PM wants DNA test on Renkoji ashes

KOLKATA: Narendra Modi twice refused to visit Renkoji Temple in Tokyo because there was no evidence that the ashes stored in a casket there belonged to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Even his predecessor Manmohan Singh had kept the temple out of his itinerary in May 2013.
The temple has a bust of Netaji and an urn that has been a subject of controversy for seven decades. While some believe the ashes are Netaji’s mortal remains after his death in the Taihioku air crash on August 18, 1945, others — including most of Netaji’s kin — dismiss the crash theory and therefore the ashes.
The Mukherjee Commission had concluded that the ashes are actually that of a Taiwanese armyman, Irchiro Okura, who died of natural causes and was cremated in August 1945.
During an interaction with Netaji kin in Kolkata on May 9 this year, Prime Minister Modi said he had consciously stayed away from Renkoji Temple in July 2012 and September 2014 as he did not wish to stoke a controversy.
“Narendra Modi does not believe the ashes at Renkoji Temple are that of Netaji. During a meeting with Bose family members at Raj Bhavan on May 9, he said that on both trips to Japan, Indian embassy officials suggested a visit to the Buddhist temple but he declined,” said Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Bose.
A letter from the priest of Renkoji temple on November 23, 1953, to then PM Jawaharlal Nehru, said: “I, a stranger to the late Netaji, was asked to keep the ashes by people who were strangers to me including Indians of whom I had never heard.” Later in the Indira Gandhi government, external affairs deputy secretary (East Asia) P K Budhwar referred to it and remarked that the statement cast doubt on the authenticity of the ashes.
“There is an attempt to cover up the muddle over the ashes,” asks activist Surajit Dasgupta.
The debate has been raging since the time Nehru and Bengal CM Bidhan Chandra Roy exchanged letters on how to get the ashes home but failed to resolve the issue. Netaji’s daughter Anita Pfaff visited India twice in order to build a consensus in favour of the return of the ashes but was unclear about an agreement within the family.
“This is where the matter stands at present and a decision needs to be taken on whether the ashes are indeed those of Netaji and if so, whether they can be brought back to India,” stated a note by joint secretary (Parliamentary affairs) PP Shukla dated April 1, 1998.
In the past though, several Indian leaders visited the shrine to pay homage to Netaji. Jawaharlal Nehru visited the temple in 1957, followed by President Rajendra Prasad in 1958 and Indira Gandhi in 1959. Atal Behari Vajpayee visited the temple twice, first as foreign minister and then as Prime Minister in 2001. Then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh had also visited the temple the same year.
According to the Bose family, Modi is in favour of a scientific analysis of the ashes. “The family is open to DNA tests. The earlier head priest of Renkoji Temple was against this but the priest is charge now has said he has no objection,” said Chitra Bose, Netaji’s niece.
Scientists, however, say the high heat during cremation destroys DNA. The only part of the body that may survive cremation to an extent is the teeth. “Generally DNA testing is quite reliable but once the DNA is exposed to the heat of cremation, it does not survive intact. It takes a fragment of unburnt bone or tissue to extract DNA,” said Dr P K Nemani, executive committee member, West Bengal Medical Council.