Wajahat's views hint at a bigger conspiracy behind Netaji's death

India's first Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah has joined the Netaji files debate expressing his apprehension that "records related to Subhas Chandra Bose's mysterious disappearance are not being disclosed as they might have been lost, eaten up or disintegrated".

Habibullah's reported observation is entitled to highest consideration. As CIC Habibullah sympathetically dealt with several RTI applications related to Subhas Chandra Bose filed by Mission Netaji, a pressure group this writer is a part of. During the course of these RTI proceedings, it emerged that while the government of ours willfully destroyed a top secret file concerning Bose's fate (said to be Nehru's master file on the case), but at the same time many files were still extant.

Back in July 2007 the very first case Mission Netaji argued before the full bench of the commission headed by Habibullah pertained to the records held by the ministry of home affairs, the nodal ministry in the Bose disappearance matter.

The CIC decision, which went in our favour, spotlighted some disturbing factoids:

1. The ministry was holding something like "70,000 pages" concerning Bose's disappearance.

2. It was "the considered view" of the ministry not to disclose these documents "in public interest".

3. The assessment of the home secretary was that some of the Netaji "death" papers were so highly volatile that their disclosure "may lead to a serious law and order problem in the country, especially in West Bengal".

4. The home ministry officials present during the CIC hearing conceded "that the decision concerning disclosure has to be taken at the highest level".

As a result of favorable CIC decision and further efforts by Chandrachur Ghose of Mission Netaji, something like 10 thousand pages from the MHA's treasure trove of 70,000 were declassified and eventually sent to the National Archives.

Most of the released papers are in good condition. I checked them soon after they were opened for public late last year. In fact the Nehru snooping files came out as a result of this transfer of records.

On the whole, the government of ours is still sitting on a pile on secret files about Bose. There are 39 such files in the prime minister's office (PMO). 20 of these are about Bose's disappearance. PMO's stock RTI response is that releasing these files would harm India's relation with foreign nations. The oldest among the extant PMO files was created in 1952 and the latest one only a few years back. In fact there is a file dealing with the transfer of home ministry records to the National Archives as a result of the efforts of Mission Netaji.

The MEA is holding more than two dozen files, one of which contains the excuses why India did not take up the issue of Netaji's fate with the Soviets and Russians at the highest level even though we had had the good fortune of being ruled by world leaders who swore in the name of Gandhi, who put truth and transparency above god.

The Intelligence Bureau is holding 77 or more files covering a gamut of issues, including snooping on the Bose family members, Netaji's associates and journalists. Only a few days back, the IB turned down this writer's RTI application seeking disclosure some of these files. If disclosed, the IB files on or about Bose would make skullduggery associated with the Nixonian America look like a children's tale. Further, it would also be revealed to the world why India did not take much offence to Edward Snowden's recent revelations about the spying games of the US. That's because we are a pastmaster in the field for the last several decades.

Such was the level of our unrivalled expertise in the field of snooping in the newly independent India that the IB uninhibitedly shared intelligence about Bose with the MI5, the intelligence agency of our former lords and masters. This, I imagine, was in continuation of a glorious tradition of pre-independence days when British intelligence officials were generous enough to share the fruits of their surveillance mounted on Bose with Congress leaders.

Contrary to popular perception, secret government of India files are maintained in the same way such files are maintained the first world countries such as the UK or the US. India is a world leader in the arena of official secrecy. When a file has been given a security gradation (top secret, secret, confidential), it is handled, processed, stored and even destroyed with utmost care according to well laid down rules by officials who have the legitimate "need to know" to complete duties assigned to them by their superiors. These rules are framed by the ministry of home affairs and detailed in the manual of departmental security instructions, which itself is a classified record.

If Wajahat Habibullah's reported comment that some Bose files might have been "lost, eaten up or disintegrated" is taken on face value, it could only be the result of a conspiracy hatched within the government at the highest level. The manual of official procedure clearly stipulates that the files of historical importance, especially those relating to issues agitating the public mind, must be kept in office for 25 years and then sent to the National Archives.

To put it succinctly, "files don't disappear, they are made to disappear." Stating this was Arun Jaitley, then leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, in August 2013. He was referring to missing coal ministry records, which are for most part unclassified or just confidential. Coal ministry doesn't handle national security matters, but PMO, MEA, IB, R&AW, MHA, et al do. And all are, to this day, holding secret records concerning Subhas Chandra Bose as the following specimen from an official record demonstrates: