Janjivan Bureau
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said that the Netaji Subash Chandra Bose files declassified by her government today have letters showing he might have been alive after 1945 when he mysteriously disappeared and that his family was snooped upon.
She also demanded that the Centre declassify files relating to the nationalist leader who went missing mysteriously 70 years ago.
“There are letters in the files where some people had said that Netaji might have been alive after 1945 (when he reportedly died in a plane crash),” Banerjee, who visited Kolkata Police Museum where the 64 declassified files are kept, told reporters.
“I did not get much time to go through the files. I have seen a bit of it and I have seen letters which were intercepted even after 1945 and documents which indicated that Netaji’s family was snooped upon,” she told the media.
Demanding that the Centre declassify files with it on Netaji, she said it is unfortunate that the mystery regarding his disappearance has remained unresolved for 70 long years.
“We do not know what happened (to Netaji). It is unfortunate. How long you can keep it under secrecy ?” she said.
“This (declassification of Netaji files by her government) is the beginning of the future. 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. It will come out today or tomorrow,” Banerjee said.
Asked to comment on the perception that India’s relations with some countries might be affected if files on Netaji with the Centre were declassified, the chief minister said, “Now we have got independence. There is no harm in honouring those leaders who got us independence. We should salute them. Before declassifying the files we have seen that internationally nothing will happen. If we have bilateral relation with a country it is necessary to review it.”
On questions whether there was any attempt to hide something, she said, “What you can guess, I can also. Let the country face the reality. There is nothing to hide. Why don’t you (Centre) declassify the files ?”
On whether there might be law and order problem after the declassification, she said, “I don’t think there will be any. It is a mere excuse. If there is any law and order problem, we are there to tackle it.
