Remember Bose for his work, not crash row, says daughter

Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter is annoyed that, instead of accepting evidence, many continue to be obsessed with “asinine” theories that Netaji survived the plane crash in Taipei in 1945 and lived in the mountains as “Gumnami Baba”.

Anita Bose Pfaff, 73, was about a month old when Bose saw her for the last time in Vienna. Based on available evidence, she is convinced he died in the crash on August 18, 1945, and has proposed a DNA test on his remains kept at Renkoji Temple in Japan to put the row to rest.

Speaking to Hindustan Times shortly before the Narendra Modi government begins releasing declassified files related to Bose from Saturday — his 119th birth anniversary — Pfaff said she supported the move but doubted it would end the “fruitless” controversy over the crash.

A former academic and economist, she spoke on a range of issues, including the relationship between her mother, Emily Schenkl, and her iconic father, who, she remarked, “must have been a disaster as a husband”.

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It is rather fruitless with

all these rather asinine

theories being advanced,

including that he is still alive,

God knows where, or that

he lived in the mountains as

‘Gumnami Baba’, which is an

insult to him...”

ANITA BOSE PFAFF, Netaji’s daughter