Kin happy, say files should have been released earlier

Welcoming the move of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the declassification of files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Netaji’s grandnephew Professor Sugata Bose said on Friday that the Centre should have done this earlier. “Declassifying files related to Netaji in phases sparks rumour about his life and people do not get a clear and concise idea about the life of a great leader,” Prof. Bose said at Netaji Bhavan in Kolkata.

Sharing the belief that no startling facts will emerge from these files, Prof. Bose said, “It will take time to go through the files released by the Centre but all the files with the Centre should have been released together. It is not right to take the matter of Netaji like a sport. I think Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee did a splendid job and declassified all files within a week.”

However, he added that the most important documents related to Netaji is preserved right at the Netaji Bhavan as researchers and historians, including his father Sisir Bose, had worked hard to collect all such articles since 1950.

“The youth should visit this place and take an inspiration by going through the rich collection,” he added.

“We are happy. If the files were declassified earlier, there would not have been speculation. Both the PM and Ms Banerjee have done good work,” Ms Krishna Bose, widow of Netaji’s nephew Sisir Kumar Bose, said.

Noted US historian Leonard A. Gordon, who penned the book, Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalist Leaders Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose, said in Kolkata,”Files should have been opened much earlier. Why after such a long time The government has not done its job. I think they do not want the truth to come out as they are yet to release all files.”