Photo suggests `Gumnami Baba` could have been Netaji: Book. A book has come up with an archival photograph suggesting that a secretive holy man who died in Faizabad in 1985 could have been the nationalist leader. Tandon went on to write a book called Gumnami Subhash in 1986. At the same time another magazine 'Northern India Patrika' started publishing a series on Bhagwanji or Gumnami baba relating him with Netaji. As there were no claimants on Gumnami baba's belongings, district administration decided to auction the items.
UPCOMING Gumnaami Babain Hindi and Bangla movie on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose based on the MukherjeeCommission’s hearings is scheduled to hit the screen on October 2. The 137- minute filmshows the three theories trying to explain the death or disappearance of SubhasChandra post defeat of Japan ending the 11nd World War. There is no consensus among the Netajischolars on his whereabouts after Japan had to surrender to the allied powerscomprising Great Britain, The United States, China, and the Soviet Union. Theleaders of the Allies were Franklin Roosevelt (the United States), WinstonChurchill (Great Britain), and Joseph Stalin (the Soviet Union).In Februarythis year, some relatives of the iconic Indian freedom fighter had raisedobjections to the venture. The movie is based on legends that Bose did not diein the plane crash on August 18, 1945, but continued living under the guise ofa monk with the name ‘Gumnami Baba' in Uttar Pradesh. The teaser opens with avoiceover proclaiming that history taught us Bose died in an airplane crashnear Taiwan in 1945. However, there were many speculations that he was capturedby Russia where he was tortured to death. The teaser also shows a glimpse ofMahatma Gandhi who sent a telegram to Bose's family requesting them to stopBose's funeral ceremony further instigating that maybe Bose is alive. Towardsthe end, the voiceover explains that many also theorised Bose did return toIndia but started living as a monk. The combination of these two incidentsinspires the film into a present-day courtroom drama as they as try to decodethe legend of Gumnami Baba. The Indian government constituted as many as threeprobe commissions to reveal the truth behind Netaji's disappearance. In 1999,the Mukherjee Commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge MK Mukherjee,initiated an exhaustive six-year-long probe into the Netaji’s “allegeddisappearance'. Though Justice Mukherjee in the report, nixed the aircrash theory, he did not conclude that the ‘Gumnanmi Baba was Bose in disguisefor lack of any clinching evidence. DespiteMukherjee Commission debunking the claim that a sadhu from Faizabad wasactually the freedom fighter living under an assumed identity, the myth continues.The selfi- claimed saint passed away in 1985. The Narendra Modi-led governmenthas made public a series of files revealing manysensational facts about the iconic revolutionary. In June 2016, the UttarPradesh government set up a judicial commission to probe the identity ofGumnami Baba, reigniting the debate on whether the ascetic who lived till 1985was Netaji.The mystery film is written and directed by Srijit Mukherjee and produced by Shrikant Mohta and MahendraSoni under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films. There are three theories trying to explain the deathor disappearance of subhas Chandra Bose. In the movie, Prosenjit Chatterjee is portrayingNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose / Gumnaami Baba along with Anirban Bhattacharya asChandrachur Dhar,Tanusree Chakraborty, BiplabDasgupta,Shyamal Chakravarty ,Surendra Rajan as Mahatma Gandhi,Sanjay Gurbaxanias Jawaharlal Nehru.Meanwhile,BJP leader Chandra Bose, close relative ofNetaji, has slammed the movie maker for trying to prove the controversial religious leader as theiconic freedom fighter. Former Union Minister and Professor at Delhi IIT and Harvard Dr Subramaniam Swamy ,MP, has goneon record on Twitter saying : GumnamiBaba was projected as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by Jawaharlal Nehru with the help of hisIB Chief Malik. The purpose was to hide the fact Nehru, Attlee and Stalinplotted to kill Netaji after he had arrived in the Soviet Union on August24,1945 or thereabouts seeking refuge. Thefilm therefore will create an ending controversary about the illustrious freedomfighter.
- Apr 24, 2019 The book, 'Conundrum: Subhas Bose's Life After Death' by Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar, mentions a set of 130 letters written by Gumnami Baba to Pabitra Mohan Roy between 1962 and 1985. Roy had served in the Indian National Army (INA) and was a confidante of Netaji.
- Gumnami Baba, alias Bhagwanji, who died on September 16, 1985, spent the last days of his life in Ram Bhavan, a house in Faizabad, belonging to one Thakur Gurudutt Singh.
- A book titled Liu Po Cheng or Netaji? By one Sheo Prasad Nag, published in 1956, even posits the absurdly false hypothesis that the two were the same person. A copy of this book was found in Gumnami Baba's belongings, as were letters from Nag dating from the 1970s.
The Sahai commission did not even consider this idea, demonstrates that the inquiry was a farce
Two leading handwriting experts in US and India, who opined that Gumnami Baba and Subhas Chandra Bose were the same person
The Sahai commission did not even consider this idea, demonstrates that the inquiry was a farce
Bengali Books On Gumnami Baba Ganoush
Leela Roy met ‘Gumnami Baba' and identified him as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose!
But no efforts were made to summon key witnesses or scrutinise important police & intelligence files by Sahai Commission
Press statement issued by Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar, authors of Conundrum: Subhas Bose's Life After Death
Dated: 20th December, 2019
There are reports in media to the effect that Justice Vishnu Sahai commission, which was to ascertain the identity of Gumnami Baba, has failed to do so. Reports say that the commission has stated that he was actually a follower of Netaji.
Bengali Books On Gumnami Baba Nanak
The commission reached this conclusion on the basis of letter in Bengali written by Bulbul from Kolkata in October 1980, reading, ‘when will you come to my place. We will be very happy if you visit on the birthday of Netaji'. According to Justice Sahai this makes it clear that Gumnami Baba was not Netaji.
Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar are the writers of the 2019 book 'Conundrum: Subhas Bose's life after death', which details, in 856 pages, their conclusion that Gumnami Baba was Netaji. They rely upon documentary, eyewitness and forensic evidence – most of which was ignored by Sahai Commission.
Earlier, both appeared before the commission and have for the last two years stated that the inquiry was farce. They wrote a letter to UP Chief Minister on this matter in 2017, stating their position:
https://www.dailyo.in/variety/subhash-chandra-bose-gumnami-baba-jawaharlal-nehru-soviet-union-sahai-commission-yogi-adityanath/story/1/21665.html
Ghose and Dhar's initial reaction to reports about Sahai Commission report is as follows:
The Commission's report should be rejected as it fails to meet the main objective of setting up the inquiry. Instead of identifying Gumnami Baba, the report has taken sought an easy escape route through a frivolous assertion.
The suggestion that Gumnami Baba was a follower of Netaji flies in the face of facts. Werecat vs werewolf comic. In 30 years that he was in India secretly, Gumnami Baba maintained contacts with several Netaji aides and others including then RSS chief. There is no evidence in the letters that have survived that they treated him like a follower of Netaji, in fact they were reverential about him and dropped clear hints that they thought he was Netaji.
Gumnami Baba forbade people to refer to his real identity and that's why they avoided references, but reading their letters one can easily make out what they thought of his real identity.
It's absurd that merely on the basis of a single letter by one Bulbul from Kolkata it is being construed that he was not Netaji, when we have clear signals coming from leading Netaji aides. A perusal of Gumnami Baba's letters clearly demonstrate that he left no ambiguity that he was talking and writing as Netaji.
Leela Roy was a leading revolutionary of her time and a contemporary of Subhas Bose, whom she knew since 1920s. Her portrait is there in Parliament of India, which underlines her eminence. Leela Roy met Gumnami Baba and identified him as Netaji.
One of her letters recovered among Gumnami Baba's belongings reads: 'I am like a rock for the greatest patriot and one of the greatest men of age, not because I think it to be my duty but because I cannot do otherwise.' A person of Leela Roy's stature would never write something like this for a mere follower of Netaji.
Dr Pabitra Mohan Roy of the Indian National Army (INA) intelligence service, who nearly sacrificed his life for Netaji and India and was an MLA in free India, functioned as eyes and ears of Gumnami Baba. In one of his letters he wrote:
'I wish to say something- your own words – ‘You are my intelligence officer-without fear or favour must act'. Now allow me to begin in a similar way. Keeping in mind Maa Kaali – Deshmata – Bangajanani – Bharatmata [Mother India] and your feet, I wanted to tell you that just like in the past, I still have the same unflinching faith and love-trust; unwavering obedience; total dedication and loyalty towards you.' [Translated from Bengali]'
The commission made no attempt to trace the family members of Leela Roy or Pabitra Mohan Roy and others and made deduction merely on the basis of their reading of one letter. The kin of Leela Roy and Pabitra Mohan Roy say he was Netaji. No efforts were made to summon key witnesses or scrutinise important police and intelligence files.
The very fact that Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar, individuals with limited means, were able to get Gumnami Baba's handwriting tested by two leading experts in US and India, who opined that Gumnami Baba and Subhas Chandra Bose were the same person, even as the commission did not even consider this idea, demonstrates that the inquiry was a farce.
Caption:This is Gumnaami Baba's handwriting in a letter written to Dr Pabitra Mohan Roy, who was an ex-secret service agent of Netaji's INA. India's famous handwriting expert B. Lall and Curt Baggett of US has confirmed that both the handwriting's of Gumnaami Baba and that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was of one and the same person.
Justice M K Mukherjee, who investigated the fate of Netaji, has known to have since then accepted off the record that Gumnami Baba was Netaji. Sahai worked under Mukherjee both in Allahabad High Court and Bombay High Court, where Mukherjee used to be Chief Justice. The very fact Sahai did not take Mukherjee's views on record, even though he was requested to do so, shows that he inquiry was inquiry only in name.
See M K Mukherjee byte:
This is the Press Statement given w.r.t. the Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission Report in Identity if Gumnaami Baba. The report was tabled in UP Assembly yesterday and the following news appeared today on 20th December.
https://www.jagran.com/uttar-pradesh/lucknow-city-gumnami-baba-was-follower-of-subhash-chandra-bose-justice-vishnu-sahai-commission-report-presented-in-up-legislature-19860091.html
'I wish to say something- your own words – ‘You are my intelligence officer-without fear or favour must act'. Now allow me to begin in a similar way. Keeping in mind Maa Kaali – Deshmata – Bangajanani – Bharatmata [Mother India] and your feet, I wanted to tell you that just like in the past, I still have the same unflinching faith and love-trust; unwavering obedience; total dedication and loyalty towards you.' [Translated from Bengali]'
The commission made no attempt to trace the family members of Leela Roy or Pabitra Mohan Roy and others and made deduction merely on the basis of their reading of one letter. The kin of Leela Roy and Pabitra Mohan Roy say he was Netaji. No efforts were made to summon key witnesses or scrutinise important police and intelligence files.
The very fact that Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar, individuals with limited means, were able to get Gumnami Baba's handwriting tested by two leading experts in US and India, who opined that Gumnami Baba and Subhas Chandra Bose were the same person, even as the commission did not even consider this idea, demonstrates that the inquiry was a farce.
Caption:This is Gumnaami Baba's handwriting in a letter written to Dr Pabitra Mohan Roy, who was an ex-secret service agent of Netaji's INA. India's famous handwriting expert B. Lall and Curt Baggett of US has confirmed that both the handwriting's of Gumnaami Baba and that of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was of one and the same person.
Justice M K Mukherjee, who investigated the fate of Netaji, has known to have since then accepted off the record that Gumnami Baba was Netaji. Sahai worked under Mukherjee both in Allahabad High Court and Bombay High Court, where Mukherjee used to be Chief Justice. The very fact Sahai did not take Mukherjee's views on record, even though he was requested to do so, shows that he inquiry was inquiry only in name.
See M K Mukherjee byte:
This is the Press Statement given w.r.t. the Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission Report in Identity if Gumnaami Baba. The report was tabled in UP Assembly yesterday and the following news appeared today on 20th December.
https://www.jagran.com/uttar-pradesh/lucknow-city-gumnami-baba-was-follower-of-subhash-chandra-bose-justice-vishnu-sahai-commission-report-presented-in-up-legislature-19860091.html
https://m.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/gumnami-baba-was-not-netaji-but-his-follower-says-justice-sahai-commission/story-5lOzLE18KAHctky6HW9kbI_amp.html
