India celebrates the 126th birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose today January 23. He was a determined and passionate patriot who brought an awakening across the country during India’s freedom movement. His quote, “Give me blood and I shall give you freedom” motivated the youth in those days to give up their everything and jump into the freedom movement. And that is why 23rd January is also known as Parakram Diwas, a day celebrated for his bravery.
Born to a flourishing family in Bengal, Subhas Chandra Bose demonstrated some strong, positive characteristics like strategic acumen, unwavering will, and a strong belief in freedom and bravery from a very young age. These characteristics helped him lead the independence movement of India when he formed his Azad Hind Sena.
Although the consensus is that India got freedom because of Gandhiji and his non-violence movement, 75 plus years after getting independence more people are inclined to believe that it was Netaji’s Sena that forced the British to leave our country. But the brave freedom fighter reportedly could not enjoy the fruits of his labour as he lost his life before India’s independence.
Did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose die in the plane crash?
Even after 88 years, people are not convinced that Netaji died in the plane crash on August 18, 1945, at Taihoku airport in Taipei which was then occupied by Japan.
Incidentally, even the government is in two minds regarding the reality of Netaji’s death. That is why three committees were appointed by the Indian government to find out whether Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose died in the plane crash or was alive.
The Shah Nawaz Committee in 1956 said that Netaji died in the plane crash. Even the Khosla Commission that submitted its reports in 1970 said that the great leader had died.
However, the Mukherjee Commission in 1999 concluded that Netaji did not die in the plane crash. Sadly, the Indian government rejected the reports of the Mukherjee Commission.
Even then many scholars are convinced that Netaji did not die in that plane crash and continued digging deeper. The belief got more solidarity when J.P. More, a historian from Paris came across some documents of the French secret service dated December 11, 1947, that point out that Bose did not die in 1945 and was alive at least till 1947.
While the brief secret report did not mention the whereabouts of Bose, it indicates that the French were sure that Netaji did not die in the plane crash and rather mentioned that he escaped Indochina alive.
Although the British and Japanese declared Netaji dead, since Indochina and Vietnam were French colonies, they had all the knowledge of what was happening in their territory.
That is why More’s claims seem to be more appropriate that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did not die in the 1945 plane crash.