Netaji as war criminal? Yes, UK mulled options

New Delhi: Full five days after Subhas Chandra Bose was reported killed in a 1945 air crash, a top official of the British Raj had weighed the pros and cons of “trying” Netaji as a “war criminal” and suggested that the “easiest way” would be to leave him where he was and not seek his release.

“In many ways the easiest course would be to leave him where he is and not ask for his release. He might, of course, in certain circumstances be welcomed by the Russians.

“This course would raise fewest immediate political difficulties, but the security authorities consider that in certain circumstances his presence in Russia would be so dangerous as to rule it out altogether.”

Read: PM releases secret files of Netaji, kin calls it 'day of transparency in India'

This was one of conclusions arrived at by Sir R. F. Mudie, Home Member, of the Clement Attlee government’s India Office, which he sent to Sir Evan Jenkins, Home Secretary and the last Governor of Punjab, five days after Bose was reported to have been killed in the aircrash near the Taihoku aerodrome in Taipei on August 18, 1945.

Mr Mudie’s letter and a note, dated August 23, 1945, dealt with Bose’s influence over almost 30,000 Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) and said “it affects all races, castes and communities almost equally strongly.”

“They regard him with deep admiration, respect and confidence as a sincere patriot, as an able leader without peer, as the organiser of India’s first ‘National Army’,” the note said about the “most difficult questions” which would confront the British Home Department.

Mr Mudie said various options — ranging from Bose’s trial for waging war in India, or in Burma  or Malaya or intern him in “some other British possession e.g. Seychelles Islands” were considered.

Read: Netaji files: Why his ashes couldn’t be brought to India?

However, he analysed the extreme impact it would have on the Indians in India and abroad and warned of a volatile situation in case of his trial and finally suggested that keeping Bose “out of sight would be to some extent out of mind and agitation for his release might be less”.

Mudie’s letter and the note are among the 17,000 pages of secret documents in 100 files relating to Bose declassified and made public by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. The letter was in response to Jenkins’ communication to Mudie.

Papers fabricated, says Congress

New Delhi: Congress on Saturday pitched for declassifying all files related to Netaji Subhash Chan-dra Bose, but said the way Prime Minister Naredra Modi has set about the task, raises doubts about his intentions.

“Congress has already said that it would like to see all files to be declassified because attempts are being made to raise a controversy and misguide people of the country through a mischievous political campaign”, Party’s senior spokesman Anand Sharma claimed.

At the same time, the party cautioned the media against using an allegedly “fabricated and forged document” that has surreptitiously been circulating on the internet, seeking to “defame” Jawaharlal Nehru on the Netaji issue.

Warning that publication of such a “forged” document “shall not be taken quietly, he said, “If these people have the courage, they should own up the document but we will identify".

"Once we have identified, we will take all measures that are required to not only expose but to ensure that they are punished under the law of the land".