The freedom fighter's grandnephew, Sugato Bose, who is also a Trinamool Congress MP said, "Keep Netaji out of partisan politics. His stature is bigger than Bharat Ratna. How can Netaji be given Bharat Ratna after Rajiv Gandhi? Anyone with a sense of history will agree with me".
Bose, a Harvard University professor who has written a biography of the leader, wondered how Netaji can be given Bharat Ratna after 43 people have got it before him.
Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji's another grandnephew, claimed most family members were opposed to the conferment of the award and instead demanded that the mystery of his disappearance be solved first.
"Netaji has been missing since 1945. When you award him with Bharat Ratna posthumously, you have to say when he died, but where is the evidence? The best way to honour him is to declassify government files which can reveal the truth behind his disappearance," he told PTI.
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"All of us feel that Bharat Ratna is not the appropriate award for him. None of us will go and accept the award," Bose said.
The family and members of the Open Platform for Netaji had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding formation of a Special Investigation Team under the guidance of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to investigate into Netaji's disappearance.
When under house arrest by the British, Netaji had escaped from India in 1941 to seek international support for India's freedom struggle.