By Ranjit K. Sahu

It is easy to spin any number of conspiracy theories and implicate any number of politicians and government officials of the past and present for the secrecy behind the actual information of Netaji Subhash Chanda Bose. However, it is now more than ever necessary to bring out the real and complete truth about the disappearance of Netaji, keeping in view the changing dynamics of the world politics. It is likely that many nations will be complicit in this secret operation and many Indian leaders both those being eulogized by the congress and those being disdained by congress would be involved. Yet the necessity arises from the fact that without the truth, the world will have no way to leave the past behind and walk into the future. It is important to realize that the world has changed a lot in the last seventy five years and today’s foreign policies are dictated more by economic necessities than geopolitical realities. This in turn implies that revealing the secrecy cannot do more damage than create a bitterness in the minds of the victims (Indians) whose intensity would be no more than what the British have left in the minds of Indians and people around the world  through their tyranny and destruction of civilizations for four centuries.

Thus, claiming that foreign relations would be affected is no more an excuse to withhold the information from the general public. It is likely that more than one nation and one government was directly or indirectly complicit into the disappearance of the great leader. However, it very less likely that the disclosure of the truth will hurt these countries in anyway. Countries that can smother leaders of another nation will hardly care if the truth about their actions is revealed subsequently. Let us not forget that such instances are many in contemporary world history where governments have been thrown out by foreign powers for their selfish needs and the revelation of these truths hardly mattered to the countries that undertook such operations. It is to be noted that Mahatma Gandhi who had vowed to never lie did not confirm the death of Netaji while he was alive and another stalwart of Indian politics Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who perhaps was privy to the truth died under mysterious circumstances, giving rise to many speculations which may or may not be true. It is essential therefore to look into these aspects and bring forth the facts clearly that can account for these incidents as well.

It is vital at this point to also understand that mere declassification of the files which have hitherto been branded as secret may not disclose the entire truth though it may partially or fully serve the political interests of people or parties and bring forth a few facts. Therefore it is imperative that a proper investigation be done for elucidation of the episode in its entirety rather than in a piece meal fashion. This would perhaps necessitate the creation of a separate body or panel of competent personnel different from those that had been constituted in the past like the Khosla commission among many others.

Secondly, the Indian youth today is more enlightened, ambitious and has a greater global outlook with access to different types of communication and not restricted to what any state media or those sponsored by vested interests may supply. Thus adhering to facts would be more appropriate rather than trying to weave stories in media and trying to weave a fictional and dramatic perception of the same. We must bear in mind that the Indian political spectrum has changed and in its new glow it is highly unlikely that any person’s political capital will be crucified by these disclosures. There have been bigger scams which have affected the Indian public and those have had hardly any effect on the polls. Thus, correlating the exposure of truth with the career of present politicians is nothing but a miscalculation.

Thirdly it is not just Indians but people across the world who have been waiting for the truth. The reason being that it directly creates an impression about the ability of the Indians to try to come to terms with their past and use it as a yardstick to measure their foot steps into the future. A country that cannot respect its leader and put in efforts to find the truth about him would have little respect in the eyes of the world. Let us not forget that many countries have had leaders of whom they would like to ignore and move into future like the Germans and Hitler. Yet these countries have not abandoned their leaders in a manner the Indian government over several decades has abandoned Netaji.

Fourth and finally it is now more than ever obvious that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose will continue to rule the Indian heart and mind irrespective of the honors and recognition accorded by the government. In this perspective ignoring his contributions to the Indian freedom is a fallacy as well. Thus whether or not the government and politicians through their actions credit or discredit him through manipulating history, he would be the foundation on which the mansion of freedom struggle would stand.

In a country where media can spend umpteen hours debating on non-issues or highlighting the problems of a single individual, it is not impossible for the media to dedicate prime time regularly to continue to bring forth the truth to the public without resorting to jingoism. Let not the media, the politicians and the whole world forget one basic thing  that defines the Indian mentality and what has been regarded as the greatest moral lesson throughout: Truth alone triumphs.

About The Author: Ranjit Sahu, was born in India and is a doctorate in biotechnology. He has published two books in poetry ( 2005: A Year of Love and Drunk ) and his poems have appeared in the website of Poetry.com. Presently, he is working on several volumes of poems with different themes.