Copyright@shravancharitymission
This title was first published in 2012 (first edition) and its 26th impression in 2019. The publisher is Vitasta Publishing Pvt Ltd. The price of the book is Rs 600. The narration is humungous, say a thick spine of over 400 pages.
‘India’s Biggest Cover-up’ provides a never-before insightful perception, into the controversy surrounding the fate of Subhas Chandra Bose and its various stranger-than-fiction subplots.
The plot of the book relies heavily on the secret government records. It goes on to uncover the systematic obstruction of justice by the authorities. It also outlines the steps such as declassification for bringing about a closure to the controversy. Post the release of the book, author Anuj Dhar and members of Subhas Chandra Bose’s family have started highlighting the disclosure demand of relevant records before the nation. Eventually, in the year 2016, the Indian government released thousands of previously classified records, many of these substantiated contentions made in the book. In 2017, AltBalaji a media house in Mumbai created a web series Bose: Dead/Alive, based on this book. The series has proved to be a runaway success, for no other book has, in recent times, impacted India’s longest-running political controversy so much—which is the issue of Netaji’s fate– as much as India’s Biggest Cover-up. Applauds and comments by certain newspapers and e-media are as follows:
‘The book dispels the mystery layer by layer substantiated by images of over 200 documents, of which nearly 90 are still classified records …’ says the New Indian Express.
‘The book questions many widely held assumptions about the purported death of Bose’—Times of India.
“The revelations made by this book will startle you” … Aaj Tak.
“India’s Biggest Cover-up … is expected to set the cat among the pigeons” … Rediff.
“With every new page turning, the book introduces a new chapter” … News 24.
India’s Biggest Cover-Up is an investigative insight into the disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the leader of the Azad Hind Fauj, in 1945, just when World War II was coming to an end. Relying heavily on official records—the bulk of them still security classified in violation of democratic norms—the book uncovers the planned obstruction of justice by earlier governments in the country. The first, for any book of India, the narrative has been augmented with excerpts and images of until now-secret records. Archival material and information obtained under the Freedom of Information Acts of India, the US and the UK have also been used in this book.
Anuj Dhar, who has spent more than a decade trying to make sense of the vexed issue, takes you through a maze of intrigues involving some of the biggest names in the country before outlining measures to incontestably resolve what has been one of the longest-running controversies of modern India. He asserts that it is the most explosive too.
In brief, the first person claiming to have seen Bose after his reported death was an American journalist implanted in the US Army. In 1956, India’s Intelligence czar BN Mullik prepared a dossier of selected British investigative reports into Bose’s disappearance. The first report in the dossier was doctored to support the Nehru government’s view that Bose had died. Thereafter, this doctored Intelligence Bureau report was cited over and again as proof of Bose’s death—lastly in 2011 by a famous scion of the Bose family in a new book. American DNA expert Terry Milton had agreed to undertake a test of the Renkoji remains in 2001, but it could not be done as the Government of India developed cold feet. Bhagwanji of Faizabad, identified by many Bose aides of impeccable integrity as Netaji himself, spoke of his escape to the USSR and subsequent participation in the Vietnam War.
Some observations: In 1946 Raja Habibur Rahman Khan held the key to unlocking the mystery of Bose’s fate but the reality was misinterpreted to suit the Government of India. I liked the precise detailing of events in the book. It has a good flow of language and a nice font. It has a sleek presentation of required and supporting documents. Superb layout and outline of neat diagrams. Bose’s death was full of mysteries reveals the book. The author has been quite meticulous about the footnotes attached to the classified documents. Post his death the ashes of Netaji became a big issue in India. Overall it’s a slow-moving book because it digs in deep. Too much of narration time is taken on Renkoji a Buddhist temple in Tokyo where Netaji’s ashes were purportedly kept. The book slows down because of the minute details. One should pick up this book if only one is wedded to the cause of knowing what had actually happened to Netaji. It gets a bit boring intermittently because it is too descriptive. Takes too much time for the gradual climax to surface. There are too many pages on Swamiji—considered Netaji in hiding. There are many facts not known to the reader. The book becomes a drag intermittently because of its protracted length and depth but the gradual end is interesting. Regarding Netaji’s air crash, all concerned officials have different versions. The book has some amazing episodes never heard of or imagined before. If you come to think of it what all happens in regimes and establishments is unbelievable?
A reader Chandrachur Ghose sums it up well: ‘Journalist historian Dhar’s narrative brilliantly disentangles the various threads of the story with the help of secret documents and brings the reader to the doorstep of the solution to the mystery. One firm push and the door will open.’
‘Of course, for us in India, the greatest plane crash mystery involves Netaji—accident or sabotage? Even more, did he really die or was it another feint to escape his adversaries? The debate continues.’—The Times of India editorial, August 26, 2023. The book comes in handy in bringing such colossal mysteries to the forefront.
By Kamlesh Tripathi
*
https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com
*
Share it if you like it, please
*
Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life-threatening diseases, especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that include both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate to the cause. The bank details are given below:
NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION
Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)
IFSC code: BKID0006805
*
Our Publications
GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE
(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 8 prestigious libraries of the US that includes Harvard College Library; Harvard University Library; Library of Congress; University of Washington, Seattle; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Yale University, New Haven; University of Chicago; University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill University Libraries. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in libraries and archives of Canada, Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai; Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida; India. Shoolini University, Yogananda Knowledge Center, Himachal Pradesh and Azim Premzi University, Bangalore).
ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY
(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi; Available for reading in Indian National Bibliography, March 2016, in the literature section, in Central Reference Library, Ministry of Culture, India, Belvedere, Kolkata-700022)
AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES
(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be the undying characteristic of Lucknow. The book was launched at the Lucknow International Literary Festival in 2014. It is included for reading in Askews and Holts Library Services, Lancashire, U.K; Herrick District Library, Holland and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, USA; Black Gold Cooperative Library Administration, Arroyo Grande, California; Berkeley Library, University of California).
REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD
(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched at Lucknow International Literary Festival in 2016)
TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN
(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his way through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February 2018 at Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available on Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
RHYTHM … in poems
(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day-to-day life. A few poems from the book have been published in Shillong Times, Bandra Times and Bhavan’s Journal. The book is available on Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
MIRAGE
(Published in February 2020. The book is a collection of eight short stories available in Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press)
AWADH ASSAM AND DALAI LAMA … The Kalachakra
(The story of the man who received His Holiness The Dalai Lama and his retinue in 1959 as a GOI representative when he fled Tibet in 1959. The book was launched on 21st November 2022 by His Holiness The Dalai Lama at Dharmshala. The title is archived in the library of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) Government of Tibet, Tibet Policy Institute (TPI) and the personal library of His Holiness. The title is also archived in The Ohio Digital Library, USA).
BHAVANS JOURNAL
Short stories, Book reviews and Articles published in Bhavan’s Journal: 1. Reality and Perception, 15.10.19; 2. Sending the Wrong Message, 31.5.20; 3. Eagle versus Scholars June, 15 & 20 2020; 4. Indica, 15.8.20; 5. The Story of King Chitraketu, August 31 2020; 6. Breaking Through the Chakravyuh, September 30 2020. 7. The Questioning Spouse, October 31, 2020; 8. Happy Days, November 15, 2020; 9. The Karma Cycle of Paddy and Wheat, December 15, 2020; 10. Power Vs Influence, January 31, 2021; 11. Three Refugees, March 15, 2021; 12. Rise and Fall of Ajatashatru, March 31, 2021; 13. Reformed Ruler, May 15, 2021; 14. A Lasting Name, May 31, 2021; 15. Are Animals Better Teachers? June 16, 2021; 16. Book Review: The Gram Swaraj, 1.7.21; 17. Right Age for Achievements, 15.7.21; 18. Big Things Have Small Beginnings, 15.8.21; 19. Where is Gangaridai?, 15.9.21; 20. Confront the Donkey Within You 30.9.21; 21. Know Your Strengths 15.10.21; 22. Poverty 15.11.21; 23. Top View 30.11.21; 24. The Bansuriwala 15.1.22; 25. Sale of Alaska 15.2.22; 26. The Dimasa Kingdom 28.2.22; 27. Buried Treasure 15.4.22; 28. The Kingdom of Pragjyotisha 30.4.22; 29. Who is more useful? 15.5.22; 30. The White Swan from Lake Mansarovar 30.6.22; 31. Bhool Bhulayya 15.9.22; 32. Good Karma 30.9.22; 33. Good Name vs Bad Name 15.10.22; 34. Uttarapath—The Grand Trunk Road 1.12.22; 35. When Gods Get Angry 1.1.23; 36. Holinshed’s Chronicles 15.1.23; 37. Theogony 15.2.23; 38. Poem: Mother 14.5.23; 39. THE NAG MANDIR 30.6.23; 40. The Story of Garuda 30.7.23
SUNDAY SHILLONG TIMES
ARTICLES & POEMS: 1. POEM: HAPPY NEW YEAR 8.1.23; 2. POEM: SPRING 12.3.23; 3. POEM: RIGHT AND WRONG 20.3.23; 4. THE GUSH OF EMOTION—WRITING, 26.3.23; 5. THE NAG MANDIR, 7.5.23; 6. POEM: MOTHER 7.5.23; 7. POEM: RAIN RAIN 9.7.23; 8. POEM: YOU COME ALONE YOU GO ALONE 6.8.23;
BANDRA TIMES, MUMBAI
ARTICLES & POEMS: 1. POEM: SPRING, 1.4.23; POEM: MOTHER, 1.6.23; 1.8.23 POEM: RAIN RAIN;
(ALL THE ABOVE BOOK TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)
*****
Shravan charity mission 