Book Review - Conundrum - Subhas Bose's Life after Death

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is a very special name for any patriotic Indian. Any book on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose would attract interest, esp. if the book is titled as Life after Death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. There are controversies surrounding his alleged disappearance. Government had set up a committee in 1956 which was headed by INA veteran Shah Nawaz Khan. The conclusion of that committee was the affirmation of the official version that Netaji had died in the 1945 plane crash. But Suresh Chandra Bose, the sejda of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who was a part of the committee did not agree with its findings and submitted a Dissent report which pointed out many flaws with the committee’s findings. In 1970 a one man commission was set up under Justice G.D Khosla to probe Netaji’s death. The conclusion remained the same, that Netaji died in plane crash in 1945. The controversy thus remained dormant for a long time till 1985 September when an unknown Sadhu, called Gumnami Baba by the media and Bhagwanji by his followers, died in the sleepy town of Faizabad. Three journalists probed certain facts around this mysterious sadhu and came up with a series of investigative reports that the unknown sadhu was none other than Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in disguise. Netaji’s niece Lalita Bose, after reading these reports visited the spot where Bhagwanji stayed his last few years, viz. Ram Bhavan in Faizabad. She went through the sadhu’s belongings and letters and claimed that the sadhu was her uncle Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. She demanded a thorough investigation and also made a petition in Allahabad High Court for preserving the belongings. In 2013 Allahabad High Court asked the Government of UP for building a museum and also setting up a commission to check the identify of Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji. In 1999 a further demand for impartial enquiry on Netaji’s disappearance was made and under Supreme Court directive the then Government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee established one man commission under Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee to probe if Netaji had really died in the plane crash. After a thorough impartial investigation it came to light that the Taiwanese authorities had denied any plane crash in Taihoku airport on the date of 18^th August. Also the ashes in Renkoji temple were analyzed on the basis of the skeletal remains and the bone structure, and found to be not belonging to Netaji. The Mukherjee commission, despite overwhelming deposition from the witnesses and the documentary evidences, hit a deadlock on the Gumnami Baba theory. Independent foremost handwriting expert of India B Lal Sharma had matched the letters of Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagwanji and his definite conclusion was that the writings were by the same person. But two other Government agencies denied any such match. Even the DNA tests done with the supposedly found teeth of Gumnami Baba remained inconclusive as one of the Government labs did not find sufficient samples and the other had categorically denied any match, without providing any supporting evidence. The conclusion of Justice Mukherjee Commission was that Netaji did not die in a plane crash in 1945, so the official version of his death was wrong. In absence of any clinching evidence he could not establish Bhagwanji as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The report was rejected by the then UPA Government in 2006 without any debate or discussion in the parliament and the Government remained faithful to the original version of Netaji’s death.

In 2006 a young organization named Mission Netaji took up the battle by going through the investigation reports and filed RTIs to unearth many documents that were presented to the Mukherjee commission, Khosla commission and Shah Nawaz Committee. The organization members also got in touch with some of the close associates of Bhagwanji who had deposed before Mukherjee commission. Anuj Dhar, one of the investigative journalists, wrote the book “India’s Biggest Cover Up”, based on his findings. In 2016 when the demand for declassification of the secret files on Netaji grew strong, the West Bengal Government declassified around 64 files and the central government under Sri Narendra Modi declassified hundreds of files on Netaji Subhas Bose in phases. These gave new evidences and threw new light, like Bose family members were snooped upon for twenty years after his supposed death, by IB and that the American and British intelligence did not really believe that Bose was dead. Alfred Wagg, an American agent for instance went on the record saying that Subhas was in Saigon and he had seen him after the so called plane crash.

In the light of the documentary evidences and their own research work of over 15 years Anuj Dhar and his coauthor Chandrachur Ghosh decided to write a book to present the facts discovered. The book Conundrum, Subhas Bose’s life after death, is an effort to unravel the mystery through hard facts and new evidences, based on letters written by Bhagwanji to Pabitra Mohan Roy, one of the top intelligence officers of I.N.A, Leela Roy, a very important revolutionary leader of Bengal, who was also a close associate of Netaji Subhas, and several other followers and disciples, and their journals and notes.

The book begins with the case history of the Netaji commissions and why their findings were not conclusive. It cogently puts forward the beliefs of both Sarat Chandra Bose and Suresh Chandra Bose among the Bose family members, who were closest to Netaji and who firmly contested the theory of plane crash.

The book gives a sketch of the life of the unknown hermit, who, according to the narratives of the early followers, came as a wandering mendicant to the small towns of North India but never settled in one place for long. He used to live secretly, often in inhabitable places and used to hide his face. He had a habit of speaking from behind curtains but his voice was unmistakable to those who had heard it before. Those few who had seen Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose earlier and were fortunate to see Bhagwanji had told in private that they recognized him as none other than Netaji. The book also provides a list of whose who, the powerful politicians who would meet Bhagwanji in private as a spiritual Guru, but unlike the present day Godmen, Bhagwanji never sought any material benefits from them.

The book then details out the places Bhagwanji stayed, in his attempt to dodge recognition. He was in Neemsar (Naimisharanya) where he was seen and recognized by one of the longtime associates of Subhas Bose, Atul Sen, who recognized him. Atul, based on the sadhu’s instructions, informed Leela Roy and Pabitra Mohan Roy and a few others. Leela Roy, the foremost revolutionary leader of Sri Sangha, who along with her husband Anil Roy was a longtime associate of Subhas, came to Neemsar to meet the sadhu. After a prolonged wait she could finally meet him and she recognized him instantly. Leela Roy arranged for the material comforts and needs of Bhagwanji. Pabitra Mohan Roy was the erstwhile intelligence officer of I.N.A and was very close to Netaji. The letters written to Leela Roy and Pabitra Mohan Roy reveal some very important clues regarding the activities of Bhagwanji and try to portray what happened after the so called concocted air crash. The activities of Bhagwanji as revealed in the book are mind boggling. His letters reveal a lot about military strategy and plans. He rues the policy paralysis which caused the defeat to China in 1962, the missed opportunities in 1965 and 1971 wars and in an authoritative way establishes how the world politics was shaping up in India’s favour. He made many interesting prophecies, one of which was that communism would die a natural death in its land of origin, viz. Russia. The details regarding the major wars and the political upheavals in his letters interestingly were proven to be true later. Such political acumen, knowledge of military strategy and world political affairs, is not a forte of any ordinary sadhu. Many such events are given in minutest details in the book which could well sound like a spy thriller lifted straight from a John Le Carre novel.

Bhagwanji referred to himself as the Bhisma Pitamaha who inherited the earth and yet did not enjoy it for the sake of duty. His utterances on political leadership of that time, esp. on Pandit Nehru and his policies, points out a razor sharp mind and strong political acumen uncharacteristic of any ordinary sadhu. He had made prognosis and predictions on the prevailing situations and contemporary national and international politics, some of which are accurate and can only be made by an astute state leader who knew the international politics, diplomacy and the prevailing world affairs like the palm of his hand.

The book also explores the spiritual side of Bhagwanji. There are many spiritual instructions, esp. to Pabitra Mohan Roy whom he considered as his disciple. He was extremely respectful to all saints and avatars, including Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Adbhutananda and Swami Abhedananda. It is to be noted that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had met Swami Brahmananda (and possibly also Swami Adbhutananda) in Kashi when he was a young boy. As an established political leader he met Swami Abhedananda who had embraced and blessed him. Netaji Subhas even as the head of the state of Azad Hind Government used to spend hours in meditation in Ramakrishna Mission Singapore. He used to send his car to bring the swamis in charge to his room and used to have spiritual discussions for hours together post dinner. His friend Dilip Kumar Roy, son of Dwijendra Lal Roy and disciple of Sri Aurobindo, himself an accomplished musician and spiritual figure, mentioned in his reminiscences that Subhas was primarily a Yogi. From Bhagwanji’s letters and from the testimony of his disciples it is quite evident that Bhagwanji was an advanced spiritual soul though he called himself a “Sadhaka”. The details of his spiritual practices, accomplishments and his instructions to his disciples are fascinating and leaves no doubt in anybody’s mind that he possessed what Sri Aurobindo called a Super Mind. It is also generally believed that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was an embodiment of the patriotism and love for India of Swami Vivekananda. Bhagwanji’s patriotism, passionate love for the country and a desperate willingness to do everything possible to restore her to the old glory gives the reader a glimpse of the fire within the heart of the harmless sadhu.

The book tries to explain why the forensic evidences went against Bhagwanji in the Mukherjee Commission period. The questions regarding the process of the forensic investigations conducted by the Government labs during the commission days, the new evidences esp. the testimony of American forensic expert Curtt Bagett who based on handwriting match has definitely concluded that Netaji Subhas Bose and Bhagwanji were the same person, are provided to help the reader to come to a conclusion of her own. It is probable that the DNA analysis was not done in a proper way. The book has provided all possible alternatives and they are worth considering before rejecting or accepting a hypothesis.

The book narrates the utter poverty and depravity, the medical & health conditions, the inhospitable and unhealthy living conditions of Bhagwanji. If indeed he was an impostor as claimed by some, the authors raise questions as to why would he live in such an inhospitable condition in such dire poverty, hazarding his health, without any apparent motive of either exposing himself or coming out in the open or benefiting himself or anybody else? He also did not ask for any material benefits from any of the rich and powerful people he came in contact with. Only a few handful, loyal disciples met his needs. This reminds us of Swami Vivekananda and his vows of poverty and chastity. Vivekananda never asked for any help from the high and mighty, except for his loyal disciples like Khetri Raja with whom he had an open relationship. It saddens one to learn about the living conditions of this fiercely patriotic sadhu whose only mission in life was to serve the divine mother in the form of the nation, and to see her restored to her old glory again. This, he claimed could only be achieved in total secrecy and therefore he was leading a life of deprivation.

The authors have considered the possibility of his being an impostor as claimed by some quarters. The hard material evidences point to the contrary. People like Leela Roy had been too close to Netaji and were too astute to make any mistake. Many other reasons have been cited and it is upto the reader to arrive at a conclusion.

The authors have also deliberated on the alternate theory that Netaji died in Russia, as claimed by several people in the high positions, notably Major General G.D Bakshi, Rajyasabha M.P Dr. Swamy, historian and scholar Dr. Purabi Roy, etc. In the end they have chosen to put forward the Bhagwanji hypothesis in the face of overwhelming documentary and circumstantial evidences as furnished by them in the book and in absence of any such evidence that he died in Russian prison.

The authors have discussed many other characteristics of Gumnami Baba, viz. his vast erudition, esp. in philosophy, spirituality, world politics, and military strategy. They have cited his vast collections of books in English, Bengali and even German, his personal habits, documents, maps, artifacts and personal belongings which included Rolex and Omega watches, circular frame glasses like the one worn by Netaji, German binoculars, toiletries etc., and have constructed a personality that has distinct matches with that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. These and other behavioral characteristics can be inferred from the belongings and also from the handwriting. Bhagwanji for instance had some unique traits like writing notes on the margins of the books that he read, in the same way as Subhas Chandra Bose used to do.

Finally the authors also deliberated on the most important question that almost everybody would ask, if Bhagwanji was indeed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, why did he chose not to come out in the open? What was the reason for the secrecy, the self-imposed ordeal of living in wretched conditions for the fear of being identified, the oaths of secrecy to which the disciples were put to? The possibilities are many but one of the options discussed based on scientific evidences is indeed startling and also heart wrenching.

The four factors that come out of this book clearly even if we do not buy in to the conclusion of the authors, are 1) that Bhagwanji was an intensely spiritual person. He called himself a “sadhak” and was actually a very advanced soul, but also sometimes dabbled in occult 2) that Bhagwanji was Bengali in ethnicity, was vastly educated, had extremely strong preferences and opinions esp. political, was a master in political and military strategy and in international political affairs 3) that he was intensely patriotic and had a vision for a united strong resilient India that would act as a spiritual guru of the world, was extremely anguished by the living conditions of people of India, particularly the ordeal of the women, the victims of partition, the plight of the Hindus from Bangladesh and the sorry tales of their miseries in the hands of the Islamic rulers of Pakistan 4) that he lived in dire poverty, in unhealthy and pitiable conditions and yet in extreme secrecy, only confiding to few close associates about his whereabouts and plans, never revealing himself to the larger public or to the authorities, never seeking any benefit from the rich and powerful, and yet having “connections” in the higher political echelon.

There are some loose ends in the books and the authors have admitted the same. The name Conundrum is significant as not all pieces of puzzles could be found or fitted together. There are many hurdles. The official secret files esp. the IB files and also intelligence files from other countries like Vietnam, China, UK, US, Japan and KGB archive need to be available to verify and validate certain hypotheses. The followers of Bhagwanji who were supposedly under the oath of secrecy have not revealed every details of every conversations or provided all the documents. There is a huge collection of documents, letters and notes in the Ram Katha museum which are out of bound for the researchers at present.

However despite all these constraints, and despite the lingering questions, the evidences provided seem to be worthy of consideration. The authors have organized the chapters carefully and meticulously and have presented their analysis and conclusion after examining all the facts. The reader is presented with the facts of the case, with the case history, with the possibilities, the strong points, the weak points, the unknowns, the testimonies and the witness depositions, the reliability of such evidences and the opposing views. They have also demolished the opposing views logically and rationally, with facts and evidences, without any superficial or biased judgements. They have presented their story and have put the ball in the court of the readers to decide as to what they would like to take away from the narrative.

Overall this book is worth reading by the people who are genuinely interested in Netaji. One may or may not agree with the conclusions of the authors. One may even question some of the reasons and logic provided or some of the evidences presented. But in the end this book is a brilliant attempt to unravel perhaps the biggest mystery in India and the fate of one of her most favourite sons.