Kolkata: On the 119th birth anniversary of Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declassified 100 secret files for the first time which is believed will solve the mystery of his disappearance 70 years ago.
Modi, who paid tribute to the patriot at New Delhi’s National Archives of India (NAI), launched a web portal https://netajipapers.gov.in to release the digital version of the files in the presence of several family members of the nationalist.
The 100 files comprise over 16,600 pages of historic documents, ranging from those of the British Raj to as late as 2013, an official said after the ceremony at the National Archives of India (NAI) here where the Prime Minister declassified the secret papers.
Also present at the ceremony were members of the Bose family and Union Ministers Mahesh Sharma and Babul Supriyo when the files were thrown open for public viewing.
“The release of the files will meet the long-standing public demand and also facilitate scholars to carry out further research on Netaji,” said Dr Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for culture.
“The entire Bose family welcomes this step by Prime Minister wholeheartedly. This is a day of transparency in India,” Netaji’s grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose said.
Modi had promised the family to declassify the files in October last as there was a public outcry over the fact that some files suggested Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister spied on the family to know about their whereabouts.
Though the files will be scrutinised by researches and historians in the days ahead, initial reports suggest they give credence to the fact that Netaji died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945.
The declassified documents names one Juichi Nakamura, who is believed to an eyewitness of Netaji’s last moments at the military hospital. “He was taken to a room where Netaji, in a critically injured condition, was lying on a bed. His body was covered with bandages and he could see blood spots in bandages on head. His last words were I want to sleep”, Nakamura was quoted.
Documents also revealed the Congress party was giving Rs6,000 (Dh326) per year to Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose Pfaff, until her marriage in 1965. The amount was offered to his wife Emilie Schenkl. who had earlier refused it. Some reports suggest a letter written by Nehru termed Netaji as a “war criminal”.
“I have not gone though the files to make any comment. It is difficult to believe that Nehru could have made such a remark against Bose. It is true they had differences of opinion, but that does not mean he did not have regard for him,” said great-grandson, historian and Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Sugata Bose.
“There are many like me who do not believe in the air crash theory. We may not get all the answers today but I do hope that some indications will be given,” Kumar Bose added.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee who had declassified 64 files with the state government on September last year, demanded that Netaji must be given the title ‘Leader of the Nation’. He deserves that honour,” Banerjee said on a social media platform.
The Congress party termed this as mischief and an effort to belittle Nehru. “This is a deliberately created confusion and conspiracy by political forces and elements who have been ideologically opposed to the leadership of India’s struggle for independence led by the Indian National Congress,” party spokesperson Anand Sharma said.
“By these cheap conspiracies and spreading canards, truth cannot be suppressed. The Congress not only condemns this mischief, but is determined to identify and punish those behind it,” Sharma added.
