September 18, 2015
Centre must declassify files on Netaji: Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee today demanded that the Central government must declassify all the files in its possession concerning Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. She was addressing the press after going through the 64 declassified files at Kolkata Police Museum.
After her announcement on September 11, 2015 that all files concerning Netaji in the possession of West Bengal government will be declassified in a week, CDs of the digitised files were handed over today to the family members of Netaji and the press. The files will be open for public viewing from Monday.
WB CM said, “We all know the birth date of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. We do not know about his death. We want the truth to come out.”
Maintaining that she has “fulfilled our responsibility to the people”, she urged the Centre to declassify the files in their possession. “We have made the beginning. People must know about the final days of Netaji. He must get his due recognition,” she said.
“If the Centre has nothing to hide, why is it not declassifying the files? We want to know the truth. We believe in transparency and accountability,” the CM added.
WB CM also assured that law and order situation, if any, will be taken care of by the government. She termed it a mere excuse and stressed that Centre must declassify Netaji files “for the sake of the nation”.
She added that the Centre can solve bilateral issues if it wants. “Why would relations with other countries be spoiled if we honour our great icons who fought for our freedom?” she wondered.
