On the birth anniversary of Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Mamta Banerjee questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to why the Centre has not fulfilled its promise of declassifying all data available on Netaji’s death.
The Trinamool Congress party also demanded that the ashes preserved at Japan’s Renkoji temple, believed to be that of the freedom fighter, be sent for DNA analysis.
“Till today we don’t know about Netaji’s whereabouts,” Banerjee said at an event to mark his 125th birth anniversary.
“They (the Centre) had said that when they come to power, they will work on it but nothing happened. In fact, we (state) have released and declassified all files on Netaji Bose,” news agency ANI, quoted Banerjee.
Netaji’s death is a major controversy especially in Bengal as people deny that he died in a a plane crash. The Centre confirmed in response to a Right To Information in 2017 that Bose had died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945, and claimed that it has declassified all files related to his death.
In April 2016, the Centre released the third batch of 25 declassified files, dated between 1956-2009, which comprised five files each from the Prime Minister’s Office and Home Ministry, and 15 files from Ministry of External Affairs. However, a section of researchers still have reason to believe otherwise.
A TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, on Saturday, wrote to the PM requesting a de-classification of “Netaji Files”.
In his address to the nation with Mann ki Baat, the PM has yet again claimed the same that the Centre has fulfilled the demand of making Netaji files public, has promised a granite statue of the iconic freedom fighter at India Gate.
The government also promised that Republic day celebrations will extend from January 23 to include Netaji’s birthday and will end on January 30, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.
A hologram of Netaji has been put up on the spot, till a granite structure is constructed and ready to be unveiled.
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