Translated from ABP Sunday Magazine By Sukalpa Pulak Gupta, BBC Bangla World Service Compared to him, James Bond was a child By Krishna Basu When I had my hand on this book on the most extraordinary spy during the WW2 by Mihir Bose – biographer of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose – I did feel a bit nostalgic, because I knew this man since 1961. I was not surprised reading the story of his activities, because I broadly knew how ‘Silver’ switched sides during an extremely important period of the struggle for the independence of India. Mihir Bose has done plenty of research to add details from documents preserved in the archives of a number of countries. Historian Tapan Roy Chowdhury called him ‘a prince among spies’, whom the Englishmen gave a pseudonym of ‘Silver’. As an assistant to Netaji – his nom de guerre was Rahmat Khan. But his real name was Bhagatram Talwar, and he was Netaji’s companion during his journey Peshawar to Kabul. Mihir Bose’s book brought back my memories of meeting him at our house in Woodburn Park about sixty years ago. Many of the political associates of Netaji Subhash Chandra, and comrades of Azad Hind Fawj used to come to stay at our Woodburn Park house and later at Basundhara – the other family home. In 1960, Shishirkumar Basu began writing down those experiences for the Netaji Research Bureau. Recently the central and state governments have published a collection of files on Netaji and they reveal that the then Indian government were suspicious about Shishirkumar Basu’s work and they actually kept a tab on him. It appears inconceivable why they did it, because it was a purely academic work aiming at the preservation of Netaji’s contribution in the Indian Independence movement. In connection to this work, however – the first person who came to Woodburn Park was Bhagatram Talwar. “You will have to look after a guest for a few days” – Shishirkumar told me, “He is a man who betrayed us, because it was through him that the British detectives came to know about my uncle’s (Netaji) flight, following which I was interned at Lahore Fort. Mia Akbar Shah and and Abad Khan were also captured. But I want to move on, because this Bhagatram was also the companion of Netaji during his journey from Peshwar to Kabul, and stayed with him in Kabul for more than 40 days. I want to record his accounts of those days. It is a historical necessity and he is our guest, so please ensure that he is well taken care of.” A few days later a man of rather short stature came to stay with us, who was very friendly and well-mannered. We treated Bhagatram with fish curry and rice, and he would spend his time talking and playing with my son Sugata. Shishirkumar used to sit down with him at night, with an Alivetti typewriter. Shishir Basu kept typing as Bhagatram gave his account, while I was the silent spectator. I remember Dr Basu asked him repeatedly about what he did after Netaji left Kabul with the help of the Italian Embassy. He gave a fleeting answer, saying that he kept visiting the Janjati area. It was then agreed that Bhagatram’s recorded accounts will not be published as yet, and will be released later as a part of a compilation of the journey to Gomo and Akbar Shah’s statement. Despite our efforts, Mia Akbar Shah could not be brought to India because Pakistan refused to issue a permission. In 1973, Netaji Research Bureau organized its first international conference at Netaji Bhavan and it was attended by historians from a number of countries. We invited Bhagatram as well, and he duly attended. Shishirkumar read his paper on the ‘great escape’, and Bhagatram spoke about his 55 days spent with Netaji. From Germany came Dieter Witzel who was then Germany’s agent in-charge in Kabul. He was angered by the presence of Bhagatram. “Why did you invite this man?” – he asked, “Don’t you know about his role as a traitor?” Czechoslovakian historian Milan Hauner was also present in the conference. It is him who revealed Bhagatram’s role as a spy in his first book ‘India in Axis Strategies’. Mihir Bose’s book has a photo of Bhagatram at a dinner at Woodburn Park, where he is seen surrounded by Mr Hauner and other historians. Mihir Bose writes that his suspicion about Bhagatram grew while writing ‘Lost Hero’ – a biography of Netaji. He observed that all of Netajis’ companions during the ‘great escape’ were eventually arrested and tortured in jail, but Bhagatram didn’t have to go to prison even for a day. Bhagatram had said that he lived in Janjati area at that time, and that was the reason why the English could never catch him. It was Hauner who first shed light on Bhagatram’s betrayal. In his book Hauner concluded that Bhagatram was in fact a ‘quadruple agent’ who acted as a spy for the Soviets, the British, the German and the Italians (apart from working for Netaji’s movement). I wrote a review of his book in Anandabazar. It dealt with the role of India in the axis powers during the World War, and his brief reference of the betrayal of Bhagatram was based on documents. I mentioned the reference in my review. Bhagatram was unhappy when he came to know about my article, but he did not cut off contacts with me. He used to meet us whenever we went to Delhi. Mihir Bose writes in his book that Hugh Toye – the English biographer of Netaji – had told Hauner not to reveal the betrayal of Bhagatram. Hauner obliged, and mentioned this sensational discovery in just one line. Hauner himself came to know about Bhagatram’s confessions to the British government while studying Janjati-related documents in the British Public records Office. This confession was given to Lahore Police in 1942, and was not expected to be included in those files. When Hugh Toye became aware of it he advised the records Office to close the file. Bhagatram also worked for the Italian ambassador in Kabul Pietro Quaroni. If one includes Japan (towards the end of the WW) then it can be said that Bhagatram was a ‘quintuple agent’. Subhash Chandra - with full trust in Bhagatram - kept sending him messages, while Bhagatram continued to betray him. But the Germans suffered the biggest deception, because they kept sending ‘Netaji’s trusted companion Rahmat Khan’ large amounts of money, and even awarding him with an ‘Iron Cross’ – Germany’s highest military honour. But ‘Rahmat Khan’ was actually sitting in the garden of the Viceroy’s house in Delhi, using a powerful transmitter given by Germans to send false information to the secret services in Berlin. Mihir Bose writes that Bhagatram Talwar was a communist and his true allegiance was to Soviet Russia. Whatever information Netaji gave him went straight into Russia’s hands. Then he supplied the same information to the British as an agent named ‘Silver’. It is a well-known fact that the Communist Party of India did not support India’s independence struggle during the WW2. They used to make fun of Netaji, although later they admitted their mistakes. I remember the first time Jyoti Basu attended a programme of Netaji Centre to celebrate Netaji’s birthday. In his speech he said that the Communist Party had made mistakes in the past about evaluating Netaji. We could not invite Mia Akbar Shah because of Pakistan’s refusal to allow him to travel to India. But I had an opportunity to meet him in England in 1983 - when he was there to visit his son Jafar Shah, while Shishirkumar and me were in Cambridge to visit my son Sugata. ‘The English won’t believe it, they will think it was an Indian conspiracy’ - Akbar Shah told me with a smile. We talked a lot about Bhagatram. Later he sent his written statement for Netaji Research Bureau. Akbar Shah said Bhagatram came to meet them when they had finished all preparations for Netaji’s travel from Peshawar to Kabul. He insisted to be included in the trip as Netaji’s companion. He was deeply offended when Akbar Shah refused to take him. He was a bit surprised by Bhagatram’s interest, and also a little happy that he wanted to join such a dangerous trip. Akbar Shah knew Bhagatram was from a family of martyrs: his brother Harikishan was hanged by the British. After some hesitation, he agreed to take Bhagatram. Akbar Shah also said it surprised him that Bhagatram was never arrested. Akbar Shah himself was arrested in 1942, but the revolutionary network was not weak. From a jail in Deccan Sharat Chandra Basu sent a secret letter to Shishir and alerted him that his role in the ‘great escape’ has been found out by the British. Shishirkumar realised that somewhere someone had betrayed them. From August 1942 onwards Shishirkumar spent his days in prison in Presidency Jail and in Medical College Hospital, or under house arrest at Woodburn Park. Afterwards he was kept in the Red Fort and then taken to Lahore Fort. In Peshawar Netaji stayed at the house of Abad Khan for five days, who taught him Pathan etiquettes and manners. Abad Khan was subjected to grievous torture in the Lahore Fort. He later expressed his anguish to Sharat Basu saying that everyone including Shishirkumar, Akbar Shah and himself were arrested, but Bhagatram spent his life in luxury.