05-18-2006, 05:38 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->What have they to hide?
Udayan Namboodiri | Kolkata (Pioneer)
Till the placing of the MK Mukherjee Commission's report in Parliament on Wednesday, Subhas Chandra Bose - or, more specifically, his disappearance and death - was the biggest enigma in contemporary India.  Â
But, by rejecting the panel's report, that position has been usurped by the Congress party - or, more specifically, the Nehru-Gandhi family at its helm - because the bigger question before the Indian people henceforth would be: What have they to hide?
To put it another way: If the UPA Government and its Communist backers know better than Justice Mukherjee as to what befell Netaji on that ill-fated day in 1945, why are they holding the facts from the nation?
By unambiguously rejecting the three-volume report, they have only confirmed what generations of Netaji's fans always feared: that they, and they alone, were privy to the facts and they buried the truth so deep that it would be impossible for any judicial panel, acting within the limits set by Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, to dig out.
That the Congress-led UPA Government did its utmost to sabotage the Mukherjee Commission in the most important stage of its career is a well known fact, thanks to the Pioneer's coverage of the infamous decision taken in October 2004 to scrap it within six months and prevent it from going to Russia.
Our campaign to get the commission its much needed extension and funding to travel to Siberia, Moscow and St Petersburg, also paid off thanks to worldwide support from Netaji's fans.
When the commission travelled to Russia, the Pioneer was the only Indian newspaper that chose to follow it. Our coverage from Moscow and Siberia revealed what little cooperation the Governments of India and Russia offered to the team.
In fact, these confirmed our reports, which began as a part of a series beginning February 2005, that the Congress had something to hide. The attitude of the Russian Government, which re-classified already de-classified documents and sent a key official packing to Turkey so that he could not depose, clearly exposed their national guilt behind the tragic end of Netaji, possibly somewhere in a Stalinist gulag.
The Congress of today is also carrying the cross of its forebears. Jawaharlal Nehru knew full well that Netaji had not died in the Taihoku "crash".
In fact, he had a confidential report on it from the Formosan authorities before (italics) the Shah Nawaz Committee tabled its sham report. This was revealed in the Pioneer thanks to an early and substantial peek it gained into the report back in late November 2005.
The GD Kothari Commission's report had also done a command performance. It had confirmed that Netaji had been killed in the "crash" without bothering to meet a single official of the Taiwanese Government or checking out its records. Indira Gandhi had gone overboard to accept that bogus report, but Morarji Desai got it reopened and re-examined by Parliament before junking it.
The MK Mukherjee Commission had a seven-year term and the broadest terms of reference. Clearly, no panel had ever done so much to pursue the little truth about Netaji. By rejecting it, the Congress has only postponed the final denouement of the mystery. Someday, some government is bound to be more fair to Netaji and have the Renkoji ashes consigned to the dustbin.
Cynics may say that the episode has only given fresh grist to the rumour mills. Sure, it will keep the conspiracy theorists active for some more time. But one industry that has certainly gone under BIFR is the one that thrived on funding from Tokyo to keep Netaji "dead since 1945". <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> No plane crash at Taihoku: Taiwan Govt tells panel
Pioneer News Service | Kolkata
The Taiwan Government has informed the one-man Netaji Commission of Inquiry that there was no air crash at Taihoku on August 18, 1945, till date believed to have killed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Disclosing this to journalists here, Justice M K Mukherjee said that the Taiwan Government had confirmed to the Commission during its recent visit to that country that no plane had crashed at Taihoku between August 14 and September 20, 1945.
Justice Mukherjee said that the Taiwanese authorities, who confirmed this fact, promised to provide documentary proof within 15 days.
(Excerpts from the report the Pioneer carried on Feb 4, 2005)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Udayan Namboodiri | Kolkata (Pioneer)
Till the placing of the MK Mukherjee Commission's report in Parliament on Wednesday, Subhas Chandra Bose - or, more specifically, his disappearance and death - was the biggest enigma in contemporary India.  Â
But, by rejecting the panel's report, that position has been usurped by the Congress party - or, more specifically, the Nehru-Gandhi family at its helm - because the bigger question before the Indian people henceforth would be: What have they to hide?
To put it another way: If the UPA Government and its Communist backers know better than Justice Mukherjee as to what befell Netaji on that ill-fated day in 1945, why are they holding the facts from the nation?
By unambiguously rejecting the three-volume report, they have only confirmed what generations of Netaji's fans always feared: that they, and they alone, were privy to the facts and they buried the truth so deep that it would be impossible for any judicial panel, acting within the limits set by Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, to dig out.
That the Congress-led UPA Government did its utmost to sabotage the Mukherjee Commission in the most important stage of its career is a well known fact, thanks to the Pioneer's coverage of the infamous decision taken in October 2004 to scrap it within six months and prevent it from going to Russia.
Our campaign to get the commission its much needed extension and funding to travel to Siberia, Moscow and St Petersburg, also paid off thanks to worldwide support from Netaji's fans.
When the commission travelled to Russia, the Pioneer was the only Indian newspaper that chose to follow it. Our coverage from Moscow and Siberia revealed what little cooperation the Governments of India and Russia offered to the team.
In fact, these confirmed our reports, which began as a part of a series beginning February 2005, that the Congress had something to hide. The attitude of the Russian Government, which re-classified already de-classified documents and sent a key official packing to Turkey so that he could not depose, clearly exposed their national guilt behind the tragic end of Netaji, possibly somewhere in a Stalinist gulag.
The Congress of today is also carrying the cross of its forebears. Jawaharlal Nehru knew full well that Netaji had not died in the Taihoku "crash".
In fact, he had a confidential report on it from the Formosan authorities before (italics) the Shah Nawaz Committee tabled its sham report. This was revealed in the Pioneer thanks to an early and substantial peek it gained into the report back in late November 2005.
The GD Kothari Commission's report had also done a command performance. It had confirmed that Netaji had been killed in the "crash" without bothering to meet a single official of the Taiwanese Government or checking out its records. Indira Gandhi had gone overboard to accept that bogus report, but Morarji Desai got it reopened and re-examined by Parliament before junking it.
The MK Mukherjee Commission had a seven-year term and the broadest terms of reference. Clearly, no panel had ever done so much to pursue the little truth about Netaji. By rejecting it, the Congress has only postponed the final denouement of the mystery. Someday, some government is bound to be more fair to Netaji and have the Renkoji ashes consigned to the dustbin.
Cynics may say that the episode has only given fresh grist to the rumour mills. Sure, it will keep the conspiracy theorists active for some more time. But one industry that has certainly gone under BIFR is the one that thrived on funding from Tokyo to keep Netaji "dead since 1945". <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> No plane crash at Taihoku: Taiwan Govt tells panel
Pioneer News Service | Kolkata
The Taiwan Government has informed the one-man Netaji Commission of Inquiry that there was no air crash at Taihoku on August 18, 1945, till date believed to have killed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Disclosing this to journalists here, Justice M K Mukherjee said that the Taiwan Government had confirmed to the Commission during its recent visit to that country that no plane had crashed at Taihoku between August 14 and September 20, 1945.
Justice Mukherjee said that the Taiwanese authorities, who confirmed this fact, promised to provide documentary proof within 15 days.
(Excerpts from the report the Pioneer carried on Feb 4, 2005)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->