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Subhas Chandra Bose was in the Soviet Union long after he
was reportedly killed in a plane crash at Taihoku on August
18, 1945. Dr Purabi Roy, who teaches international relations
at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, claims to have come across
many documents at archives in the Soviet Union during the
course of her research there.
Dr Roy was assigned by the Asiatic Society a research project
on Indo-Russian relations from 1917-1947. "I stumbled
upon many documents which clearly hinted that Netaji was in
Soviet Union at least till Stalin's death in 1953.
"Many Indologists there also told me that they had
come across similar documents and even irrefutable proof in
this regard," she said.
The project commenced in 1995 in collaboration with the Moscow-based
Institute of Oriental Studies. Dr Roy had earlier completed
her thesis on 'comparative study of languages' from the same
Institute.
"So I knew a lot of Indologists and scholars who confided
in me about Netaji's presence in the Soviet Union after the
1945 plane crash," said Dr Roy.
"The scattered hints about Netaji, I picked up in Moscow
were corraborated during my 1996 visit to the Public Records
Office in London. By that time, the Foreign Secretary and
Lord Peter Archer had helped declassify many records that
confirmed all the hints," said Dr Roy.
"I also met a number of senior KGB officers, who told
me that conclusive evidence of Netaji's presence in the Soviet
Union exists at the President's Archives and the KGB Archives,"
Dr Roy claimed.
Two Indologists in Russia -- Vladimir Bonderevskii and Gangovskii
-- reportedly told Dr Roy that they would be willing to help
her out in digging out the truth about Bose's disappearance.
"They told me that a letter from the Government of
India to the Russian External Affairs Ministry would be necessary
for reserachers to gain access to the KGB and President's
archives. I told the Asiatic Society about it and the Society
did write to New Delhi many times. But there was no response
from our Union Government," she said.
Dr Roy said that she wrote to successive Prime Ministers -
H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee -
requesting them to make a formal request for access to the
archives in Russia.
"But they did not even acknowledge my letters and
maintained a strange silence," she said. Dr Roy claimed
that this, coupled with the fact that she was abruptly removed
from the research project by the Asiatic Society, reinforces
suspicion that New Delhi and even the Left Front government
here have "a lot to hide".
"If they are confident that Netaji was actually killed
in a plane crash in 1945, why have they always tried to scuttle
any fresh investigation? If they are clean, let them provide
us access to the two archives and see what's there,"
contended Dr Roy.
According to her, Netaji went to Manchuria from Singapore
and was received in Manchuria by the Consul General of the
Azad Hind Government's consulate at Omsk city, Kato Kachu,
on August 22-23, 1945.
"Kato Kachu was, according to Japanese researchers,
actually an Indian. That name was an alias," said
Dr Roy. Subsequently, there have been many references to Netaji.
There are, she claims, many loopholes in the air crash story.
"Japan had surrendered on August 10 and the Allied forces
had taken complete control of all airfields there. So how
could a Japanese aircraft take off from Singapore with Subhas
Bose and head for Japan? Netaji would definitely not have
wanted to land in Japan and surrendered to the British or
the Aemricans.
"He had been decalred a 'war criminal' by the British
and surrendering to them would have meant certain death. So,
why would he do something so suicidal? He would have preferred
to surrender before the Russians, whom he trusted more,"
Roy explained.
Moreover, she said, Gandhiji never believed that Netaji had
died in the air crash. "He (Gandhiji) had publicly
stated on many occasions that Netaji was alive and would be
back. Gandhiji must have been privy to confidential information
in this regard and we shoukd attach due importance to what
he said because he never indulged in speculation and loose
talk," she said.
Another cause for suspicion is that the news of the crash
was broken on August 22-23 over Radio Japan, four days after
the 'accident'.
She feels that another angle worth investigating is why Indo-Soviet
relations never took off till Stalin's death in 1953. "There
are records of meetings between Stalin and his aides or ministers
where Stalin had referred to Netaji as a living person,"
she claimed.
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