At the age of 96, his hearing and vision have got affected but every little memory related to his favourite hero 'Netaji' is still crystal clear in his mind even after all these decades.
Time and again, several conspiracy theories have surfaced about the death of one of the most respected freedom fighters of India – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Most popular belief about his death is that he was killed in a plane crash in Taipei in 1945. But Kundan Singh, a native of Bahadurgarh, who was appointed as his personal bodyguard in the year 1943 refuses to accept the theory.
“He couldn’t have died. Netaji didn’t die. He was the master of disguise and mischief. Don’t you remember his escape from Calcutta as a Pathan in 1940? Habib-ur-Rahman Khan, his fellow commander who flew with him that day later came out with his watch as the evidence of his death, but none of us bought his version,” the old man shouts in excitement.
Singh joined the British Indian Army on November 10, 1940 and was straight away sent to to battle frontier in Singapore during World War-II to fight the Japanese.
When Kundan got a chance to become Netaji's bodyguard
Under Malayan campaign, when Mohan Singh was leading Indian National Army (INA) to fight the British Indian Army in Singapore in September 1942, Kundam also became a victim during the fall of Singapore to Japan. He, along with almost 50,000 soldiers were captured as prisoners of war. Many of them later joined INA and in 1943, Kundan was one of lucky ones who got a chance to become the personal bodyguard of Netaji.
“Throughout his life, he never kept bodyguards when he was out. We only remained with him in headquarters, earlier in Singapore and later in Rangoon," he recalls adding, “Getting a chance to work in INA was a dream come true because there was no discrimination like there was in the British Indian Army.”
Kundan says he often faced racial discrimination at the hands of Britishers while working in their army. Even the payscale for same roles was different. “A white soldier with similar rank as mine would get Rs 34 as salary whereas the Indian soldiers used to get just half of it,” he says.
Did Bose have a 'conflict of opinion' with Congress leaders?
General consensus among historians and political analysts suggests that Bose always had conflict of opinion with other senior Congress leaders of the likes of Gandhi and Nehru which prompted him to leave Congress and create Forward Block.
But Kundan reveals that Bose had great respect for both Nehru and Gandhi, and had named battalions after them in INA. “Bose had created Gandhi and Nehru battalion in INA and had great respect for the leaders,” he remembers.
According to him, it was more about the ‘conflict of Interest’ instead of ‘conflict of opinion’. “And that’s why top Congress leaders fabricated the tale of his death with help of his commanders like Shahnawaz Khan and Habib ur-Rahman to cash on public sympathy. In exchange, they defended their case in the famous Red Fort trials,” accuses Kundan who believes that Bose lived for many years in Dehradun and surrounding areas as Sadhu after the 'plane crash'. Pertinently, Habib-ur-Rahman later joined the Pakistan Armed forces after partition and played an important role in annexation of half of Kashmir in 1947-48.
Kundan also accuses the first government of Independent India of confiscating the gold of reserves of worth seven crores donated by Indian diaspora in Burma and people in India to INA later from Burma.
Why Netaji's followers continued to believe that he was alive...
After retirement in 1946, Kundan came back to live in his village but never believed the conspiracy theories of Bose’s death. “Later in 1950s, I along with many of my friends went to different ashrams in Dehradun where we heard of his presence. But we never found him, yet the management of those ashrams was very similar to that of the small compound he used to acquire in INA. And strengthened our belief of Bose being alive,” he recounts adding that Bose was never a stooge of Japanese and was only concerned about the freedom of India.
Experts believe that after the fall of Germany, it was evident that Japan will get defeated eventually. So, Bose tried to approach the victorious Soviets to support the INA against the British. But things not progress after reports of his plane crash surfaced.
“Bose always knew that INA won’t be able to liberate India own its own; but he believed that with the help of Japan, it can fight against the stronghold of British,” shares Kundan.
“I wish this country could have more such leaders, but I know that's highly unlikely,” the old man concludes.
Also Read: Not happy with PM Modi's assurance on declassification of Netaji secret files, says relatives
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