Netaji’s daughter to seek DNA test of ‘his ashes’ at PM meet
LONDON : Anita Bose-Pfaff, the daughter of Subhash Chandra Bose, has said she is looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi next year in order to bring the iconic leader’s ashes from a temple in Japan to India and conduct a DNA test.
The plan to do a DNA test on the remains has long been mooted to scientifically prove that Bose died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945. His remains after his cremation were reportedly stored at Renkoji temple in Tokyo.
Bose-Pfaff, 74, who was in London to deliver a lecture on “70 years of free India: What might Netaji have hoped for”, told Hindustan Times it was time to bring closure on the issue through the DNA test.
Bose’s death has long been the subject of debate, with some claiming he survived the crash, returned to India and lived anonymously.
But Bose-Pfaff, who has no memory of her father because she was a month old when he last saw her, is convinced of his death.
“Two inquiry commissions came to the conclusion that he died in the plane crash. Recent documents released by the Japanese government essentially supported this, other documents did too. This is the only consistent story of his life,” she said.
“Just imagine this man who sacrificed so much for his country, would come back and live in questionable circumstances in Uttar Pradesh. It just makes no sense at all. For me, this is the only reality (that he died in the crash), some of my relatives have other views. I
According to Bose-Pfaff, neither the Indian nor the Japanese government want to move first or put the other in an awkward position. “We’ll have to see what Mr Modi will say. It would be helpful if the Indian government, after dilly-dallying all these years, took a clear stand.”
She added, “I have not seen him (Modi), but I have talked to the embassy in Germany that this is what I want to do. So he must be aware of what I want to talk to him about. The only way is to go and see him next year, which is most likely.”