On the ocassion of India's iconic leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose' birth anniversary, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday questioned why the Centre is yet to declassify the files related to his death. Her party Trinamool Congress demanded that the ashes preserved at Japan's Renkoji temple, believed to be that of the freedom fighter, be sent for DNA analysis.
Ms Banerjee at an event to mark his 125th birth anniversary, said, "Till today we don't know about Netaji's whereabouts."
"They (the Centre) had said that when they come to power, they will work on it but nothing happened. In fact, we (state) have released and declassified all files on Netaji Bose," she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
In response to a query under the Right to Information Act in 2017, the Centre had confirmed that Subhas Bose died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945.
The Centre also claims it has declassified all the files related to Netaji. In April 2016, the Centre released the third batch of 25 declassified files, which comprised five files each from the Prime Minister's Office and Home Ministry, and 15 files from Ministry of External Affairs. The files dated back to the period between 1956 and 2009.
PM Modi, who said his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat that the Centre has fulfilled the demand of making Netaji files public, has promised a granite statue of the iconic freedom fighter at India Gate.
The controversy over Netaji's death is a hugely emotive issue in Bengal and many still believe that he did not die in a plane crash in 1945.
In a first, the government has also announced that the Republic Day celebrations will now begin from January 23 instead of January 24, to include Netaji's birth anniversary. It will end on January 30, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.
