New Delhi : In a much-awaited move, the dark shadows of secrecy over one of the biggest mysteries of modern Indian history may finally begin to lift.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Wednesday that the process of declassification of files related to Netaji would start from January 23, 2016, which is also the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose. The declassification may finally shed light on how the end came for the freedom fighter.
PM Modi made the announcement this evening in an interaction with family members of Bose who demanded the declassification of files so that the truth could come out. ‘‘The family’s demand was similar to his thinking on the matter,’’ Modi told them. He also assured the delegation that he would take up the issue with various foreign governments personally. The Prime Minister himself made this historic decision public by tweeting soon after meeting Netaji’s kin at his residence 7 RCR this evening. ‘‘There is no need to strangle history. Nations that forget history lack the power to create it,’’ he remarked.
A PMO release quoted Modi as saying he would not only write to foreign governments but also take it up personally in his meeting with foreign leaders beginning with Russia in December.
‘‘Consider me as part of your family,’’ Modi is believed to have told the family.
Altogether 35 members of Bose’s family and another fifteen associates who have worked closely to research on Netaji visited the PM’s residence on invitation. It was a labour of love as the expectant group arrived in a bus from Banga Bhawan. As Netaji’s grand nephew Chandra Bose told FPJ, they were overwhelmed since his father and others in the family had been writing to successive governments for the declassification of files ever since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru.
It is believed that there are 170 files on Netaji categorized as classified by the Centre. Sources claim there may be another 30-odd files lying with the intelligence agencies.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already made public about 64 files relating to Netaji. A huge controversy erupted as the files indicated decades of surveillance of the Bose family during the reign of Prime Minister Nehru and successive governments. However, the state government files did not shed any light on how Bose may have died.
