70 year long wait ends, Netaji files declassified

Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Friday declassified 64 files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which might throw some light on his mysterious disappearance as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Centre should also make public its files on him.

The 64 files containing 12,744 pages were declassified in the presence of his family members who have been demanding that information on Bose, kept confidential till now, should be made public.

File pic of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

The files were displayed in glass cascades in Kolkata Police Museum here and they would be made accessible to the public from Monday, City Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha said.

Of the 64 files, 55 were with Kolkata Police while another nine were with the state police. Purakayastha handed over a DVD containing the files in digitised format to the family members of Netaji.

Chief Minister Banerjee, who visited the police museum, tweeted, "Today is a historic day. Our government has made all Netaji files public. People have a right to know about the brave son of India."

Later, she said, "We made a beginning. The people should know the truth. Let the central government also declassify the files (on Netaji). Let good sense prevail on all of us. You cannot suppress the truth. Let truth come out. "In 70 years, the mystery has not been solved. We did not know what happened (to Netaji). It is unfortunate. How long you can keep it under secrecy. You read the files in details," she said.

Welcoming the declassification of the 64 files by the state government, Chandra Bose, Netaji's grandnephew said, "It is a correct step. Now it is the duty of the central government to declassify 130 files it has with it." Chandra Bose said, "By keeping the files (on Netaji) under secrecy for 70 long years, some leaders have committed treachery towards the country. It is the duty of the central government to declassify those files to expose those leaders."

He said that it is not possible to keep those files under secrecy any longer. On whether Netaji died in 1945 in a plane crash, Bose replied, "A communication from CID Howrah quoting the U.S and the British intelligence stated that he did not die in plane crash."

Another family member of Netaji and a former TMC MP Krishna Bose said that Mamata Banerjee has taken a bold step by declassifying the files. "So far there were gossips, now truth will come out. I am happy that the files have been made public", she said, adding that the Centre should also do so.

Krishna Bose said that she wanted know why 'snooping on Netaji family members' was conducted even after Independence.