The controversy over Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose underscores the need for a proper, transparent declassification policy
Will the Modi Government release the classified files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and put an end to the ongoing debateIJ It is good news that the Government has constituted a three-member committee of top bureaucrats to looking into the legal implications of this matter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also assured the Bose family that he will personally examine the case. Many commissions of enquiry have been set up to look into this matter but the final word about when, where and how Bose died is yet to be settled.
Some believe that he died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945, in Taiwan while other says that he died in Siberia. A third group believes that a holy man who died in Uttar Pradesh, in 1985, was Bose. Bose’s family as well as the Mukherjee Commission which tabled its report in Parliament in 2006, do not believe in the plane crash theory. Ironically, Justice Mukherjee was not given all the documents related to the case.
Before coming to power, the BJP had been demanding the declassification of these documents. But the Modi Government has since said that releasing all the papers maybe problematic as they may adversely impact India’s ties with friendly nations. This was the stand was taken by the UPA Government as well. The recent controversy has arisen after new information emerged that the Government of India kept the Bose family under surveillance until 1968. Outraged, the Bose family now feels that the Government should declassify all the files and help solve the mystery.
There can be no argument for withholding these documents from the public and the demand for transparency is getting louder in public and political circles. The reason is simple: India leads the world in information technology. With the information revolution, Internet users are flooded with all kinds of information — some wanted and most unwanted. In such a situation, the Government’s decision to withhold the files is absurd.
Also, in recent years, many democracies around the world have declassified documents marked ‘for your eyes only’ and ‘top secret’. The recently released Kissinger cables are one of those. The US authorities did not feel that former US President Richard Nixon calling Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a “witch and a bitch’” would derail India-US relations today. The US follows an interesting system where all files are routinely declassified after 25 years, except under nine special circumstances. To withold a file from the public for more than 50 years, there are are even fewer reasons. If the Government wants to keep out a file for more than 75 years, then it needs special permission.
In Britain, all classified files are reviewed after 30 years to determine whether they have to be kept confidential. However, in India, despite the Right to Information Act, there is no system to declassify these within a time frame, as the Government can withhold any file it wants, under the archaic Official Secrets Act, 1923.
There is also a mindset problem here. The babus, everything is secret. They are reluctant to part with any information even if it is harmless. To access sensitive documents like the Nehru papers, one has to apply to The Nehru Memorial Museum & library which will forward the request to the Ministry of Culture where the final decision will be taken. This is why it is difficult to do research in India.
This writer had done research for two books — one on Nixon and the other on lyndon Johnson. All the documents were accessible at the lyndon Johnson library and Museum in Austin, Texas, and the National Archives in Washington, DC. This is a sad state of affairs. We need a transparent policy that includes declassification after a certain number of years.
Unfortunately, the Bose controversy has taken a political angle. The Congress is defending its decision not to declassify the secret files and suspects the controversy is a BJP ploy to malign Jawaharlal Nehru. The BJP is taunting the Congress for snooping on the Bose family for 20 years. All this leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Bose’s life and death will remain a mystery until the Government opens up the secret files and allows Russia and Britain to release their share of the relevant documents as well. The Government has a responsibility to respond to public demand or else, history will be distorted.