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Netaji’s family observes ‘Declassification Day’
Netajis grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose,who recently visited Renkoji temple where the leaders purported ashes are kept,said,We have never observed the day (as his death anniversary) as we dont believe that he died on August 18.
On a day scores of admirers of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visited Japans Renkoji Temple to mourn his death anniversary,his family in Kolkata decided to observe August 18 as Declassification Day demanding that all the secret files related to death of the leader,who went missing in 1945,be made public.
Netajis grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose,who recently visited Renkoji temple where the leaders purported ashes are kept,said,We have never observed the day (as his death anniversary) as we dont believe that he died on August 18. There is circumstantial evidence to prove that he was in Russia after that date in 1945. But now we have started observing this day as declassification day to put pressure on the government to make public the hidden files on his life, family spokesperson Chandra Kumar Bose said.
The family today held a public meeting in Kolkata where they appealed all political parties to come forward and support the cause.
Under house arrest by the Britishers,Netaji had escaped from India in 1941 to seek international support for Indias freedom struggle. After organising the Indian National Army with Japanese help he went missing in 1945,giving birth to Indias most debated mystery.
He was last seen at the Bangkok Airport on 17th August 1945,since then no news of his whereabouts has been confirmed.
The Mukherjee Commission formed by the Centre had rejected the opinion that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18,1945. Even Suresh Bose,one of the older brothers of Netaji and a member of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Inquiry Committee,had stated on oath before his death in 1972 that his brother was alive at the time.
There was never any direct evidence for Netajis death. On the contrary,all circumstantial evidence show that he was on his way to Soviet Russia,the only place he could hope to find sanctuary, says researcher Anuj Dhar,whose controversial book Indias biggest cover-up started the momentum for declassification.
In an earlier disclosure under the RTI appeal made by Mission Netaji,a Delhi-based research trust,the PMO had admitted that it was holding 33 secret files
concerning Netaji.