Netaji files: BJP only trying to spin conflict of ideologies, says Nitish Kumar

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today accused BJP of trying to create conflict between different ideologies by riding on the declassification of files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released digital copies of 100 declassified files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at the National Archives of India (NAI). Even the Congress calls the Modi government move a “mischievous political campaign”. [caption id=“attachment_2590238” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi’s “mischievous campaign,” says Congress on Netaji files/ Reuters[/caption] “BJP, which has nothing to do with the struggle for Independence, by declassifying files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is basically making an effort to create conflict between different streams of ideology in the struggle for country’s Independence,” Kumar told reporters here. “The BJP whose leaders had no role in the Independence movement are basically interested in creating ‘conflict’ between different ideologies for political gains,” Kumar, a known detractor of PM, said. Netaji’s family members, who arrived in Delhi for the event, broke down after seeing the files. Today also marks the 119th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter. The NAI now plans to release digital copies of 25 declassified files on Bose in the public domain every month. Modi, in his meeting with members of Bose family in October, had announced that the government would declassify the files relating to Bose and make them accessible to public. The first lot of 33 files were declassified by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and handed over to the NAI on December 4, last year. Subsequently, the Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs too initiated the process of declassification of files relating to Bose in their respective collection which were then transferred to the NAI. Soundbites from the ringside Amartya Sen: Right now in the country, there is a sense of division which has often been cultivated along communal lines so much so that the word secularism is often used as a bad word… We are waiting for the day when democracy and liberty would be used as a bad word too. Anand Sharma: Congress has already said that it would like to see all files to be declassified because attempts are being made to raise a controversy and misguide people of the country through a mischievous political campaign. Bose’s grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose: But these are not the intelligence files. What we need is the intelligence files not only of our country but also of Russia, the UK, the US, Japan to solve the mystery. Sugata Bose: The Japanese have shared with us the information they had regarding Netaji… But, I believe Modi should have spoken to Abe, whether it be in Tokyo or in Delhi, or Varanasi… I don’t think he has spoken to him (Abe) regarding this. I do not know whether Modi has done anything on the Netaji issue. I don’t feel he had spoken to Abe (regarding Netaji’s disappearance). He also did not pay his respect by visiting the Renkoji temple… But, other Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the temple to show their respect,” he said of Modi’s Japan tour last year: Subhash Chandra Bose’s kin and historian Sugata Bose. Agencies