AIFB criticises PM Narendra Modi for ‘trying to reduce’ Netaji’s legacy into ‘family affair’

NEW DELHI: The All India Forward Bloc — the party founded by Subhas Chandra Bose that had been for decades trying to unravel the truth behind Netaji’s ‘mysterious disappearance,’ — has criticised Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi for ‘trying to reduce’ Netaji’s legacy into a ‘family affair.’

“It is unfortunate the prime minister and the BJP are trying to reduce the towering national legacy of Netaji into a family affair of his extended family members. It is an insult to the legacy of Netaji the manner in which the decision to declassify the files were announced in a selective family gathering. The announcement should have been m a d e i n Parliament,” AIFB leader Debabrata Biswas told ET.

The BJP-led NDA regime’s and Mamata -led Trinamool government’s wellcrafted parallel political and electoral play to tap the emotional attachment Bengalis have towards Netaji have made AIFB’s task to safeguard its ‘political patent’ difficult.

The AIFB leadership has arranged a convention of all Left parties in New Delhi to resist the BJP and Trinamool attempts to ‘tap’ Netaji’s legacy by placing demands such as “setting up of a Special Investigation Team under the supervision of a SC judge to conduct an independent exercise of declassifying the Netaji files” and declaring Netaji’s birth anniversary as ‘Desh Prem Diwas.’

Biswas said , “if the Modi government is honest about the issue, it should first accept the findings of the Mukherjee Commission which said there was no evidence of a plane crash killing Netaji.”