Political branding and the role of intuitive journalism

The alleged ‘disappearance’ of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has caused much debate and speculation over the years. Photo: Reuters

For nearly 50 years, textbooks in Indian schools and the media have publicised that India gained independence in 1947 primarily due to Gandhi's 'satyagraha' movement. According to this narrative—arguably one of the longest-running political marketing campaigns in recent history—the 'satyagraha' movement forced the British to leave India.

While the movement did ensure that political elites captured power in the newly-formed countries of India and Pakistan, the Gandhi brand also facilitated a narrow escape for the British after ruling the Indian subcontinent for 190 years.

Since independence in 1947, the ruling party in India has successfully branded the Gandhi-led 'satyagraha' as a prerequisite for achieving prosperity and protecting national sovereignty. However, the controversy lies in the fact that the same ruling party has simultaneously invested a significant percentage of the national budget in fortifying its armed forces, even conducting its first nuclear test on 18 May 1974, just 27 years after independence.

Intuitive journalists have questioned why, if the Gandhi brand is sufficient to protect national sovereignty through peaceful diplomacy alone, one of the poorest countries in the world has been consistently investing a substantial portion of its budget in modernising its armed forces every year.

Under the influence of the Gandhi brand, career-oriented politics have deeply rooted themselves in the Indian power structure. However, no Indian government following the Gandhi brand has adhered to 'satyagraha;' instead, they have resorted to hostility to oppress their opponents.

Disregarding heroes

On the opposite side of the coin, many Indians believe that it was not Gandhi but Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who played the central role in expediting India's independence. For example, Netaji's call to Indian soldiers under British authority to fight for India's independence rather than serving as mercenaries for the colonial masters during World War II is well documented.

The BBC reported that, "In 1939, World War II broke out. 250,000 Indians volunteered to fight for Britain and the Allies. By 1942, British forces needed more troops. The British government planned to conscript more Indian soldiers."

By the end of 1947, about 20,000 British officials and troops ruled over 300 million natives in India. Since 1942, Netaji, through his Azad Hind Radio (AHR), called on Indian troops to fight for their freedom rather than act as mercenaries. The Indian National Army (INA), or Azad Hind Fauj (AHF), established by Netaji, played a substantial role in expediting the subcontinent's independence from British rule.

The AHR and AHF "galvanised nationalist sentiments among Indians, both within and outside the country, and posed a challenge to British rule," according to reports. The INA's existence and actions added pressure on the British to address India's demand for independence."

The AHR and AHF finally sparked a nationalist sentiment that sparked a revolt of native members of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) against the colonial masters in February 1946, the first such uprising since 1857. Reports indicate that "soldiers in the RIN began to question their role in suppressing their own people's aspirations for independence. Some even sympathised with the INA's cause."

As a result, the pressure mounted by Netaji's movement significantly contributed to the independence of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

However, the first 50 years of Indian independence saw Netaji, a statesman of the Indian liberation movement rather than a career-orientated political leader, and his AHF branded as forgotten heroes, paving the way for career-orientated politics to dominate the post-independence era.

The role of intuitive journalism in uncovering the truth

In general, three theories have been proposed regarding the mystery of Netaji's disappearance:

Netaji died in an air crash on 18 August 1945 while flying from Formosa (now Taiwan) to Japan. This is the only theory accepted by followers of the Gandhi brand.

Netaji staged the air crash and escaped to Russia, where he was brutally killed under Stalin's regime at the request of Jawaharlal Nehru (a theory primarily held by non-Gandhi brand followers).

Netaji staged the air crash, escaped to Russia, and later returned to India, where he lived as 'Gumnami Baba' until his death on 16 September 1985.

Let us analyse these three theories of Netaji's disappearance, based on the investigative journalism of Anuj Dhar, an author and former journalist in India. Dhar established the non-profit organisation Mission Netaji, wrote several books on Netaji's life and associated mysteries before and after 1945, campaigned for the declassification of Netaji's documents, and acted as a prosecutor on behalf of Netaji at an independent commission led by former Supreme Court Justice MK Mukherjee. 

The Commission was launched by the Indian Government in 1999 to "probe the alleged 'disappearance' of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and to find out whether he died in the crash in Taipei on 18 August 1945."

Dhar analysed the cause-and-effect relationships between different interlinked variables to conclude the mysteries surrounding Netaji's disappearance. He denied the first theory, arguing that Hiroshima and Nagasaki had already become hell on earth on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively, and Japan was about to surrender at the time of the air crash mystery.

It was highly likely that the Allied forces would have captured Netaji if he had planned to fly to Japan on 18 August 1945. Moreover, in Formosa, Netaji had access to a relatively larger aircraft. So why would he plan to escape in a smaller Japanese military aircraft that could not accommodate more than one companion of Netaji, especially when he also had to carry AHF's resources for repositioning?

Furthermore, the witnesses' (ie, Netaji's companion, doctor and doctor's assistant) descriptions of the air crash do not correlate, and the Taiwanese government has no record of an air crash on that day.

It is reported that Stalin perceived Gandhi and Nehru "through a lens of suspicion, considering them to be instruments of British imperialism and American capitalism." 

According to the KGB, "people selling their country had no respect in the KGB. Yuri Bezmenov (a former KGB agent in India) used the terms' useful idiots' and 'political prostitution' for them." 

In contrast, if Netaji had been alive in Russia, he would have been an asset to Stalin in negotiations with Britain and America during the post-World War II geopolitical environment. According to Dhar, this geopolitical environment dismisses the second theory of Netaji's disappearance, which suggests that Stalin would have killed Netaji at Nehru's request.

Before arriving in Germany in 1942, Netaji first attempted to reach Russia to launch the AHF with Russian assistance. This indicates that Netaji, as an opponent of the Gandhi brand in Indian politics, had an alliance with Russia beforehand.

After he disappeared from Formosa on 18 August 1945, it is therefore highly likely that he returned to India, and the associated mysteries claim that he lived in India as Gumnami Baba until his death on 16 September 1985. 

Dhar's Mission Netaji has collected numerous pieces of evidence supporting the likelihood of Gumnami Baba being Netaji. These include the presence and letters of Netaji's political associates and AHF members at Gumnami Baba's home, many belongings of Netaji's household members (including photographs), German binoculars, Japanese machinery, and literature in Bengali and English, among others.

More recently, the non-Gandhi branded Indian government declassified 100 Netaji-related documents. These documents reveal that the All India Congress (not the Indian government) provided Netaji's daughter, Anita Bose, with a regular living allowance until 1964. The added mystery here is that Anita Bose agreed that her father died in the plane crash, while her mother denied it throughout her entire life. 

Furthermore, the declassified documents confirmed that the Gandhi-branded government spied on Netaji's home and his relatives in Kolkata after 1945, which would not have been necessary if they truly believed that Netaji died in the so-called air crash in 1945.

In response to these three conspiracy theories about Netaji's disappearance, the Mukherjee Commission could not confirm whether Gumnami Baba was indeed Netaji. However, "the Commission concluded that Bose 'is dead', but 'he did not die in the plane crash, as alleged.' It also stated that the ashes kept in the Japanese temple were not his."

Unfortunately, the then-Gandhi-branded government rejected this report. 

Nevertheless, the Mukherjee Commission's report confirms that investigative journalism plays a vital role in authentic journalism by uncovering facts from mysteries and propaganda.

It also raises a critical question: Did the Indian subcontinent truly earn its freedom in 1947, or was it merely a transfer of power among like-minded Anglo-Indian-Pakistani career-orientated politicians who used to meet together at evening clubs during British rule, and was this transfer of power a win-win for these three groups to achieve their materialistic aspirations?

Dr Riad Shams. TBS Sketch.

Dr Riad Shams is an Assistant Professor and PhD Programme Leader at the Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.