Kolkata: There is enough indication that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose might have been alive after 1945, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Friday after declassifying 64 secret files on Netaji. She is the first government representative to say so, turning the tables on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was trying to extract political mileage on the issue after the Congress put it on the back burner for decades.
The Trinamool Congress chief’s comments came after sixty-four secret files relating to Netaji that could help throw light on his mysterious disappearance–an enduring enigma for seven decades –were today released by her government.
The Bengal CM also that the documents also support the theory that Bose family was snooped upon. There are intercepts. I have seen the documents and it is clear from them that the family of Netaji was spied upon,” Banerjee told the media here.
She termed the snooping incident as unfortunate and said after India’s independence the great freedom fighter did not get due honour. There are certain letters where many have said that he was alive after 1945,” the chief minister further said. An August 22, 1945, Tokyo Radio announced the ‘death’ of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in an air crash in Formosa (now Taiwan) on August 18, 1945, en route to Japan.
Hidden in police and government lockers for years, the 64 files containing 12,744 pages were declassified here in the presence of Bose’s family members who have been demanding that information on the leader of the Azad Hind Fauj(Indian National Army-INA) be made public.
“In 70 years, the mystery has not been solved. We did not know what happened (to Netaji). It is unfortunate. How long you can keep it under secrecy. You read the files in details.” Welcoming the declassification of the 64 files, Chandra Bose, Netaji’s grandnephew said, “It is a correct step. Now it is the duty of the central government to declassify 130 files it has with it.
Bureau Report
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