Netaji's kin want foreign countries to declassify files as well

Kolkata: Family members of Subhas Chandra Bose on Sunday said the Prime Minister must ask governments of other countries to declassify files in their possession about his disappearance, as they feared that some secret documents that could have solved the mystery might have been destroyed. “I am not too sure whether the existing files with the central government can reveal everything about what happened to Netaji after he went missing in 1945. The files may have already been destroyed by the past governments,” Netaji’s grand-nephew Chandra Bose told PTI. He said that even the Mukherjee Commission had stated that four files had been destroyed during the time of Indira Gandhi. To connect all the dots relating to his disappearance, he said his family would appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to write to the heads of the countries of Russia, Japan, China, America, UK, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia to declassify all Netaji files lying with them. [caption id=“attachment_1658245” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Reuters.[/caption] “Netaji was in touch with people in all these countries. They all have classified files relating to him. We want to take this movement of declassification to the global level to get all the clues,” the Netaji kin said. The family members said that the issue of global declassification of Netaji files would be on the family’s agenda when they meet Modi next month in Delhi. “Our main focus, however, would be on declassification of all Netaji files held by the government of India. If we do not have our own files declassified, then how can we ask other nations to do it?” Abhijit Ray, Netaji’s another grand-nephew, said. In his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi on Sunday said he would host over 50 Bose family members at his residence next month. “We got a call from the PMO yesterday asking us to prepare an agenda for the meeting. We will demand the constitution of a high-powered committee under the leadership of the Prime Minister himself to release all the files with the Centre,” Chandra Bose said. The recent release of 64 files by West Bengal government has revealed that the Indian government had snooped on Netaji’s family even after 1945, when he was believed to have died in an air crash. There are many theories surrounding his disappearance doing the rounds since then. Most of the family members have debunked the air crash theory. “A story that he escaped to Russia has been there for sometime but the Bengal government files show that there could be a new Chinese angle to the story. And then some say he came back to India in disguise as ‘Gumnami Baba’. We do not have clinching evidence to prove any of these theories,” Bose said. His sister Madhuri has recently got hold of 4-5 files from the British government but none of them present clinching evidence on Netaji’s fate. Another issue on the family’s agenda during their meeting with the PM would be to ensure that Netaji gets his due in history books across schools. “Netaji has no place in NCERT books. We want people to know about his freedom struggle and also about the role of the Indian National Army (INA) and the Azad Hind provincial government which was formed under his leadership. History should be written by giving due credit to him,” Ray said. PTI