Balangir/Cuttack: With two of the three Commissions of Inquiry constituted by the Government of India confirming the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, an RTI activist has urged the Centre to observe national mourning as a mark of respect to the great nationalist leader.
“The Central government had instituted three Commissions of Inquiry to unravel the mysterious disappearance of Netaji and ascertain the cause of his death. Since two of the three inquiry commissions have confirmed his death in their reports, we demand that the Centre must keep the Tricolour at half-mast for a day as a mark of respect to the firebrand leader and observe his death centenary,” RTI activist Hemant Panda told OTV today.
Well-known research scholar Anant Sahu said the family members of Netaji, including his grandson Saugat Bose, had visited the spot at Taihoku in Taiwan where the plane carrying Netaji had crashed. Later, going by the circumstantial evidence, they confirmed his death.
“Besides, there was a demand during the tenure of the Vajpayee government at the Centre for a DNA test of his ashes if the Netaji is dead,” he observed.
A staff of Janakinath Bhawan, the birth place of the Netaji in Cuttack which has been converted to a museum, said the museum observes the birth centenary of Netaji. But he said the museum has no information about his death. “If there is substantive evidence of his death, we will observe his death centenary,” he added.
Notably, the Government of India in 1956 had constituted a committee led by Shahnawaz Khan, a former officer of Indian National Army (INA) and a former politician and Union minister, to probe into the circumstances leading to the death of Netaji. The committee included Bose's elder brother Suresh Chandra Bose. In its report, the committee had concluded that Bose died in an airplane crash at Taihoku in Formosa (now Taiwan), on August 18, 1945. The Committee had also stated that his ashes were kept in Renkoji Temple in Japan and should be brought back to India.
In 1970, the Government of India appointed a new one-man Commission of Inquiry led by GD Khosla, a retired Chief Justice of the Punjab High Court to probe the disappearance of Bose.
The Commission, in its report submitted in 197,4 had stated that Bose was travelling in a Japanese bomber from Touraine to Taihoku on the morning of August 18, 1945 when it crashed to the ground, killing the pilot, General Shidei, the co-pilot, and Bose. The body of Bose was cremated and ashes were taken to Tokyo.
In 1999, the government had constituted the third Commission of Inquiry led by Justice Manoj Mukherjee, a retired Supreme Court Judge to probe the death of Netaji. After a seven-year long probe, the Commission concluded that Netaji did not die in the plane crash. However, the then UPA government had rejected the report.