Controversy over Subhas Chandra Bose’s death: Daughter Anita Bose Pfaff urges Centre to conduct DNA tests on ashes kept at Japan’s Renkoji temple

Kolkata: Amidst raging controversy about the end of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, his daughter Anita Bose Pfaff on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure DNA tests are done on the ashes kept at Renkoji temple in Japan to “bring out the truth” and alleged that certain people in the previous governments had “neglected” the matter as they “never” wanted the mystery to be solved. [caption id=“attachment_7208661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Anita Bose Pfaff. ANI[/caption] Lauding Modi for his efforts to solve the mystery surrounding his death, Anita Bose Pfaff said, she feels that her father had died in the air crash on 18 August, 1945 unless proved otherwise. She said she would like to meet Modi in person and also the Japanese authorities to request them to allow the DNA tests of the ashes at the Renkoji temple. Until proved otherwise, I do believe he died in the plane crash on 18 August, 1945. But many people dont believe it. I certainly would like the mystery settled. I think the best way to solve the mystery is to conduct DNA test on the ashes of Renkoji temple in Japan. DNA tests would prove if it was actually him (Netaji) or not, Anita told PTI in a telephonic interview from Germany. “I would like to meet PM Modi to thank him for his efforts to unravel the mystery by declassifying the files held with the central government and request him and the Japanese authorities to ensure that the DNA test on the ashes are conducted. I would also appeal to the Japanese authorities to declassify any files they have in (their) possession on Netaji,” she said. Her comments come in the backdrop of recent controversy over a tweet by Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the union government on 18 August stating, “PIB remembers the great freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on his death anniversary.” It was withdrawn after protests by a section of Netaji’s family. Although she ducked a question on whether she felt the previous governments (including the Congress governments) since independence had “deliberately neglected” the Netaji mystery, Anita Bose Pfaff, a noted economist based in Germany, said, though she does not have any evidence to say that the Congress governments had neglected the issue, but “certain people in previous government never wanted the mystery to be solved and had neglected it. More than the previous government as a whole, there were certain people who never wanted the Netaji mystery solved and had neglected it. Actually there are people both in our family and outside who would disagree with the conclusion. They had their own reasons to believe in their own theories,” she said without elaborating it further. The previous governments had said declassification of files would harm diplomatic relations between countries. Had the previous governments released the evidences and documents available to them in pubic domain, then it would not have created such a huge mystery, she said. Ruling out the theory of Netaji returning to India and living under the guise of Gumnami Baba in Uttar Pradesh in the 70s, Anita said, the mystery surrounding Netajis disappearance had given birth to several unrealistic stories" as mysteries always fascinate and attract people. A controversy had erupted after the PIB tweet with Chandra Kumar Bose, a BJP leader and one of the grand nephews of Subhas Chandra Bose, taking exception to the tweet saying, the mystery surrounding his disappearance was yet to be resolved. The tweet was, however, welcomed by author Ashis Ray, a grandnephew of Bose. Academician Sugata Bose and his mother Krishna Bose, both former parliamentarians, are among the family members who are of the opinion that Bose died in the air crash. Several reports have claimed that Netaji had on 18 August, 1945, boarded a plane from Taihoku Airport in Taiwan, which crashed soon after leading to his death. However, many continue to believe that Netaji survived the plane crash and lived in hiding. Since independence in 1947, the central government had formed three inquiry commissions to unravel the mystery of Netajis death. Two of them the Shah Nawaz Commission (1956) and Khosla Commission (1970) formed by the Congress governments said that Bose died in an air crash. The third one the Mukherjee Commission (1999) formed by the BJP-led NDA government had said he did not die in it. In 2015, the West Bengal government had released 64 files pertaining to Netaji held by the state home department. In 2016, the Narendra Modi government released 100 files regarding Netaji.