The West Bengal government has taken a historic decision; all 64 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose files in their possession have been declassified. The files pertain to his disappearance 70 years ago and may help his family and the nation find closure.
The original files have been kept in the Kolkata Police Museum. Beginning Monday, they will be available for public viewing.
The Kolkata Police Commissioner, Surajit Kar Purkayastha, announced the declassification. A digitised version of the files have been handed over to Bose’s family. The files contain 12,744 pages worth of documents.
The decision to declassify the files related to Netaji was announced by the West Bengal government on September 11. The family now hopes that the Centre will follow suit and will make the files in their possession public.
Saying that people have a right to know about a ‘brave son of India,’ Mamata Banerjee tweeted that all files in the state government’s possession have been made available to the public.
70 years after his mysterious disappearance, Netaji’s story continues to haunt the popular imagination in India. Did he die of third-degree burns on August 18, 1945, after his plane crashed in Formosa (now Taiwan) or did he survive and escape to Siberia? Or was the “crash” a mere hoax to help him flee to safety?
His daughter, Anita Pfaff is of the opinion that he perished in the crash. However, a number of researchers, admirers and family members don’t buy this theory.
It would be the perfect homecoming for him if the ashes are brought to India. His ashes should be immersed in the river Ganges.
— Anita Pfaff, Daughter, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
The Indian government made three attempts to unravel the mystery. Probe panels - Shah Nawaz Khan Committee (1956), GD Khosla Committee (1970) and the Justice MK Mukehrjee Commission which submitted its report in 2006 - have only fuelled the debate. While the first two panels concluded Bose perished in the Taipei crash, the Mukherjee Commission debunked the theory.
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