Wednesday 9 May, 2007

The Mole & the CWC leader

In late 1945 the Viceroy of India, Field Marshal Viscount Wavell, came across an interesting report about the Congress party's real stance on the Indian National Army (INA) men facing trial. Things appeared to have come a full circle. From assailing Subhas Bose, the Congress leaders had come around to hailing the INA men, including nanaji (grandfather) of cine star Shah Rukh Khan. Wavell came to know why, courtesy the Military Intelligence (MI).

The dope came from a "loyal" British Indian Army Captain who first joined the INA, switched sides after the war and gave evidence against the INA men. This mole told MI that Congress's change of heart had to do with "political expediency" rather than any love for their ousted former president or the people who fought under his command. He sourced the information to a leading Congress Working Committee member and a well-known Jawaharlal Nehru acolyte.

Before taking a stand on the INA issue, Congress sent the CWC leader on a recce mission to gauge public feeling. He traveled across India to discover that people were overwhelmingly in support of the INA. "This inflamed feeling forced Congress to take the line it did," the mole revealed to MI.

In his free-wheeling talks with the mole, the CWC member blurted out that "Congress leaders had realised that those who joined the INA were far from innocents", adding that Nehru made it a point to refer to them as "misguided men"' in his speeches. He in fact felt that as and when Congress came to power, they "would have no hesitation in removing all INA from the Services and even in putting some of them on trial". The mole asked the CWC member why couldn't the Congress "repudiate their championship of the INA" when they knew "the true facts"? To this, he replied that "they dare not take this line as they would lose much ground in the country".

The mole had a whale of time in free India and retired as a general. The CWC member has a road a named after him in the Capital. As for the INA veterans, except for the turncoats, most of them never admitted into free India's armed forces and were treated like they were "stray dogs", as one veteran said.

3 comments:

Arani Bhattacharya said...

But couldn't you name the mole???

Anonymous said...

Mole isnt the issue here...the Congress's real view is.

Ploot said...

We are staring a ORKUT Forum on this .. truth must come out .. Indians come forward and straigten your spines .. and dont be a coward