Update 21 08 2019
Srijit Mukherji seeks answers to Bose 'death' mystery in new film
National Award-winning filmmaker Srijit Mukherji has questioned a tweet by Press Information Bureau that claims August 18 is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death anniversary. If we put a definite date to Bose's demise, we accept the plane crash theory is the true explanation of his death, he pointed out.
Mumbai: National Award-winning filmmaker Srijit Mukherji has questioned a tweet by Press Information Bureau that claims August 18 is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death anniversary. If we put a definite date to Bose's demise, we accept the plane crash theory is the true explanation of his death, he pointed out.
"We are not in a position to accept beyond questioning any of the three theories pertaining to his death," Srijit said.
On Sunday, the central government's Press Information Bureau (PIB) landed in controversy after paying homage to the late freedom fighter Bose, in a tweet claiming August 18 was his death anniversary.
"#PIB remembers the great freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on his death anniversary. #Netaji #subhashchandrabose," went the PIB tweet, along with a photograph of the freedom fighter.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the first person to protest against this tweet, saying no one still knows for sure if Bose indeed died on that day. She tweeted: "On this day, in 1945, Netaji went on a flight from Taihoku Airport in Taiwan, only to disappear forever. We still do not know what happened to him. People have a right to know about the great son of the soil."
Asked if we should accept August 18 as Bose's death anniversary, Srijit told IANS: "Even if you want to mention August 18 as his (Netaji's) death anniversary, the word death should be written within quotes. There are a lot of theories and proofs that say the plane crash never happened on August 18, 1945. That theory is under a lot of examination. So, if you call it his death anniversary, then you kind of accept that the plane crash theory is true. I don't think we are in a position to accept beyond questioning any of the three theories pertaining to his death."
On the work front, Srijit Mukherji is preparing for the release of "Gumnaami", a Hindi-Bengali bilingual mystery film written and directed by him, and based on Bose's disappearance.
"The film deals with the three theories behind Netaji's death. The first being the plane crash theory, the second being the theory that suggest his death happened in Russia, and the third theory being that he came back to India and died as Gumnaami baba. The film mainly deals with the Mukherjee commission proceedings, where all theories were discussed, debated and questioned," said Srijit.
Asked why he chose to make a movie on this subject, Srijit replied: "Netaji has intrigued me since childhood. He has been an inspirational figure for all of us in Bengal. I consider him to be the true liberator of India. I do not want his life and death to remain shrouded in mystery. The film should hopefully clear a lot of confusion about his death."
"Gumnaami" stars Tollywood superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee and is expected to hit theatres in October.
Update from the Hindu: August 19, 2019
Controversy in West Bengal over PIB news on ‘Netaji’
Political parties refuse to accept his ‘death’ in plane crash
A controversy broke out on Sunday in connection with statements related to the “disappearance” of Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji) as on August 18, 1945, when a plane, with Bose allegedly on board, crashed near Taihoku (now in Taiwan).
West Bengal’s political parties, unanimously, refuse to accept Bose’s death on this day, and condemned a social media statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) indicating that he died on this day.
Many BJP and Congress leaders at the national level also indicated that Bose died on this day fuelling the controversy.
First to react was Chief Minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee. “On this day, in 1945, Netaji went on a flight from Taihoku Airport in Taiwan, only to disappear forever. We still do not know what happened to him. People have a right to know about the great son of the soil,” tweeted Ms. Banerjee.
Bengal BJP leader and one of the grand nephews of Netaji, Chandra Kumar Bose, tweeted in line with what the TMC chief said.
“18 August-on this day in 1945 #Netaji disappeared from Taihoku. Official version of the Govt [Government]-Netaji perished in an aircrash. However many inconsistencies were found. It [is] imperative for the Govt. to disclose the truth to stop spreading untruth,” noted Mr. Bose, a BJP Lok Sabha candidate.
All India Forward Bloc [AIFB], founded by Boseissued a strongly worded statement seeking an apology from PIB.
INNAMBURAN PAGES: 18 AUGUST,1945
Nethaji Subhas Chandra Bose is an immortal, dwelling in the innermost recesses of the hearts of all Indians. We know he was born on January 23, 1897. It is chronicled that he died on 18 August 1945, though the controversy about the manner, timing and place of his death is alive.
He subscribed to the faith of St Mathew, perhaps! His motto also was
"He that is not with me is against me.(St. Matthew xii. 30.)
This explains his parting of ways with Mahatma Gandhi, his Great Escape from 80, Elgin Road, Calcutta, his house where he was confined by the colonial government. He hobnobbed with the Russian leaders, Hitler and the Japanese as enemies of his enemy were his friends.I recall Joachim Alva's inimitable Forum carrying a photograph of a banner to that effect.
Elected as the President of Indian National Congress at Tripura and Haripura in 1938 & 1939, he was unceremoniously dethroned thanks to internecine machinations encouraged by Mahatma Gandhi.
A student leader as a patriot, he was expelled from his college as early as 1916. He passed the ICS examination in 1920, but did not join the imperial government service, because of his intense nationalism. "...Bose was soon after deported to Burma (Myanmar) because he was suspected of connections with secret revolutionary movements. Released in 1927, he returned to find Bengal Congress affairs in disarray after the death of Das, and Bose was elected president of the Bengal Congress. Shortly thereafter he and Jawaharlal Nehru became the two general secretaries of the Indian National Congress. Together they represented the more militant, left-wing faction of the party against the more compromising, right-wing Gandhian faction..."
"..A little more than a year after the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia, Bose left Germany, traveling by German and Japanese submarinesand by plane, and arrived in May 1943 in Tokyo. On July 4 he assumed leadership of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia and proceeded, with Japanese aid and influence, to form a trained army...A few days after Japan’s announced surrender in August 1945, Bose, fleeing Southeast Asia, reportedly died in a Japanese hospital in Taiwan as a result of burn injuries from a plane crash.
Footnote: I was also a student-politician, at the risk of my father's job under the colonial government. A devotee of Mahatma Gandhi, I switched my loyalties to Nethaji and went on lecturing, much against the school's rules, for the Nethaji's Forward Bloc. That placed me under police surveillance.
Reference & quoted excerpts from
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