Shastriji And Netaji : The Mysterious Demise
- Fathima Ismail
- Jan 30, 2022
- 7 min read
Amid great freedom fighters such as Gandhi and Nehru, we often forget to quote the man whose contribution towards India's growth is remarkable, like the second Prime Minister of India - Lal Bahadur Shastri. Born in 1904, he was one of Modern India's icons whose enduring popularity cuts through all divides. The one who resurrected the nation's broken self-confidence after the defeat against China in 1962, and directed it to victory in the 1965 war against Pakistan deserves to be recalled with respect.
Shastriji as a Politician:
Influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Gandhi, he worked for the betterment of Harijans and dropped his caste-derived surname "Srivastava". He got the title of ‘Shastri’ in Kashi Vidyapeeth university in the year 1926 as a mark of scholarly success.
Shastriji entered politics at a very young age as a satyagrahi during the Indian Independence Movement in the 1920s under the guidance of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and later succeeded him as the Prime Minister of India in 1964. He was a dynamic leader who was known for his honesty, dedication, and truthfulness. While he was leading the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, His slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" ("Hail to the soldier, Hail to the farmer") became very popular during this period.
On 10th January 1966, after the Indo-Pak war in 1965; Shastriji visited Tashkent, Uzbekistan to sign the Tashkent Agreement with Pakistani President Ayub Khan to officially end the war. But within 10 hours after the meeting, he passed away. There was a ring of unusualness about his premature death. Later reports stated that he died from a cardiac arrest.
What happened on that fateful day?
Most of the incidents that happened on 11th January 1966 in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) remain to be enveloped by mystery.
After signing the Tashkent accord at 4 pm on 10th January and attending the reception hosted by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin, Shastriji returned to his villa at about 10 p.m. Energetic and full of life, he had a light meal prepared by Jan Mohammad, the head chef of Triloki Nath Kaul, the Indian Ambassador to Moscow. Around 11.30 p.m., he had a glass of milk brought by his personal attendant. He was fine the entire time.
But around 1:25 a.m. on January 11, Shastriji started coughing uncontrollably. His room had no phone or intercom, so he walked out of his room to tell his staff to call his personal doctor Dr. R.N. Chugh. By the time Dr Chugh arrived, his condition was critical. The symptoms that Shastriji was showing were of a heart attack. He tried everything possible to treat Shastriji, but unfortunately, he passed away while saying Lord Ram's name.
To inform the world about his demise, The TASS issued a message, "The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the USSR is sad to notice that 11 Jan, 1966 in 1 hour and 32 minutes in Tashkent died a distinguished statesman, Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri."
The primary concern was: How can a person who was supposedly in perfect health and had no sign of a heart condition suddenly die due to a cardiac arrest?
The emergence of suspicions:
The KGB suspected poisoning:
At 4:00 a.m., the day Shastrjii died, Ahmed Sattarov - a Russian butler who was attending Shastriji - was woken up by a KGB officer (main security agency responsible for the safety of VIPs). The KGB officer informed him that they suspected the Indian Prime Minister was 'poisoned'.
The butler along with his three junior butlers were handcuffed and went through a prolonged and intense interrogation in a dungeon. After some time, Jan Mohammed was also brought in.
Shastriji's close ones suspected an insider's involvement in his death:
When his body was brought to Delhi, no one had a clue about what the KGB was suspecting. But his family noticed that his face and body had some strange blue and white spots. There were marks of cuts on his abdomen and blood was oozing out from cuts on the back of his neck. Furthermore, his fingers and toes were in a blue hue (a symptom of poison).
“Mere bitwa ko jahar de diya!”, his mother quoted claiming that he was poisoned.
No Post-mortem was carried out:
The only way to find out whether Shastriji was poisoned or not was to carry out a post-mortem on his body. The family demanded an official autopsy several times, but their demand was never fulfilled by the government of that time.
Also, if the post-mortem was never carried out, neither in Tashkent nor in India, then why were the cut marks there on his body? Everything was so strange about his death. However, in 2009, the Indian government claimed to have done a medical investigation which was carried out by Shastriji's doctor and a group of Russian doctors.
Tragic end of witnesses:
In 1977, two important witnesses - Shastriji’s servant Ram Nath and Dr. RN Chugh - faced a cruel end. Dr. Chugh with his family was on their way to meet the parliamentary body but met with an accident by a truck. Only his daughter survived but was crippled. Ram Nath claimed that he was carrying 'a burden' since Shastriji’s death and wanted to reveal 'the truth' soon. Later he was hit by a car and lost his leg and his memory in that accident.
RTI responses:
Anuj Dhar, author of the book 'India's Biggest Cover-up', filed an RTI concerning Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death. The PMO responded to that by saying there was a single classified document available that could not be declassified as it could affect foreign relations.
The Subhas Chandra Bose Angle:
Many people believed that Shastriji's death was somehow connected to Subhash Chandra Bose.
Shastriji had called up his family before his death. Sanjay Nath Singh, Shastri's grandson, said that during that call he had "a good news" to reveal to the nation which would stop the protests if there were any and would send the opposition into turmoil. However, he never described what it was, his family members believed that he was alluding to Subhash Chandra Bose as the "good news".
Evidence proved that Shastriji was not on the same page as Jawaharlal Nehru. And he thought that there was a possibility of Netaji being alive after the flight crash in 1945. He wanted to settle the Bose case once and for all.
An Unresolved Mystery - Netaji's Death:
Subhas Chandra Bose reportedly died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. A Japanese report stated that Netaji suffered third-degree burns and died of cardiac arrest from shock. His dead body was in the worst condition and was not brought to India. So, his body was cremated in the main Taihoku crematorium two days after his death. His ashes are purported to be preserved in the Renkō-ji temple (a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan).
But not even a single photo of his dead body was found as a proof of his death, and newspapers those days had articles declaring "Bose seen in Manchuria", "Bose seen in Russia", etc.
To settle the Bose case, ten investigations were carried out in total between 1945 and 1947 but they all came to one conclusion: Netaji died due to an airplane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.
Gumnami baba:
Gumnami Baba, who had a mysterious resemblance with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, reportedly came from Nepal to Faizabad (UP) as an ascetic (sadhu) in the mid-1950s. His followers strongly believed him to be Netaji.
In February 1986, Netaji's niece Lalita Bose was asked to identify the items found in Gumnami's room after his death. She was overawed at first sight as she identified a few items that belonged to Netaji's family.
After studying handwritten letters from both Gumnami and Netaji, a handwriting expert Carl Baggett - who had worked for over 40 years and completed 5,000 cases - gave a signed statement that both the letters were written by the same person, and it was Netaji who lived as Gumnami Baba in India.
However, in 2016, UP CM Akhilesh Yadav had set up an inquiry commission which was headed by Justice Vishnu Sahai. They said that there were a lot of similarities between Netaji and Gumnami. But ultimately the final report articulated that "Gumnami was Netaji's follower, but not Netaji".
The Tashkent Man:
After Shastri's death, a photograph of a handshake between him and the Soviet leader had a man who looked very similar to Netaji. Many started to believe that Netaji was there during the signing of the Tashkent declaration.
In December 2015, a forensic face-mapping report submitted by a British photographic expert Neil Miller was disclosed by The Times of India.
The report stated that he found a strong resemblance between Netaji and "The Tashkent Man".
The Mukherjee Commission On Bose's Death:
In 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee allotted an inquiry commission, led by retired Justice Manoj Mukherjee (JMCI) to get the information that was missed by other investigations.
In 2005, the JMCI stated that there is no evidence of an airplane crash on August 18, 1945. The commission also stated that the ashes in the Renkō-ji temple are not of Netaji. The JMCI found out the details of a person named Ichiro Okura who died a day after Bose's death and remarked that Ichiro’s death and the burial had been "passed off as those of Netaji”.
However, the JMCI did not provide strong evidence to prove all the points. At the end of all the arguments, in August 2006, Home Minister Shivraj Patil rejected all the findings. Netaji's family was disappointed with the government's response.
A Shocking Revelation:
In 2006, Colonel Nizamuddin - who was once Netaji's driver-cum-bodyguard - said "It is completely wrong to say that Netaji died in an air crash in 1945. The rumor about his death in the crash was spread by vested interests to gain power."
Nizamuddin described that he celebrated India's Independence with Netaji near a riverbank in Burma.
Nehru And The Netaji Mystery:
Nehru showed great reluctance for a public inquiry into Netaji's disappearance and was persistent to make people believe that he died. He certainly knew Netaji didn't die in the alleged aircraft crash in 1945.
The Nehru government deliberately kept an eye on Bose's family for 20 years. As reported in the press, the Intelligence Bureau's (IB) "sleuths intercepted and copied letters written by the Bose family and even trailed them on foreign tours."
Bose’s appearance in India would have been inconvenient for Nehru's position as a PM. Furthermore, it could have damaged the newly independent India’s relations with the British. And this was something that had to be deterred. Lastly, it was speculated that Nehru knew it all but he prevented the investigation for political gain.
Credits:
Writer: Fathima Ismail
Editor: Naqiya Tabassum
References :
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