Conspiracy theories abound, say Netaji still on the run as yogi

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is more than 118 years old and still on the run as a yogi.

Many such mind-boggling theories emerged on Monday in a room where about half a dozen people, including our correspondent, went through Bose’s digital files.

Another theory that emerged was that Netaji never married and never had any child. Emilie Schenkl (wife) and Anita Bose Pfaff (daughter) are all figments of imagination. Also, that since 1945, Netaji had changed his appearance at least 64 times to avoid arrest.

“I met him (Netaji) in 2012. Please don’t ask me the venue as I won’t reveal it. But this much I can say, that he is still alive. Old, though,” said octogenarian Subhash Ranjan Dasgupta, a resident of Burranagar in North 24 Parganas, who claimed to have deposed before the Mukherjee commission (2001-2005).

The group was a mix of the young and the old. Some came from Bengal while some from far-off states such as Rajasthan.

“Netaji is alive. We are waiting for him and we know that he is waiting for the right moment to resurface. He is in India and is travelling from one state to another — sometimes in Rajasthan and sometimes in Hardiwar,” said Chowdhury Karan Singh, who had come all the way from Alwar in Rajasthan.

Some said that he is taking time to resurface as the former Congress government had proclaimed him a war criminal.

When asked why Schenkl wrote a letter to Sarat Chandra Bose (Netaji’s elder brother) in 1946 claiming to be the widow of Netaji, Prem Nath Thakur, a school teacher from Howrah questioned in return: “Who is Emilie Schenkl? I don’t want to comment on her. All I can say is that several things were staged to prove that Netaji had died. It was part of a bigger conspiracy.”