A forum for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose called 'The Open Platform' today urged both the Centre and the West Bengal government to declassify all secret files related to Netaji.
"The Centre as well as the West Bengal government should declassify all secret Netaji files to unravel the truth about mysterious disappearance of the great leader in the interest of national cause and restoration of national honour," Justice (Retd) Asok Kumar Ganguly said here.
Justifying the demand as "valid, fair and legitimate," Ganguly said "It is our right demand to unravel the truth about alleged disappearance of the great national hero."
"The Government of India has acknowledged that it is still holding secret files on Netaji and making them public is long overdue," Ganguly said.
"There must be something wrong which may have compelled successive governments at the Centre to hide the truth about Netaji's mysterious disappearance.
Hope the present government at the Centre will take a strong initiative for declassification of the secret Netaji files and make public the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry report," he said.
Alleging continuous surveillance on the Bose family, Ganguly said, "Unfortunately many members of the Bose family were under constant surveillance after the mysterious disappearance of Netaji. This should not have been done in a democracy where citizens have fundamental and human rights."
Speaking on the occasion, convenor of the Forum Chandra Kumar Bose said that the Centre was holding over 100 secret files and the West Bengal government about 64 files on Netaji.
The forum, which had filed an RTI application with the Mamata Banerjee government seeking disclosure of its contents, has received no reply even though the mandatory 30-day responding period had expired, Bose said.
He further said that some of those files contain correspondence between former West Bengal Chief Minister Dr Bidhan Chandra Ray and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the whereabouts of Netaji.
