Some more people have questioned the findings of the justice (retired) Vishnu Sahai Commission which concluded that Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji was not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on the basis of a letter by one Bulbul from Kolkata. The letter was written on October 16, 1980. The commission’s report was tabled in the UP assembly last month.
Those with a keen interest in the issue said the commission may, however, have ignored the claims made by many others, including those who at one point worked closely with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and wrote to Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji, considering him to be Bose.
“My father Pabitra Mohan Roy was sent to India on a secret mission by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1944. He was sent as an intelligence operative of the Indian National Army. He came in touch with Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji in the 1950s and I came to know about this in 1963 at the age of 16 years….I got an opportunity to visit Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji in 1972 in Basti, 1982 in Ayodhya and 1983 in Ram Bhawan in Faizabad (now Ayodhya)…. When I first met him (Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji), he asked my father what is my reaction. I said his (Gumnami Baba’s) voice is the same. Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji then asked my father to tell me that he has brought me to the right place,” said Ranendra Mohan Roy on the phone.
Ranendra Mohan Roy further said he had no doubt that Gumnami Baba was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Ranendra quoted reports of handwriting experts, saying Gumnami Baba and Netaji were one and the same person.
Pabitra Mohan Roy, a freedom fighter, who left his family for Netaji and freedom of India, was sent on a secret mission to India by Netaji.
Pabitra was caught as one of the members of intelligence team betrayed them after being tortured to disclose identity and whereabouts of others. Consequently, Pabitra and others, who included Netaji’s niece were sentenced to death. The death sentence was, however, commuted as Mahatma Gandhi sought their release.
After independence, Pabitra Mohan Roy became a member of the West Bengal assembly. Pabitra Mohan Roy came to know about Gumnami Baba in 1962 and met the latter at Namisharanya (Sitapur) in Uttar Pradesh.)
Pabitra Mohan Roy’s 85 letters have been found at Ram Bhawan (Faizabad now Ayodhya) where Gumnami Baba lived at the time of death there at 9.40pm on September 16, 1985.
The commission’s witness number 10 (CW-10) Ashok Tandon too has quoted a letter of Pabitra Mohan Roy sent to Gumnami Baba, observing “You are my intelligence officer- without fear or favour.” The commission quoted only this line from the letter.
However, Ranendra Mohan Roy said on the basis of what his father told him about Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji, “I am sure that Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”
Last month, Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar, who authored the 2019 book “Conundrum: Subhas Bose’s life after death”, requested chief minister Yogi Adityanath to reject the Sahai commission’s report.
They said besides ignoring many other letters, the panel also ignored the findings of leading handwriting experts.
“Some 85 letters written by Roy were found in Faizabad and more than 100 were written by Gumnami Baba to him (Roy) and were given to us by his son,” said Ghose and Dhar.
Both the writers quoted another letter of Leela Roy, who was also a close aide of Subhas Chandra Bose.
“I am like the rock for the greatest patriot and one of the greatest men of the age, not because I think it to be my duty but because I cannot do otherwise.” Leela Roy, a member of the Constituent assembly, had also met Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji after Pabitra informed her about his meeting with Gumnami Baba.
In the concluding paras of his report, justice Sahai quoted a letter by Bulbul from Kolkata and said, “This letter is dated October 16, 1980. This letter has been sent by Bulbul from Kolkata. This reads,‘When will you come to my place. We will be very happy if you visit on the birthday of Netaji’…. As in this letter Bulbul clearly stated ‘We will be very happy if you visit on the birthday of Netaji’, it is clear that Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji was not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Bulbul (now Suhita Bhattacharya) contested the commission’s observations, saying “I was a minor on October 16, 1980 when the letter was written. I don’t remember writing any such letter. However,if I wrote the letter at all, it must have been at the behest of my father who strongly believed Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. I belived and still believe that Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”
