302 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
Bose’s express permission. Prince Wan Waithayakon had hosted a tea in
honor of Bose in June. He, along with the chief justice of the Thai su-
preme court and Anuman Rachodhan, president of the Thai- Bharat
Cultural Lodge, who were both present on the occasion, had offered
help to Bose if Japan lost the war. Anuman Rachodhan was an admirer
of both Tagore and Bose. Debnath Das had been in touch with the
head priest of the Wat Mahathat temple, who had great reverence for
the Buddha- like Indian leader, and with Mahoyang, the priest to the
Thai royal family. If Netaji agreed, they would keep him hidden in
a Buddhist monastery. The presence of pa tri otic Indians in Thai-
land would ensure economic and po lit i cal support whenever it was
needed.^148
Unfortunately, Bose opted for the riskiest option im ag i na ble. On the
morning of August 17, at eight o’clock, he took off from the Bangkok
airport for Saigon. He had picked another Hindu- Muslim- Sikh trio in
Bangkok: Debnath Das, Abid Hasan, and Gulzara Singh. The group
had to travel in two planes. In the first went Netaji, Ayer, Habibur Rah-
man, Pritam Singh, and the Japanese interpreter. The second carried
General Saburo Isoda (chief of the Hikari Kikan), Teruo Hachiya (the
Japanese ambassador to the Azad Hind government), Abid Hasan,
Debnath Das, and Gulzara Singh. They were met at the Saigon airport
by Chandra Mal, secretary of the Transport Department of the Indian
Inde pen dence League in Indochina, and taken to the home of Narain-
das, secretary of the Housing Department, in the outskirts of the city.
On arrival in Saigon, Bose must have realized the mistake he had made
in leaving the relative security of Singapore and Bangkok. The streets
were deserted and rumors were rife about the revenge the French would
take against the Indians who had allied with the Japanese.
Isoda and Hachiya dashed off to Count Terauchi’s Southern Army
headquarters in Dalat, to see what arrangements could be made for the
onward journey. They returned in the afternoon and offered Bose a
single seat on a Japanese bomber that was ready to leave Saigon. An
agonizing conference followed among the Indians, to decide whether
Netaji should go alone. After further negotiations, the Japanese came
forth with a second seat and Bose asked Habibur Rahman to join him.
He might have picked Abid Hasan, his submarine voyage companion,