. He was a changed man.
I still recollect many accounts of former INA soldiers being
turned away from Shah Nawaz's doors. (It still hurts that
a former comrade-in-arms and an officer in the army which
Netaji led, could have behaved in such a manner.)
Nine years after independence, the Nehru government was forced
by public opinion to institute an inquiry into Netaji's disappearance.
It was only too clear, that in such a circumstance, Nehru's
choice of an inquiry commissioner would fall on Shah Nawaz,
a man he had bought over many years ago.
The inquiry was an eyewash in many ways. First, it came 10
years too late. Second, Shah Nawaz was Nehru's puppet. Third,
Shah Nawaz, Suresh Bose and S N Mitra had no experience of
conducting an inquiry. The fate of the inquiry was only too
predictable.
My suspicion was confirmed when the worldwide hunt for evidence
did not take the probe team to Formosa (now Taiwan).
(As told to Shali Ittaman)
Photograph: Kaushik Ramachandran
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