A recent tweet by a Twitter user stirred up the question of whether past Congress governments engaged in surveillance on the family of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose once again. Declassified British and Indian documents indicate that the findings of this surveillance were shared with Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency.
Again, sharing without comment.
For those who will call this "Whatsapp University":
1. First info is from West Bengal govt documents
2. Second info is from MI5, Britain's military intelligence agency
Why don't more people know about this? pic.twitter.com/B57XO6Z9if
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) July 30, 2023
The West Bengal government’s intelligence branch declassified files, which were shared with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), revealing that several members of Subhas Chandra Bose’s family were subjected to surveillance from 1948 to 1968. Jawaharlal Nehru, who served as the Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, had direct oversight of the IB during that period.
The documents shared below prove that this is not any deliberate attempt at tarnishing Nehru’s image.
Anuj Dhar, the author of “India’s Biggest Cover-Up,” discovered the documents in Britain’s National Archives concerning the exchange of information between the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and MI5. The documents revealed that Indian intelligence agents shared information obtained from the letters of Subhas Chandra Bose’s relatives with their British counterparts. Anuj Dhar’s book investigates the enigma surrounding Netaji’s alleged death in a plane crash in 1945.
A letter written by Nehru on November 26, 1957, was discovered by Anuj Dhar, and in the letter, Nehru instructed the then foreign secretary, Subimal Dutt, to gather additional information about a trip made to Japan by Netaji’s nephew, Amiya Nath Bose.
Nehru wrote, “Just before I left Japan, I heard that Shri Amiya Bose, son of Shri Sarat Chandra Bose, had reached Tokyo. He had, previously, when I was in India, informed me that he was going there. I should like you to write to our ambassador at Tokyo to find out from him what Shri Amiya Bose did in Tokyo. Did he go to our Embassy? Did he visit this Renkoji Temple?”
The Indian Ambassador in Japan at that time, CS Jha, replied that there was no evidence of Amiya Bose engaging in any objectionable activities during his visit to Japan.
According to another document from the British National Archives, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) shared the contents of a letter with MI5. This letter was penned in 1947 by a close associate of Netaji who was in Switzerland. The information in the letter was obtained through what was euphemistically referred to as “secret censorship,” which essentially implies surveillance. The IB sought MI5’s input on the matter.
As per the document, IB’s deputy director SB Shetty was in contact with KM Bourne, MI5’s security liaison officer posted in Delhi. Bourne promptly sent Nambiar’s letter to the MI5 director general on the following day and requested his input on the matter.
Based on another declassified document from the British archives, it was revealed that British intelligence viewed Nambiar, who had served as Bose’s representative to Germany during World War II, as a friend of the Soviet Union.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, author of the book “India’s Biggest Cover-Up”, Anuj Dhar pointed out that these documents indicate a close working relationship between the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and MI5 after India’s independence. Dhar expressed his concerns over who the IB was serving as they continued to conduct surveillance on Bose’s family post-independence, treating him as an enemy rather than serving British interests.
According to Dhar, the Congress’ mistrust of Netaji can be linked back to the disagreement between Nehru and Bose in 1939. Bose resigned as the president of the Indian National Congress during this period. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru were against Bose’s calls for self-governance and the use of force to achieve independence. This difference in ideology and approach led to tensions and suspicion within the Congress party towards Netaji.
V Balachandran, a former special secretary of R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing), emphasized the significance of the documents revealing the collaboration between the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and MI5. He stated that these documents corroborate the revelations found in the authorized history of MI5, indicating that Nehru had permitted the British to station a security liaison officer in New Delhi.
The website of MI5 also substantiates this further. It is mentioned in this link that, “Indian independence in 1947 set an important precedent for the rest of British decolonisation. The government of Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to the stationing of an MI5 Security Liaison Officer (SLO) in New Delhi after the end of British rule. For almost a quarter of a century, relations between MI5 and its Indian counterpart, the Delhi Intelligence Branch (DIB), were closer and more confident than those between any other departments of the British and Indian governments. In other newly independent Commonwealth countries, as in India, the continued presence of an SLO became a significant, though usually undisclosed, part of the transfer of power.”
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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