This year, we mark the 125-birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. In my childhood, I knew him as one of the leaders of the freedom movement. During my college days in Calcutta, I realised Netaji’s iconic status in West Bengal. The giant statue sculpted by Nagesh Yoglekar at the Shyam Bazar five-point crossing, astride a horse with one hoof in the air, remains etched in my mind.
In my diplomatic career, I was posted in Japan, Italy and Germany–the three axis powers of World War II. During my assignments in Tokyo and Berlin, I followed Netaji’s legacy. His ‘ashes’ are kept at the Renkoji temple in Suginami ward of Tokyo. Like many Buddhist temples in Japan, this is also run by a family–the Mochizuki family. I met two generations of this family.
The elder venerable Mochizuki received the ‘ashes’ in September 1945 and agreed to keep them at the temple. His son is the head priest now. Netaji’s associates from the Japanese armed forces used to meet at the Renkoji temple twice a year to mark his birth and ‘death’ anniversary. I attended those meetings for three years. And in those three years, the numbers dwindled, because the representatives of the Japanese forces, particularly those who had been in Burma at the time of Netaji, were, by 1985, passing on. Many, who had fading memories, would recall their time with Netaji in Burma.
The Hikari Kikan was the Liaison office between the INA and the Japanese forces in Burma. Colonel Yamamoto and Major-General Saburo Isoda operated it. Associates from the Birma kai (Burma association) of the Minami Kikan, which supported the Burma National army, also participated. Major-General Suzuki Keiji and Major-General Sawamoto Rikichiro, were their leading lights. The most vocal was Lt Gen Fujiwara Iwaichi, who, as a Major from 1941, headed the F kikan. Later, he was involved in searching for the ashes of Japanese soldiers who died in the Kohima and Imphal campaign.
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