Was it Netaji’s ashes the PM saw? He isn’t telling

[Guest guest]

Was it Netaji's ashes the PM saw? He isn't telling

Vir Sanghvi

(Tokyo, December 9)

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Does the Government of India believe that Netaji Subhash

Chandra Bose is still alive?

 

Or is it willing to end the controversy once and for all — and

render redundant a commission probing the issue — by

accepting that he died in a plane crash as the Japanese version

has it?

 

These questions threatened to overshadow Prime Minister Atal

Bihari Vajpayee's visit to the Renkoji Temple in Tokyo where

Netaji's ashes are supposed to be preserved.

 

The Prime Minister was keen to make the trip. P.V. Narasimha

Rao, the last Indian Prime Minister to visit Japan, also visited the

temple. Admittedly, Rajiv Gandhi who came to Tokyo in the late

1980s, gave the temple a miss but this was more a

consequence of scheduling problems than of any doubts about

the circumstances of Netaji's death.

 

Nevertheless, Vajpayee had a problem. If he paid homage to the

ashes, he would be seen as conceding that they were Netaji's

and that the Japanese version of the manner of his death was

accurate. This could lead to a parliamentary storm and to

protests from the Forward Bloc.

 

The Prime Minister's solution was to visit the temple but to make

no comment about the authenticity of the ashes.

 

Before he left for the visit, he dictated what he wanted to write in

the visitor's book. Translated from the original Hindi, this said

that he was pleased to come to a place that held so many

memories of Netaji.

 

Does that mean that the ashes are Netaji's? Clearly not,

because the Prime Minister made no mention of them.

 

In that case, does it mean that they are not Netaji's? Once again,

Vajpayee's message is subtle enough to ensure that no

commitment is made on that contentious issue.

 

The Prime Minister's men, who had worried about the

ramifications of Vajpayee's visit, say that they are pleased. His

statement is so subtly framed that no one can take offence — or

create a parliamentary storm.