The Last Hero

Thorny indeed is the road to freedom, nevertheless, it is a road also to immortality.8212; Subhas Chandra BoseSubhas Chandra Bose streaked ...

Thorny indeed is the road to freedom, nevertheless, it is a road also to immortality.
8212; Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose streaked across the sky of the Indian political firmament like a meteor during the freedom movement, setting fire to the imagination of the Indian people so that almost 60 years after his death, he is still instantly recognisable by the reverential title given by his followers, Netaji, the leader.

Mihir Bose has revisited The Lost Hero, his 1982 biography of Bose, considerably revising and expanding it in the process. The result is the most complete, documented and readable biography of Netaji to date. The intervening years appear to have brought about a subtle but perceptible change in his views on Bose. The praise and the criticism are more balanced than earlier, and Mihir Bose is now more thoughtful and insightful about the forces that drove Bose, and the course that he chose to take.

But beyond that, is there anything that illumines a familiar story? Yes, Mihir Bose has used to great effect the secret police documents of the British Raj, as well as Allied and Japanese intelligence documents. The use of the documents considerably enlarges our understanding of the way in which the Raj perceived Bose and the events that he participated in. These documents, as well as those culled from Nazi and Japanese sources, reveal how, at different times, just about everybody either grossly underestimated or overestimated the power and influence of Bose. They also confirm that the Raj felt more comfortable with Nehru, and did its best to boost him against Bose in Congress politics.

In a major discovery, Mihir Bose has also confirmed the rumours that a member of Bose8217;s inner circle was an Allied agent, and fed him disinformation. He has also found the identity of the spy, which will surprise, shock and hurt many 8212; Bhagat Ram Talwar, who helped him escape from India, and later used to wax eloquent about Netaji and his association with him.

In another stunning revelation, it appears that Bose8217;s voyage from Germany to Japan was tracked by the Allies. And, at one point, it was decided to haul him in at Madagascar. That this did not take place was due to the fear that it would compromise the secrecy of the ULTRA machine, used to decode German military exchanges.

Again, thanks to information derived from Anita Bose, he has fleshed out the story of Bose8217;s secret marriage and family life in exile, including the fact that he was married in 1937, and not 1941, as previously believed. Bose would probably have appreciated the irony that Nehru, the one person he could never forgive for turning away from him, was the person who first sent his own money to help out Anita and her mother after the war.

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Bose is still a living figure for Indians because he was untainted by the tragedy of Partition, the united front presented by the Indian National Army, transcending all religious and ethnic differences, and the sheer heroism and self-sacrifice engendered by his single-point programme 8212; an independent India. The same Indians, however, dishonour Bose8217;s memory by leaving him in the limbo of myth, and by not acknowledging that he died in 1945. It is time to bring closure, and bring back the remains of Bose to the country he loved.