As a growing number of researchers into the disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose are claiming that he did not die in the 1945 plane crash over Taiwan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threw her weight behind the contentious belief.
Seemingly a move to put pressure on the BJP-led Central government, her statement comes days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to declassify files related to Netaji.
“I’m not a historian. I’m speaking from the perspective of a common man and my hunch is he didn’t die in that crash,” Mamata said during a ceremony at Netaji Bhavan, Bose’s ancestral home in south Kolkata.
She cited as possible proof the recent revelation that successive Congress governments have been spying on the Bose family for decades.
She was announcing the government’s move to sanction funds for restoration of the car Netaji used to escape Kolkata in January 1941 on his way to Germany.
Banerjee was referring to the crash over Taiwan’s Taihoku on August 18, 1945, which some believe is how he died. In recent times, a number of researches presented documents to suggest he survived the crash and might have spent the rest of his days in a Soviet gulag.
She added that secret files with the Russian government could shed more light on Netaji’s mysterious disappearance.
“I’ve no idea whether the prime minister took up the issue with Russian authorities during his recent visit but I can say for sure it should have been done long ago. The question is why the government did not take up the issue with Russia,” she stated.
DH News Service
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