Grandnephew: Netaji was sitting near fuel cans, couldn’t have survived crash
TNN | Dec 2, 2018, 07:41 ISTNEW DELHI: Author and journalist Ashis Ray, the grandnephew of Subhas Chandra Bose, sought to put to rest speculation around the 1945 plane crash in Taiwan.
As the crowd at his session, a mix of young and mostly old, listened with rapt attention, Ray chronicled the sequence of events on the fateful day. He said that with Japan’s surrender, it was no longer a safe haven for Bose. “The British were approaching, and it was decided to move him from Singapore to the Far East and finally to the Soviet Union. They boarded a Sally Bomber aircraft on August 16, 1945 and spent the night in Bangkok. The next day, they left for Saigon, and from there for Tokyo. On August 18, after a breakfast of sandwiches and bananas, they boarded an aircraft, which crashed minutes after take-off.”
Bose’s grandnephew, said it was impossible for Bose to survive as he was seated beside two cans of aviation fuel and was wearing cotton. “It was undoubtedly a faulty plane as the left propeller was a makeshift one. When the aircraft crashed, he was drenched in fuel and suffered third degree burns while coming out. He died the same day at 9pm after fighting for his life for six hours.”
Ray said his book, ‘Subhas Chandra Bose — Laid to Rest’, is based on 11 investigations carried out in four countries, eyewitness accounts and documentaries.
He added that Bose was a prolific leader and also a courageous and patriotic person. “Bose’s was a meteoric rise in politics. By the age of 41, he had become the Congress president. Between him and Nehru there were only tactical differences as both were on the same page when it came to social and political issues.”
The absence of a formal announcement of his death bred several conspiracy theories. “His confidant and brother Sarat Bose had expressed only anguish in his personal diary over the news and never provided a closure. Sarat’s untimely death in 1950 gave rise to more speculation.” However, the fact that Sarat built Netaji Bhavan in Kolkata in his brother’s memory just proves that he was sure in his heart that “Subhas will never return”.
The author maintained that Nejati’s remains, preserved in an urn at Japan’s Renkoji temple, must be brought back to India. Bose’s daughter, too, wants a formal closure, he said, revealing that she has urged the government to bring back the urn to fulfil his father’s last wish of returning to free India — even if it’s after over 70 years.
As the crowd at his session, a mix of young and mostly old, listened with rapt attention, Ray chronicled the sequence of events on the fateful day. He said that with Japan’s surrender, it was no longer a safe haven for Bose. “The British were approaching, and it was decided to move him from Singapore to the Far East and finally to the Soviet Union. They boarded a Sally Bomber aircraft on August 16, 1945 and spent the night in Bangkok. The next day, they left for Saigon, and from there for Tokyo. On August 18, after a breakfast of sandwiches and bananas, they boarded an aircraft, which crashed minutes after take-off.”
Bose’s grandnephew, said it was impossible for Bose to survive as he was seated beside two cans of aviation fuel and was wearing cotton. “It was undoubtedly a faulty plane as the left propeller was a makeshift one. When the aircraft crashed, he was drenched in fuel and suffered third degree burns while coming out. He died the same day at 9pm after fighting for his life for six hours.”
Ray said his book, ‘Subhas Chandra Bose — Laid to Rest’, is based on 11 investigations carried out in four countries, eyewitness accounts and documentaries.
He added that Bose was a prolific leader and also a courageous and patriotic person. “Bose’s was a meteoric rise in politics. By the age of 41, he had become the Congress president. Between him and Nehru there were only tactical differences as both were on the same page when it came to social and political issues.”
The absence of a formal announcement of his death bred several conspiracy theories. “His confidant and brother Sarat Bose had expressed only anguish in his personal diary over the news and never provided a closure. Sarat’s untimely death in 1950 gave rise to more speculation.” However, the fact that Sarat built Netaji Bhavan in Kolkata in his brother’s memory just proves that he was sure in his heart that “Subhas will never return”.
The author maintained that Nejati’s remains, preserved in an urn at Japan’s Renkoji temple, must be brought back to India. Bose’s daughter, too, wants a formal closure, he said, revealing that she has urged the government to bring back the urn to fulfil his father’s last wish of returning to free India — even if it’s after over 70 years.
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