If Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose did indeed survive and live a secluded life, he did it on purpose for the sake of the country as his coming out would have jeopardized his plan, his sadhana. Now let us think for a moment what Netaji would have been deeply disturbed about the independence of India. It was the Partition of India, a very idea that he stood staunchly against, he warned his countrymen time and again about the devious plan of Britain to deliver a crushing blow to India, leveraging the communal Muslims who wanted a separate state. Jinnah was merely a puppet in the hands of Anglo Saxon Imperialism and so was Nehru and other Congress leaders. Gandhi was helpless as he had lost his credibility and will after 1942. Only Subhas was the stumbling block. He would have been sorely distressed by seeing the condition of his beloved Bengal, millions of Hindus butchered, hundreds of thousands of womenfolk raped and thousands packed to Arabia as *** slaves. All this would not have happened had there been one person at the help, one person who possessed a stern whip, whom even the communal Muslims dared not disobey. Partition of Bengal was necessary for British-Congress-Jinnah triumvirate because a united Bengal backing Subhas Chandra Bose would have been dangerous for the Congress leadership. Subhas was the political rival whom Congress would like to finish off at all cost. No, they did not believe the concocted death story, nor did the British. But it was necessary for them to continue with a “dead” Subhas Bose as public memory would be short. A dead man’s legacy can be erased easily, simply by suppressing the INA and by buying off others who could question. So one by one key aides of Netaji were bought off while ordinary soldiers of INA were allowed to languish at meagre pensions without state support, without reinstatement to the Indian army (vide Major B.C Khanduri’s order to the Indian Army soldiers not to put up any photo of Netaji or INA men anywhere - he could not have don it without the blessings of the political leaders). So Netaji was dead - a commission was set up post haste using one British lapdog ICS and a veteran of INA who was already purchased with a deputy ministership. When Suresh Bose could not be purchased even by offering Governorship, he was completely ignored. To the world Netaji was dead, but the leadership knew he was not. Hence letters to the family were snooped and when there was much hulla about a certain sadhu in Shaulmari, the prime minister himself was concerned. So Netaji was absolutely unwanted by the country. But Netaji, if he was alive, would have been on a mission. A mission to set things straight when he knew that things looked too dire for India. It could well become a seat of third world war. With spies everywhere, political leadership bought by foreign powers or intimidated by them, no strong leader in the helm to direct the country, corruption and internal troubles, communal tension and open enmity from Pakistan and China, and the nefarious designs of the Communists and socialists within, India was about to go to pieces. Moreover Netaji was strongly in favour of a united India, a India prior to partition, sans the communalism. If he had really been looking forward to a vision of a united and strong India, self reliant India, his coming out would have served no purpose as he would be in the midst of a civil war - between his followers and that of Congress and Communists. Remember, he did not covet political leadership. He only wanted a united and strong India, a country of his dream. By remaining in the background, by slowly working on his plan at an international level, he would have played a far greater and more effective role than by coming out for the sake of the sensation mongers and hypocrites who wanted him to come out. His enemies also wanted him to come out of his hiding so that they could finish him off completely.
Critics of Netaji's afterlife refuse to believe that he could become a hermit. Their main point of contention are two fold - actually one if we look closely - 1) A person like Netaji cannot remain hidden for so long. Its uncharacteristic of him, who was always a man of action 2) "Netaji was a Tiger. Tigers don't hide.
To the second contention Adheer Som has a response in his book Gumnami Baba, a Case History, chapter "Impossible", "a) sannyas is not a form of hiding but of spiritual pursuit in seclusion that has long been a hallowed Indian tradition; and b) Tigers DO hide - they hide when they are hunted, they hide when they hunt, and they hide as they bide their time to spring."