2. Intoductory

2.1 The story of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's life too well known to need a detailed and lengthy repetition in a report which must be confined to the subject matter of the inquiry as set out in the Notification cited in the previous chapter. The facts may be studied in a number of books and pamphlets, some of which are named in Appendix IV to this report. However, for the better understanding of the argument upon which are based the findings and the final conclusions of this Commission, it is necessary to state some of the more significant events of Bose's life.

2.2 Subhas Chandra Bose was born of Bengali parents at Cuttack, in Orissa, on January 23, 1897. He was sent to the Baptist Missionary School at an early age; and at the age of 16, he entered the Presidency College, Calcutta, to read Philosophy. Three years later, he was expelled for taking part in an assault on an English Lecturer who had been rude to a student, but he was later readmitted to the University, and was allowed to continue his studies. In 19 19, he was awarded the B.A. degree with First Class Honours in Philosophy. He then proceeded to Cambridge to study at the University, and to sit for the Indian Civil Service competitive examination. This he did in the autumn of 1920, and was placed fourth in order of merit among the successful candidates. He, however, decided to resign from the Indian Civil Service and to devote himself to political work in India. He, accordingly, returned to India in July 1921, and first of all, went to pay his respects to Mahatma Gandhi. Bose did not agree with Gandhiji's creed of non-violence. He considered the peaceful means advocated by Gandhiji totally ineffective for obtaining freedom from British bondage. He began working with C. R. Das on the Forward which was a nationalist newspaper. Towards the end of 1921, he attended Gandhiji's secret conference on the non-cooperation movement, and took a prominent part m the agitation against the Prince of Wales, who was then visiting India. He assumed the leadership of the Congress volunteers in this agitation. The civil disobedience movement began on 1-12-1921, and within a few days, Bose was arrested for taking part in it. He was sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment. C R. Das was also sentenced at the same time, and Das and Bose were confined in the same jail. It was after his release, in September 1922, that Bose made his first political speech, but his public activity was not confined to making speeches, and he undertook relief work in the flooded region of Northern Bengal.

2.3 In April 1924, Bose was elected Chief Executive Officer, Calcutta, when C. R. Das was elected Mayor. In this post, he acquired a great deal of experience in administrative and executive matters. But he felt somewhat deprived of contact with the public, and complained of being tied up in office files. Albeit, his post of Chief Executive Officer was not unimportant. It had not only a high status, but carried the handsome salary of Rs. 4,000 a month together with many perquisites, such as a free residential house and a motor-car. Bose, however, was not content to work in office; his public declarations brought him under the mischief of the Emergency Ordinance and in October, 1924, he was apprehended and detained without trial. Three months later, he was removed to Fort Mandalay in Burma. While in detention there, he meditated, read and grew mentally to maturity. On May 16, 1927, Bose was conditionally released from detention, on grounds of ill health. The condition imposed was that he should go to Switzerland for treatment without setting foot in India. Bose refused to comply with this condition, but the order of release was not withdrawn. In November, 1927, Bose was elected Chairman of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, and a little later, he was elected General Secretary of Congress along with Jawaharlal Nehru. In the following summer (1928), Bose became a member of the All Parties Committee which advocated dominion status for India. Neither Bose nor Nehru was, however, satisfied with this somewhat luke-warm and moderate demand, and they formed the Indian Independence League, aimed at working for the complete independence of India. At the Congress assembly, Bose commanded the parade of Congress volunteers, and made a great impression upon everyone by the disciplined character of the volunteers and his complete dominion over them.

2.7 The war in the West had by now increased in intensity and scope, and was going against the Allies. Bose wanted to be free, and to do something which should strike a blow against the British rule in India. He had recourse to a subterfuge by going on hunger strike and saying that he would starve himself to death. His political status and his immense popularity with the people were factors which the British Government could not disregard, and it was feared that his death, or a serious impairment of his health might have dire consequences. So, the Government released him on December 5, 1940, and allowed him to go home; but he was told that he would be under house arrest. Bose recuperated from his indisposition quietly, and then went into retreat, declining to see or receive anyone except a few intimate friends. These friends noticed that Bose had grown a beard. On the evening of January 16, 1941, a car drew up near Bose's house, and Bose, disguised as a Muslim religious teacher, named Maulvi Ziauddin, slipped out. Accompanied by his nephew, Sisir Kumar, he drove some miles to a village, and thence moving by night, he reached Gomoh, 210 miles from Calcutta. At this place, he took the train for Peshawar, leaving his nephew behind. At Peshawar, he was met by one Bhagat Ram, and two days later, both men, disguised as Pathans, left for Kabul. After four days' travel through perilous tribal country, they reached Kabul, and took shelter in a lorry-drivers' inn. At Kabul, Bose tried to contact the Russian Embassy, but failed to gain access to it. He then sent Bhagat Ram to the Italian Legation. This proved more rewarding, and Bose was welcomed and promised a passport which would enable him to travel out of Afghanistan. But weeks were to pass while the formalities were being completed, and as the prolonged stay of the two men in the lorry-drivers' inn was causing suspicion among the inmates, they went to stay with Uttam Chand Malhotra. Finally, on Match 18, 1941, Bose left for the Russian frontier with an Italian Passport in the name of Orlando Massotta accompanied by couriers specially sent from Europe to fetch him.

2.9 The war in the East was now well advanced, and the Japanese proposed a tripartite declaration on India. They invited Bose to visit Japan, where he could rally Indian and Asian support for the Japanese effort. But, once again, Italy and Germany repelled the suggestion; Germany again saying that the idea was not acceptable as the time for such a political manoeuvre was not ripe. Bose was disappointed and felt that he had nothing further to expect from Germany and Italy. His hopes now rested on Japan and the effort in the Far East. He thought that with Japanese collaboration he would be able to rally the support of three million Indians residing in South-East Asia. He wrote a strong message to the Bangkok Conference, which was read there. At the same time he began to make plans to go to Japan. Finally on February 8, 1943, he and Abid Hussain left Kiel in a German U-boat. The boat swept out to the Atlantic, and passing round the Cape of Good Hope, arrived south of Madagascar. There, at a pre-arranged place, Bose and Abid Hussain were met by a Japanese submarine, to which they were transferred in a rubber dinghy. The submarine took them to Sabang on the North tip of Sumatra, and from there, the two men were flown to Tokyo along with Yemamoto, who was then Head of the Japanese-Indian liaison group. So, on June 13, 1943, Bose and party arrived in Tokyo.

2.10 After the fall of Singapore, the Indian prisoners of war were placed by the Japanese under the charge of Capt. Mohan Singh and the Indian National Army was organised. Mohan Singh, however, soon realised that the Japanese had no wish to treat him as an equal ally and give him liberty of action in conducting the affairs of the I.N.A. or of the Indians in South-East Asia. He felt that the Japanese wanted to use the I.N.A. only as a Fifth Column and for purposes of espionage. There were other differences, and Mohan Singh, who had assumed the rank of a General of the I.N.A., felt extremely dissatisfied and unhappy. He threatened to disband the I.N.A. Rash Behari Bose who was in general charge of the civilian independence movement in South-East Asia wanted to prove to the Japanese the importance of the movement which the civilian Indians in Asia had started. He did not see eye to eye with Genl. Mohan Singh. A break between Mohan Singh and the Japanese seemed inevitable and Mohan Singh finally told the Japanese that if they tried to replace the British in India, India would fight them.