Top 10 Indian Conspiracy Theories
It is always a pleasure to hear a goodconspiracy theory. While people enjoy giving rise to new conspiracy theories, very few make it to the center stage. Here is a list of the Top 10 IndianConspiracy Theories.
10. India Still a Colony of the Queen of England
The theory goes by that Transfer of Power Agreement of 1947 by which India was declared independent implied that India will continue to be the Commonwealth Nation, formerly known as British Commonwealth Nation. Therefore all the Commonwealth nations including India are still a colony of the Queen. The theory goes to lengths by saying that our national song, “Jana Gana Mana” was originally written in the praise of Queen and the names of only the territories under British India were included in our national song. It is said that Queen of England does not need a visa to visit her colonies and a lot of furore was raised in Parliament of India during her visit to India in 1997 without a visa. This theory was in particular raised by Rajeev Dixit, who was a famous social activist. He was known particularly to raise his voice for various social issues.
9. Bhagat Singh’s Execution
Bhagat Singh is considered one the most influential revolutionary of the Indian Independence Movement. The daring acts of Bhagat Singh during the revolution included murder of Assistant Superintendent of Police, John P. Saunders and the 1929 Central Legislative bombing. Singh was later arrested and charged with attempt to murder and sentenced to execution. Theconspiracy theory is that Mahatma Gandhi had an opportunity to stop Singh’s execution, but refrained from doing so. Another version of the theory is that Gandhi actively conspired with British to execute Singh because he became a threat to Gandhi as a leader of the Independence Movement. While Gandhi appreciated Singh’s patriotism, he never approved his violence actions.
8. India’s Ancient Nuclear Warfare
This is an interesting one. As per the theory, a heavy layer of radioactive ash covering 3 square miles was found 10 km west of the city of Johdpur, Rajasthan and on further investigation, scientists unearthed an ancient city. It further goes to relating this with Mahabharata’s verses from Drona Parva of K.M. Ganguly’s translation, “The passage tells of combat where explosions of final weapons decimate entire armies, causing crowds of warriors with steeds and elephants and weapons to be carried away as if they were dry leaves of trees.” Myself being a native of Jodhpur, personally, I have never heard of any such ancient city excavated. On digging further on this topic, the quotes related to this theory from Mahabharata were actually referenced from 1963 English translation of the book, Morning of the Magicians, and later references from later writers copied that book without checking the source. According to the authors, the passages record the blinding explosion, fallout from the blast, the ensuing radiation burns, loss of hair and fingernail. This books turns out to be a case of bad translation. The verses from the original English translation of the Mahabharata that comes even close to the quotes from the book are, “When the next day came, Camva actually brought forth an iron bolt through which all the individuals in the race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas became consumed into ashes. Indeed, for the destruction of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas, Camva brought forth, through that curse, a fierce iron bolt that looked like a gigantic messenger of death. The fact was duly reported to the king. In great distress of mind, the king (Ugrasena) caused that iron bolt to be reduced into fine powder. (Mausala Parva, sec. 1).” As you can understand from the passage that the bomb was actually a bolt (scepter) that the king destroyed before it could be used. With my part of the research, I would call this theory busted.
7. Agni V Missile’s Range
Agni V is a solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile developed by DRDO. It is fifth in the line of Agni series of missile developed by India. It was successfully test launched on April 19, 2012. There have been doubts raised about the actual range of Agni V. According to initial comments by DRDO’s chief, the exact range of the missile was confidential, but later he reported it to be in the range of 5500-5800 Km. It was developed with a targeted range of 5000-8000 km. It does raise some doubts because Agni IV had a weight of 17000 kg with an operation range of 4000 and Agni V has a weight of 50000 kg with official range of 5800 km. Chinese experts felt that the missile has the potential range of 8000 km and that it was deliberately downplayed by Indian officials.
6. The Nine Unknown Men
This theory alleges that a secret society was founded by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka around 270 BC to protect and develop knowledge that if falls into the wrong hands would be dangerous for the humanity and that nine unknown men were entrusted with protecting the nine books of secret knowledge. The nine books entrusted to these nine men is said to contain information on topics ranging from psychological warfare, physiology, microbiology, alchemy, communication including communication with extraterrestrials, gravity and antigravity devices, cosmology including hyperspace and time travel, light and sociology.
5. Taj Mahal or Tejo Mahalaya
According to this famous conspiracy theory, Taj Mahal was originally an ancient Shiva Temple, Tejo Mahalaya, which the Moghul Emperor Shahjahan took by force from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. There is even a book published titled “Taj Mahal: The True Story” by P.K. Oak on this theory. In his book, he points out a number inconsistencies based on historical facts and Taj Mahal’s architecture to expound on his views. In 2000 Supreme Court of India dismissed Oak’s petition to declare that a Hindu king had built it and in 2005 similar petition was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court.
4. Lal Bahadur Shastri’s Death
Lal Bahadur Shastri was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and the second Prime Minister of India. Shastri died in Tashkent, Russia a day after signing the Tashkent Declaration possibly due to heart attack. He was later cremated in Vijay Ghat memorial established in his memory. His sudden death led to conspiracy theories that he was poisoned. This theory is strengthened by the fact that no postmortem took place to identify exact reason behind his death, both in Russia or by the Government of India. All his belongings came back to India except for his thermos flask from which he had his last drink of water. In 2009, Anuj Dhar, a popular author asked Prime Minister’s Office under the RTI plea to release the documents related to Shastri’s death, but PMO refused to declassify the documents citing that this would lead to harming of foreign relations, cause disruption of country’s peace and breach of parliamentary privileges.
3. Homi Bhabha’s Death
Homi Jehangir Bhabha was an Indian nuclear physicist and most famously is known as “Father of Indian Nuclear Programme.” He is credited with formulating the country’s strategy in the field of nuclear power to focus on extracting power from the country’s vast thorium reserves. He died when Air India Flight 101 crashed near Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966. Oneconspiracy theory is that CIA was involved with the crash possibly to cripple India’s nuclear programme. In 2012 a jute bag labelled “diplomatic bag” and “ministry of external affairs” recovered near the crash site in French Alps belonging to Homi Bhabha was handed over to India.
2. Death of Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose was a prominent Indian freedom fighter, who attempted to liberate India from British rule. Bose was alleged to have died in a plane crash in Taiwan on 1945 while en route to Tokyo. He was badly burned and died in a local hospital hours later. His body was later cremated in a Buddhist Temple in Taiwan. This version of events is supported by testimonies of Captain, Yoshida Taneyoshi, and a British spy. Absence of his body in the temple has led to rise in many theories concerning his possible survival. Various committees have been set up by government of India over the years to investigate in this matter. This conspiracytheory has become a popular topic of discussion in various newsrooms and book titles. It is alleged by Dr. Purabi Roy, a Russian scholar in his book, “The Search for Netaji: New Findings” that Bose was captured by USSR during Second World War as Axis powers viewed him as a war criminal due to his close relationship with Japan and he later died in Siberia under soviet captivity. Another version of the theory goes by that an Indian monk named Bhagwanji or Gumnami Baba, who lived in Faizabad, Ayodhya had a very close resemblance to Subhas Chandra Bose and that he was Netaji living incognito to hide his real identity. Bhagwanji died on September 16, 1985.
1. Indian UFO Base
Kongka La pass in the Himalayas is in the disputed Indo-Chinese border of Aksai Chin. The Chinese held part is known as Aksai Chin and the part under Indian occupation is Ladakh. This is one of the least accessed areas in the world and by agreement both countries do not patrol this border. Locals on both sides of the border believe there is an underground UFO base in this region with the knowledge of both countries. Locals have seen UFOs coming out of the ground. Tourists have witnessed strange triangular lighted silent crafts rising from the ground and moving vertically up. Local guides say this is not something new and it is a very common sight in Kongka La pass. Tourists are denied entry to this area in spite of permits to travel between the two countries. This theory is given credence by the fact that in June of 2006, satellite imagery on Google Earth revealed a 1:500 scale detailed terrain model of the area in question on the Chinese side of the border. This model was surrounded by buildings resembling a military facility. Aksai Chin is a region where Eurasian and Indian plates have created convergent plate boundaries where one plate dives under the other and thus it is one of the few areas in the world where the depth of crust is twice as much as in the other places.
