DECLASSIFICATION OF SECRET FILES ON NETA JI
A hundred secret files
relating to Subhas Chandra Bose made public by PM Narendra Modi on the
119th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter on Saturday do not throw
new light on much of the existing narrative on Netaji, except for a
Cabinet note of February 1995 saying he had indeed died in an air crash
in Taipei on August 18, 1945. “There seems to be no scope for doubt
that he died in the air crash of August 18, 1945 at Taihoku,“ said the
note, adding that the government had accepted that position.
In fact, bulk of the secret Netaji files made public on Saturday relate
to hundreds of petitions and demands for fresh inquiry into Subhas
Chandra Bose's death made by politicians, family members and
well-wishers from 1960s till now. A host of suggestions were made
in these representations, including one by journalist Ashish Ray asking
Narasimha Rao to get a DNA test conducted of the ashes of Bose kept in
Renkoji Temple in Japan. Though bizarre, another suggestion by D N Sinha
of All India Qaumi Ekta Committee suggested that bringing Netaji's
ashes to India would fetch Congress an extra 1020% votes.
National Archives of India will release into the public domain digital copies of 25 declassified files every month.However, some of the declassified files give an interesting insight into how Jawaharlal Nehru's government treated Bose's legacy .Papers show that since October, 1950, Bose's wife and daughter, based in Vienna, were being financially helped through various government channels, from the Indian mission in Switzerland to Nehru sending a cheque of 100 pounds to her.
A note signed by Nehru (March 14, 1954) shows Rs 2 lakh were set aside for mother and daughter. It was proposed that a trust comprising Nehru, B C Roy and Bo se's wife would be formed and that the money would be sent through non-official source like AICC. Every quarter, Nehru wrote, Rs 1500 -roughly the interest on the corpus -will be sent to the family.
An interesting bit about Bose's death relates to a `treasure box' which some Indians associated with him and which had been given to the head of the Indian mission in Tokyo. The box containing 20,000 yuan (Rs 265 and 10 anna) and gold and jewellery was handed over to the foreign ministry and finally kept in the National Museum.
In 1971, the box was opened and a detailed list was prepared. The file contains the list of each and every item whose total value was more than a lakh rupees. However, the file also mentions that one person who deposed before the Shah Nawaz Khan inquiry committee said the box was tampered with.
Another file talks about letters from Lalita Bose who ran the Netaji Mission in Calcutta, writing to PM Morarji Desai to have a statue of Netaji in front of Red Fort, and have a public holiday in schools and colleges across the country on 23 January and also to provide land for the Mission, but the PM refused to oblige any of the three requests, giving his reasons in a polite letter. (File no 3, NSC Bose)
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com
A hundred secret files
relating to Subhas Chandra Bose made public by PM Narendra Modi on the
119th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter on Saturday do not throw
new light on much of the existing narrative on Netaji, except for a
Cabinet note of February 1995 saying he had indeed died in an air crash
in Taipei on August 18, 1945. “There seems to be no scope for doubt
that he died in the air crash of August 18, 1945 at Taihoku,“ said the
note, adding that the government had accepted that position.
In fact, bulk of the secret Netaji files made public on Saturday relate
to hundreds of petitions and demands for fresh inquiry into Subhas
Chandra Bose's death made by politicians, family members and
well-wishers from 1960s till now. A host of suggestions were made
in these representations, including one by journalist Ashish Ray asking
Narasimha Rao to get a DNA test conducted of the ashes of Bose kept in
Renkoji Temple in Japan. Though bizarre, another suggestion by D N Sinha
of All India Qaumi Ekta Committee suggested that bringing Netaji's
ashes to India would fetch Congress an extra 1020% votes.National Archives of India will release into the public domain digital copies of 25 declassified files every month.However, some of the declassified files give an interesting insight into how Jawaharlal Nehru's government treated Bose's legacy .Papers show that since October, 1950, Bose's wife and daughter, based in Vienna, were being financially helped through various government channels, from the Indian mission in Switzerland to Nehru sending a cheque of 100 pounds to her.
A note signed by Nehru (March 14, 1954) shows Rs 2 lakh were set aside for mother and daughter. It was proposed that a trust comprising Nehru, B C Roy and Bo se's wife would be formed and that the money would be sent through non-official source like AICC. Every quarter, Nehru wrote, Rs 1500 -roughly the interest on the corpus -will be sent to the family.
An interesting bit about Bose's death relates to a `treasure box' which some Indians associated with him and which had been given to the head of the Indian mission in Tokyo. The box containing 20,000 yuan (Rs 265 and 10 anna) and gold and jewellery was handed over to the foreign ministry and finally kept in the National Museum.
In 1971, the box was opened and a detailed list was prepared. The file contains the list of each and every item whose total value was more than a lakh rupees. However, the file also mentions that one person who deposed before the Shah Nawaz Khan inquiry committee said the box was tampered with.
Another file talks about letters from Lalita Bose who ran the Netaji Mission in Calcutta, writing to PM Morarji Desai to have a statue of Netaji in front of Red Fort, and have a public holiday in schools and colleges across the country on 23 January and also to provide land for the Mission, but the PM refused to oblige any of the three requests, giving his reasons in a polite letter. (File no 3, NSC Bose)
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com
No comments:
Post a Comment