The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a recent RTI reply accepted that there were 41 files related to Bose, of which two had been declassified, but refused to disclose them taking a position similar to that of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government.
"Disclosure of documents contained in these files would prejudicially affect relations with foreign countries. As such, these files are exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(a) read with Section 8(2) of the Right to Information Act," the PMO had said in its reply to RTI activist Subhash Agrawal.
“The investigation into the death of Netaji is going on. The people of independent India want to know about the finding of the investigation reports,” said Monimoy Ray, a teacher.
“The common people want to know in what condition he had died or if at all he died in the said air crash. The report should be made public,” he added.
The death of Bose has been shrouded in mystery in spite of several investigations. A few documents declassified by the government claimed that the revolutionary leader died in an air crash in Taiwan while flying to Tokyo on Aug 18, 1945.
On his birth anniversary on Friday, the main programme in the state was organised in Agartala by the students of Netaji Subash Vidya Niketan School.
A colourful rally was taken out to depict Bose’s ideology and the freedom struggle, cosmopolitan nature of the Indian society and the prevailing evils.
Hundreds of school students, different organisations and clubs participated in the rally that went through the streets of Agartala amid thousand of spectators crowding both sides of the roads.
“Today is Netaji’s 119th birth anniversary and we gathered here to celebrate that. We want to follow Netaji’s ideology and are proud to be student of Netaji Subhash Vidya Niketan. Our theme is Swacha Bharat (clean India) and through this we want to give a message that we want to create a clean India,” said Swarnali Chakraborty, a student.
Subhas Bose, more popularly known as ‘Netaji’ (beloved leader), was born in a Bengali family of Cuttack in Orissa.
Different tableaus on India’s freedom movement with emphasis on Bose’s role, taboos prevailing in society, death of Bengali matinee idol Suchitra Sen and singer Manna Dey and other socio-cultural subjects were presented.
Apart from students, hundreds of people from all walks of life also paid tribute to their hero who founded the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to drive the British rulers out of India.
The Azad Hind flag was unfurled along with the national flag on this day to remember the hero.
The programme was inaugurated by Education Minister of Tripura Bhanu Lal Saha in presence of renowned intellectual of the state Hiranmoy Chakraborty and other dignitaries.
