Japanese Watch and Binoculars: Another Subhas Chandra Bose Mystery

Locals believed that Laldhari Baba was Netaji himself, but recent discovery of his trunk has excited people.

“Don’t put kumkum on that picture. Why do you want to kill a man who is still alive?” Laldhari Baba would ask people who tried to apply vermilion on a picture of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that hung in the ashram in Bidar, Karnataka.

“It was a practice to apply vermillion on pictures during every Republic Day or Independence Day, but he would stop us from doing it on Netaji’s picture,” recalled Santharam, caretaker of the Laldhari Ashram near Humnabad town next to the Kalaburagi-Bidar highway.

Though there had always been intense speculation among locals that the Baba was Netaji himself, a recent discovery of the Baba’s possessions that he had stored in a trunk has excited people in ashram.

“Until January 2016, we were not sure whether Baba was really Subhas Chandra Bose even though at various occasions Baba had hinted the same. There was a trunk that belonged to Baba and nobody had touched it as he would ask us to keep away from his things.”

Santharam Baba, Caretaker of the Laldhari Ashram

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi declassified the Bose files, I opened the trunk. I found things like a military uniform, caps and jackets, Japanese make wristwatch that was produced during World War I, foreign currency and a 1932-model compass and binocular of French make.

Santharam Baba, Caretaker of the Laldhari Ashram

The discovery has excited the ashram dwellers so much that Member of Parliament from Osmanabad Ravindra Gaikwad has written to the Prime Minister asking to permit a DNA test.

Santharam says he has samples of Baba’s teeth and hair and feels a DNA test would establish Baba’s true identity.

This isn’t, however, the first time that someone has been presumed to be Subhas Chandra Bose. A Gumnami Baba in Faizabad was touted to be Netaji, but DNA tests later disproved it. Rare photographs of Bose’s family had been recovered from the Baba’s suitcase.

Santharam’s father Atumal found Baba, who was dressed like a Sardarji, at a bus stand in Solahpur in 1971.

Santharam says that Baba never disclosed personal information as he claimed there was a threat to his life.

Santharam, who is also a cloth merchant in Umarga town in Maharashtra, said that the Baba wanted to build an ashram that resembled the parliament building.

We showed him many designs. But he took out a Rs 50 note and pointed at the building behind it — the Parliament house. So we had it built that way. It was all funded by Baba who never told us where he got the money from.

Caretaker of the Laldhari Ashram, Santharam Baba

Santharam said that patriotism was something that was evident in Baba and he would also behave like someone with a military background — stern and strict. He would not pray or worship any God and instead showed utmost respect to the tri-colour flag. He told us that he has been to many countries, including Germany.