For more than half a century his death has been shrouded in a pall of mystery, his family snooped on, letters of his closest relatives have been intercepted and he is perhaps the only Indian whose Bharat Ratna was cancelled! Wait , wait, don’t get confused, no we are not talking about any national traitor, it is unfortunately the sad tale of one of the greatest revolutionaries that India should be proud of. Yes indeed we are talking of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
At a time when many renowned Indian leaders were busy buttering their British captors for individual and political gains, this man worked tirelessly to bring the British to their knees. Such was his charisma that he charmed every world leader from Japan to Germany to come out and help him but why such abject disregard in the very country that he was born in and for whose freedom he sacrificed his very being?
Well the 64 files declassified by the Mamta Banerjee Govt do indicate that he has been afterall alive after 1945. In shocking revelations it is learnt that perhaps there was no crash in Formosa in 1945 as has been touted thus far as the source of his death. The extent of surveillance that his family was subjected to is undeniably overwhelming. Almost every letter addressed to 38/2 Elgin Road (Netaji’s residence) and 1, Woodburn Park (where his family resided) have been intercepted by the Congress Govt under the section 26(1) of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.
These files also reveal details of many covert operations undertaken including tracking letters of the various family members, background checks for all individuals deemed as being close to the family. As the West Bengal Chief Minister said, “It was unfortunate that the truth around Netaji continued to remain obscure. We made a beginning. The people should know the truth. Let the central government also declassify files.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP Govt claimed that the Centre too is very serious about revealing the truth about revealing Netaji’s mysterious disappearance. But no material progress has been noticed yet. While the Congress had its reasons to cover up any effort to reveal the truth, it is about time that Narendra Modi did the needful to understand that why the man who is still revered by his countrymen was treated like a Pariah by his peer group which later went on to form the Government in Independent India.
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