AIFB welcomes de-classification of Netaji files

NEW DELHI: The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) on Saturday welcomed the de-classification of 100 files relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and said the government must dig out details behind his disappearance.

AIFB, formed by Bose himself, also asked the Centre to announce the exact number of files in its possession relating to the leader and sought formation of an expert panel to de-classify the documents instead of government officials doing the job.

"We welcome the move. But we want to know what had happened to Netaji... The MK Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry had emphatically proved that there was no plane accident involving Netaji on the basis of documents receive from Taiwan Government. Then what happened to him?" said AIFB secretary G Devarajan.

While two earlier Commissions of Inquiry had concluded the leader had died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945, a third probe panel, headed by Justice Mukherjee, had contested it and suggested that Bose was alive after that.

Devarajan asked the Centre to announce the "exact" number of files in its possession relating to the leader and also sought constitution of an expert panel to declassify the documents.

"We don't want government officials to declassify the files, but research scholars, historians and academicians should," he added.

Meanwhile, 'Netaji Bhavan', which will serve as AIFB headquarters, was inaugurated in the national capital today. The inaugural function was attended by senior leaders of the party including general secretary Debabrata Biswas.

"We had demanded of the government to construct a building in Netaji's name, but the same went unheeded. So, we constructed the building on our own. This building will work as party headquarters and a centre of research relating to Netaji," Devarajan said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today made public digital copies of 100 secret files relating to Bose on his 119th birth anniversary, which could throw some light on the controversy over his death.