New Delhi, Oct. 14: The Centre will start the process of declassifying files related to Netaji in phases from January 23 next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced today and added that he saw "no reason to strangle history".
Thirty-five members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's family met Modi at the Prime Minister's residence in Delhi today and requested him to declassify the files related to the freedom fighter.
On September 18, the Bengal government declassified 64 Netaji files that were in its possession.
The Prime Minister told Netaji's family members that the Union government shared their views. He said he "sees no reason to strangle history," a Press Information Bureau (PIB) statement said.
A senior government official familiar with the issue said there were more than 300 files, including some in foreign countries. "We have to send requests to the foreign countries to declassify the files in their custody. Therefore, it is not possible to release everything at one go," the official said.
But Sugata Bose, the great-nephew of Netaji, told The Telegraph from Harvard tonight he was surprised at the Centre's "selectivity".
Bose, a Trinamul MP, added that the Modi government should have declassified all the files at one go "and that shouldn't have taken more than a week".
"That kind of selectivity would be very wrong because it goes against the very principle of freedom of information. They (the Centre) have known about the files for quite some time and they should not be dragging it. I had raised this issue in April in Parliament," he said.
"The matter has been known to him (the Prime Minister) for quite some time. They are sitting on the files," Bose added.
Bose expressed "doubts" about the Centre's claim that some of the Netaji files were with foreign governments. "I doubt it very much. How can the files of the Government of India lie with foreign governments?"
He added: "If there are any Netaji files lying with foreign governments like the US and the UK, obviously they will not have any problem opening the files to the Government of India. I know that these countries have opened several sensitive files about their own affairs.... I don't think there should be any difficulty in accessing the files."
According to the PIB statement, the Prime Minister said he found the suggestions of Netaji's family members to be "similar to his own thinking and the view of the Union Government".
Modi would take up the matter of declassifying the files on Netaji during his meetings with foreign leaders, beginning with those in Russia in December, the statement said.
Referring to the communal tension across the country, Bose took a swipe at Modi for not following Netaji's "idea of Hindu-Muslim unity".
"In today's context, Modi should follow Netaji's idea of Hindu-Muslim unity and stop the spread of religious hatred in our country. If he genuinely respects Netaji, he should do that."
Asked about the wait till Netaji's birthday (January 23) for the first round of declassification, Bose said: "If Mamata Banerjee can make available all files within a week from her announcement, I don't see why Narendra Modi can't do the same?"
