Netaji's daughter appeals to govt: Bring his mortal remains to India

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff has renewed her appeal to the governments of India and Japan for bringing her father's mortal remains back home.

According to her, Netaji died in an air crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945 and his remains are preserved at Tokyo's Renkoji temple since September 1945.

"On the 73rd anniversary of my father's passing away, I renew my appeal to the governments of India and Japan to facilitate a transfer of his mortal remains from Japan to India for a final disposal," she said.

"It was my father's ambition to return to a free India. This was unfortunately not fulfilled. Therefore, it would be appropriate if at least his remains touch the soil of Independent India. My father was a devout Hindu. Thus, it is perhaps befitting as per custom to immerse at least part of his remains in the river Ganga," she added.

Hiroshi Hirabayashi, president of the 115-year-old Tokyo-based Japan-India Association, also requested the Indian government to facilitate the return of Netaji's mortal remains.

In a statement, Hirabayashi, a former Japanese ambassador to India, said, "The ashes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose kept at Renkoji Temple (in Tokyo) have long been waiting for the official confirmation, already overdue, by the government of India as authentic."
In her foreword to the book, "Laid to Rest: The Controversy over Subhas Chandra Bose's Death", published by Roli earlier this year, Bose-Pfaff wrote that "the only consistent story about Netaji's demise remains his death in a plane crash on 18 August 1945."