In what the critics called a bid to use the name of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to score political brownie points Mamata Banerjee dug up the issue of his disappearance asking the Centre to declassify files related to his escape from India.
This even as the BJP demanded creation of a regiment in the Indian Army after the “Azad Hind Fauz” or the “Indian National Army” that Netaji had unsuccessfully led to drive away the British from India.
Banerjee who was in Darjeeling said, “I want the truth behind Netaji’s disappearance to come out. He was one of the greatest freedom fighters who continues to be relevant in the contemporary Indian politics which is being divided by some self-seeking people along communal and caste lines.”
The Chief Minister who pm Monday created a number of new autonomous councils in Darjeeling — based on sub-castes like Gurung — told her audience that she was against playing divisive politics and “Netaji had taught us to remain united and not divided.”
She said her Government had declassified the Netaji files when it came to power and now “it remains upon the Centre to fulfill its promises.”
Speaking on the 121th birth anniversary of Netaji she said, “History has failed to throw any light on the great tragedy around his disappearance. I want the truth to come out. The Government of India has so many files which should be declassified. The mystery would have been solved had proper investigation been done all these years.”
Banerjee allotted Rs10 lakh to renovate a building where Netaji had lived during his visit to Darjeeling.
Curiously Banerjee’s demand to declassify Netaji files came almost in tandem with a demand by some BJP members to create a regiment in Indian Army after Azad Hind Fauz which was actually created by Rashbehari Bose — who had left India in 1911.
The elder Bose during his stay in Japan raised the INA and handed over its charge to Netaji when he came to that country in a submarine from Germany.
According to sources a State BJP member had submitted a proposal to the State Governor KN Tripathi --- “for getting it forwarded to Delhi” --- so that a regiment in the Indian Army be named after the Azad Hind Fauz.
“We can do the least to remember this great patriot who was at one point in time more popular than any other leader of his time in the country,” said a State BJP leader.