West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Photo: PTI)
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed the Centre for “casually” declaring – while replying to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act – that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945.
“I am shocked to see this unilateral decision of the Central Government without any evidence. Netaji is a great son of the soil. Our state, the country, and the whole world are proud of him. Any matter involving a person of his stature does not deserve to be handled in such a casual manner,” she said.
“I have drawn the attention of Hon’ble Prime Minister to this matter and has sought the considered stand of Central Government in this regard,” she said.
On May 31, the union home ministry, while responding to an RTI query, said, “After considering the reports of Shahnawaz Committee, Justice G D Khosla Commission and Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, the Government has come to the conclusion that Netaji had died in plane crash in 1945.”
It further reads, “Some information regarding Gumnami Baba and Bhagwan ji is available in Mukherjee Commission report on page 114-122. This report is available on mha.nic.in. Mukherjee Commission had come to the conclusion that Gumnami Baba/Bhagwanji was not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Ministry of Home Affairs has declassified all available files (37) related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”
Criticizing the home ministry’s response, Netaji’s grandnephew and Bengal BJP Vice-President Chandra Bose, said, “I condemn this casual approach of the central government. It is very unfortunate that the central government concluded Netaji’s death without any concrete evidence. I would like to request our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.”
He said, “I would like to thank the central government because it was due to PM Modi’s initiative that Netaji’s files were declassified after 70 years. I hope that he will take the investigations to its logical conclusion so that people could know the exact cause of his death.”