As the 63-year-old debate on whether Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose “died” in a plane crash continues, the Centre has said it has spent a huge amount on observing the “death” anniversary of the revolutionary leader.
This was revealed in a reply to an RTI application by activist Debashish Bhattacharya seeking information on how much money the Government had spent on spreading the message of 38 national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Bose.
In reply to the RTI application, Mattu J P Singh, Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the DAVP, said the Government spent Rs 24 lakh on advertisements and publicity to celebrate the “birthdays and death anniversaries” of Gandhi and Bose during 2007-08.
The reply gave the amounts spent on the “birthdays and death anniversaries” of the two leaders since 2003-04. A total amount of Rs 95.5 lakh was spent for the purpose in the last five years.
The theory that Bose died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945 has been a matter of controversy.
The CPIO, asked to specify when the advertisements for the death anniversary of Bose were put out, said: “We have not bifurcated the amount and we will need time to do that.”
However, Bhattacharya said that in reply to one of his previous RTI applications, the DAVP had stated that “no advertisement has been released by it on January 23, 2007 on the occasion of birth anniversary of Bose.
However, telecast of a video spot of six seconds was done free of cost by DD News.”
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But in the subsequent reply, the DAVP stated that it spent Rs 19.5 lakh during 2006-07 on advertisements for Gandhi and Bose.
“There is no evidence till date which can establish Bose’s death and the figures mentioned regarding the expenditure are therefore a farce,” Bhattacharya said.
Moreover, the names of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and freedom fighters Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Rabindranath Tagore, Lala Lajpat Rai and Chandrashekar Azad do not find mention in the list of the departed leaders whose birth/death anniversary are observed in the country.
