Grandnephews of Netaji Subhas pay respect to Azad Hind Fauj members

KOLKATA: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephews, Sugata Bose and Sumantra Bose, on Monday, paid their respects to the members of Azad Hind Fauj at Netaji Bhavan while revealing their mother Krishna Bose’s account of the last moments of Netaji at Taipei runway, as recalled to her by Colonel Habibur Rahman.

Netaji Bhavan, on Monday, was brimming with guests from far and near. Family members of the INA soldiers were present, apart from Japanese delegates. The grandnephews recalled they hosted several members of the INA at Netaji Bhavan since Netaji Research Bureau was formed. Sumantra said Habibur Rahman was the Deputy Chief of Staff of the INA and director of the INA Officer Training School in Singapore. He belonged to Jammu and Kashmir. Sumantra lamented, “We did not have the chance to bring him here. He passed away around the late 1970s on the other side of the Radcliffe line but we were proud to host the members of his family.” “My mother Krishna Bose recounts her three visits to Taiwan with the first in 1979. At the old Taipei airport, she recalled Rahman’s account of what happened in the afternoon of 18 August 1945,” he said.

He read:“Netaji and Rahman, during their refuelling stop in Taipei, ate bananas and sandwiches sitting under an awning on the tarmac. They boarded the previous evening in Saigon and stopped overnight in Da Nang in Central Vietnam. Habib offered Netaji a sweater which the latter refused. Rahman wore one and stood by the plane.”

“As soon as the plane took off, Habib heard a loud sound. The left propeller detached and fell off. The plane crashed to the ground and fire engulfed the front section. Habib noticed the rear exit was blocked by fallen luggage and advised Netaji to leave from the front. Netaji promptly walked out of the front exit through the flames. Since the plane was a converted Japanese Bomber, everyone was seated on the floor. As fate would have it, Netaji sat next to the petrol tank and fuel spilt onto his military uniform due to the impact of the crash,” he added.

“Rahman was aghast to see Bose’s uniform ablaze. He began to tug at Netaji’s belt to undo the uniform but burnt his hands. He laid Bose on the tarmac and collapsed himself. Rahman’s fate was unfortunate but in a certain tragic sense, he was perhaps fortunate too. Netaji conveyed his last message to his countrymen through Rahman. He asked him to convey that he fought for independence till his last breath,” he added.