The NDA Government’s move came amid growing demands for declassification of nearly 90 files, which are yet to be made public. Interestingly, grandnephew of Netaji, Surya Kumar Bose, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Berlin on Tuesday and requested him to declassify all files related to events since his death or disappearance in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.
The issue of Netaji related files came to the fore last week when a controversy broke out following reports that his family was kept under surveillance by the Intelligence Bureau for 20 years, much of it during the tenure of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Sources said among nearly 90 classified files relating to Netaji, around 27 are with the Ministry of External Affairs while the rest are with the Prime Minister’s Office. There is no file related to the freedom fighter with the Home Ministry as all have already been declassified and handed over to the National Archives.
The committee will examine whether the declassification of the files will in anyway hamper India’s relations with some foreign countries and also review certain provisions of the Official Secrets Act, sources said.
On April 9, Ukraine Parliament approved a Bill permitting their Government to declassify the records of all repressive organisations of the Soviet era from 1917 to 1991. As Netaji was believed to have travelled to Russia in his last known days in 1945, it is expected the declassification of these files may throw sensitive information on him also.
After meeting Modi in Berlin, Netaji’s grandnephew claimed that he got an assurance that his demand for declassification of all secret files related to the freedom fighter would be looked into. In Kolkata, the family members of Netaji hit the city streets demanding declassification of files on the freedom fighter.
According to archival material, which set off a political controversy, Bose’s close relatives, including his two nephews, Sisir Kumar Bose and Amiya Nath Bose, sons of his brother Sarat Chandra Bose, were spied upon for 20 years between 1948 and 1968. Nehru was Prime Minister for 16 of these 20 years.
The files, now with the National Archives, said the Netaji’s family homes at 1, Woodburn Park and 38/2 Elgin Road, were kept under surveillance. The IB sleuths intercepted and copied letters written by his family and even trailed them on foreign tours.
