'Stalin had hidden Netaji in Russia'

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'Stalin had hidden Netaji in Russia'

By Udayan Namboodiri in New Delhi

Friday, 25 March , 2005, 08:17

The final report of the Mukherjee Commission, which will be out early May, will

provide strong evidence that Subhash lived for a considerable length of time in

Soviet Russia. Whether or not the UPA Government and its Communist backers give

the MK Mukherjee Commission its legitimate extension to enable it to pursue its

inquiry into the last days of Netaji, the final report of the Commission, which

The Pioneer learns will be out early May, will provide strong evidence that the

great leader lived for a considerable length in time in Soviet Russia.

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The Taihoku airport "crash" was concocted to give him the much-needed cover.

"The post-August 18,1945 whereabouts of Netaji are to be found in the archives

of the KGB and private papers of Joseph Stalin. All that the Government of

India needs to do is to request the Russian Government to make these available

so that the mystery about his eventual destiny is cleared", a Commission source

said. Anuj Dhar, author of a recently published definitive book on the subject,

Back from Dead (Manas, Rs 495), is certain that not only was Netaji hidden in

Russia by Stalin, but also treated well. The Mukherjee Commission benefited a

lot from Dhar's hard work. The writer had persuaded the Taiwanese Government to

officially admit that the Taihoku air crash of August 18, 1945, never happened.

When Justice Mukherjee went to Taiwan in January, the host Government

reiterated this position. The Mukherjee Commission also received depositions

from a large number of persons who stated on record as having learnt of

Netaji's stay in the former USSR from sources who had actually seen him there.

The most sensational disclosure was made by Ardhendu Sarkar, a mechanical

engineer employed by the Ranchi-based public sector firm, Heavy Engineering

Corporation. He told the Commission that in 1962, while on deputation at the

Gorlovka Machine Building Plant near Donetsk in Ukraine, he had met a German

called Zerovin.

Zerovin had been taken to the USSR in 1947-48 and had spent some time at a gulag

in Siberia for "indoctrination". There, one day in 1948 (Zerovin told Sarkar),

he had met Netaji and had actually exchanged a few words with him in German.

After hearing of this, an excited Sarkar went to the Indian Embassy in Moscow

and reported the matter to an Indian diplomat. What shocked Sarkar (as he

recounted in his deposition) was the officer's reaction. "Why have you come to

this country? Does your assignment include poking your nose in politics? Don't

discuss this information with anyone. Just do what you have been sent for," the

bureaucrat had snapped back. Within days, Sarkar was hounded out of the USSR.

Shaken to the bones, he never spoke about the incident for 38 years before

deciding to break his silence on September 28, 2000. Another important

deposition was made by Rai Singh, a retired diplomat. This man reported to the

Commission what he had learnt from Ram Rahul, a well-known Tibetologist with

New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. Now, Rahul had an old friendship with

Babajan Gouffrav. This Gouffrav was an aide of Stalin and had headed Moscow's

Institute of Oriental Studies. The "Boss", as Stalin was known, valued Gouffrav

for his knowledge of India, China and Tibet. In July 2000, while on his

deathbed, Rahul had told Rai two things: First, his friend Gouffrav had told

him in as many words that Netaji had crossed over into the Soviet Union in 1945

via Manchuria. Stalin had detained him in a labour camp in Siberia. The second

part of Rai's deposition was more surprising. He said that Rahul had been told

by Gouffrav that "the Indian Ambassador" (he did not specify whether it was

Vijayalakshmi Pandit, the sister of the first Indian prime minister and the

first Indian envoy to the USSR, or her successor the post, Servapalli

Radhakrishnan, who later went on to be President of India) had been permitted

by Stalin to have a glimpse of Netaji on the condition that there would be no

exchange of words with him. Incidentally, Radhakrishnan was the last man ever

to meet Stalin before his own strange death in 1953. Incidentally, neither

Pandit nor Radhakrishnan deposed before the sham GD Khosla Commission which

gave a command performance of a report in the early 1970s. Dhar, in his book

has hinted that both these eminent personalities had given enough hints in

their actions that they knew some secret that could have terrible consequences

on the career of the Nehru-Gandhis. On one occasion, in 1949, Pandit had

blurted out at a meeting in Delhi (where her famous brother was present) that

she had "something sensational" to announce. Whether it was about her meeting

with Netaji or not was never known because in the next instant, Nehru tugged at

her arm and asked her to stop. "When you consider the conditions under which

Radhakrishnan was made President, the plot thickens. It is likely that he was

rewarded for his silence by Nehru who feared political eclipse if Netaji

returned to India," Dhar says. Significantly, neither Russia nor its

predecessor, the USSR, has ever denied in unequivocal terms that Netaji was

present on its soil after 1945. Its first official statement on the Netaji

mystery was made on November 3, 1970. It made no reference whatsoever about

Netaji's presence in that country and only said "with full responsibility" that

the Soviet authorities " had nothing to do with the fate of Subhash Chandra

Bose". Now, fate is a very big word. To Dhar it is curious that a communist

regime should take recourse to the ambiguity conveyed by it. Did the Soviets

mean to say "death"? In that case, they could be in the clear because if one

looks at Netaji's later life through the Bhagwanji angle, Moscow cannot be

accused of lying. And, in case, they meant "destiny", then too the communist

regime would be in the clear because, after all, they only gave him short-term

hospitality. What is certain to rock the boat is that part of the Commission's

report which is expected to blast the government for its indifference to the

entreaties of Professor Purabi Ray's that Justice Mukherjee be allowed to go to

Moscow to study the KGB and Stalin archives. The plucky lady from Kolkata had

presented substantial evidence that Netaji was alive and well in Stalinist

Russian along with statements from Russian scholars who had seen proof of

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