Louis Fischer's note speaks of Netaji's presence in Moscow

Resting his hand on my shoulder, Netaji said he was glad to be amongst the congregation of the Durga Puja which appeared like a family reunion, bereft of class distinction.

While in Kolkata recently, I came to know about the commemoration of Netaji's 112th birth anniversary at Amrit Sadan (Netaji Bhavan ~ 100 years, 1909-2009). My heart leapt at this news, all the more because Italian Ambassador Alessandro Quaroni, whose mother is a Russian, was to deliver the Netaji Oration 2009; I am a retired teacher in Russian and other Slavic languages and literatures of Delhi University. I'm sure it would be interesting for the readers of The Statesman to know about the "Note of Louis Fischer" regarding a conversation between Alessandro's father, Petro Quaroni, who was the Italian ambassador (after World War II) to the erstwhile USSR, and Netaji that took place in Moscow on 15 November, 1946.

The Note of Louis Fischer at Hotel Pierre is as follows: "In 1933 Subhas Chandra Bose came to Rome and called on Mussolini for his help. Bose requested him that some Italian officials may be deputed to India so as to keep in touch with his movement. That's when Quaroni met Bose for the first time in Rome in 1936... Quaroni visited India consecutively in 1936, 1937 and 1938.

"Each time of his visit he saw Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, Jinnah, Patel, Rajaji and other political leaders... His chief motive was to meet particularly Netaji. After Bose was arrested by the Britishers in Kolkata, his communist friends wrote to Quaroni (the then ambassador) in Kabul. Italian ambassador said that Bose wanted to go to Russia, Germany and Italy and he sought for his help in this regard..."

While he was in Kabul his idea was to establish a contact between Quaroni and the Forward Bloc. In his grand disappearance from India, he was holding an Italian passport issued in the name of Orlando Mazatto with a transit visa (23-31 March, 1941) for the erstwhile USSR. Obviously a question arises why was he holding an Italian passport issued in the name of Orlando Mazatto. It is presumed he got the passport with the help of the Italian ambassador. I dare not dwell upon the controversy over Netaji's death. I would fail in my purport if I don't express my gratitude to the Princeton University Archives Public Policy Papers in Mud library for the reference mentioned above.

This note had been investigated by the Justice Mukherjee Commission appointed by the Government of India. There are also several other sources in Russian about it but they are not tapped for this paper. I conclude this letter by mentioning that Ambassador Alessando Quaroni's "Netaji Oration 2009" was very informative.

The extempore brief speech by the Governor of West Bengal, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, was brilliant and thought provoking. However, some parts of his speech remained abstruse to me for which Raj Bhavan could not give me any clue.

~ Yours, etc., G Mukerjee, 

New Delhi, 29 January.