Netaji family to ‘put pressure’ on Centre

Kolkata: Family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose said that they would put constant pressure on the Narendra Modi government to unravel the mystery behind the  disappearance of the freedom fighter.

“We have already appealed to Mr Modi to declare Netaji’s birthday on January 23 as Patriots Day. We will also appeal to immediately form a panel of experts to read and interpret the declassified files,” Chandra Bose, grandnephew of Netaji, said at a discussion on ‘What Happened to Netaji’ at Gorky Sadan.

Mr Bose stressed on taking a holistic approach to unearth the mystery behind Netaji’s death. “We need to see the files in Japan and Russia. We also need to see the files lying with the intelligence bureau. We want a team to scrutinise them. We are hopeful that Modiji will take up the matter,” he said.

The family, along with researchers and city NGO representatives, have demanded that the Centre either accept or reject by stating a cause the report put out by the Mukherjee Commission.

“The report was rejected by the Congress government without citing any reason. The BJP government should either accept or reject it with a cause,” Mr Bose said.

The Centre had released the first set of 100 classified files pertaining to Netaji in January last year but there was no new evidence to suggest Netaji had survived the 1945 plane crash in Taiwan. In September 2015, the state government also declassified some files.