Thread by @anujdhar

"If Bose comes with the help of Russia, neither Gandhiji nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country"

What happened after #MahatmaGandhi met Louis Fischer nearly an year after Netaji's reported death.

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#Netaji125
#azadikaamritmoahotsav
#October2022

Pulitzer-award winning US journalist Louis Fischer met Gandhiji in July 1946. Govt of India financed, Oscar-winning movie "Gandhi" was based on Fischer's biography of Gandhiji. No one knew what transpired in the meeting in 1946.

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After Fischer's death, his papers reached Princeton University, and lo, tumbles out the secret. There was a letter written on behalf of Gandhiji by his secretary Khurshedben Naoroji, granddaughter of the great Dadabhai Naoroji, first Indian to become an MP in the UK. 3/

This is what Gandhiji conveyed to Fischer after their meeting through that letter. Read these words very carefully. Try to understand their import:

"The Indian Army is no longer of the same temper as it was in the First World War."

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"At heart, the Indian Army is sympathetic to the Indian National Army. If Bose comes with the help of Russia, neither Gandhiji nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country."

-- this warning was given nearly a year after Netaji's "death" in a plane crash.

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There are intelligence reports that Bose was in Russia at that time and was trying to make a comeback. Therefore, Gandhi's passing on this information to Fischer assumes great significance. But historians won't do any research about it and you know the reasons why.

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In may 1946, British intelligence conveyed, inter alia, this to the Americans:

"The hold which Bose had over the Indian imagination was tremendous, and that if he should return to this country, trouble would result which...would be extremely difficult to quell."

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There are multiple reasons for Govt of India to keep a lid on Netaji disappearance case. It is a complex issue. There is much at stake, including Brand Gandhi -- which sells in the West in particular. Our ruling class and elites are very conscious about that aspect.

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