Twitter handle starts to release Netaji papers

With around a month left for the Centre to declassify files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a group of enthusiasts is bringing to public sphere documents related to his mysterious disappearance in 1945.

The group, led by London-based journalist Ashis Roy, has started a twitter handle, @bosefiles, to provide documentary evidence of Netaji’s last days.

Talking about the importance of bringing out in the open such evidences, Roy said in an official communiqué, “I believe the only way this can be achieved is by building public opinion in favour of the facts via all media and not just a section of it.”

In a statement from London, Roy urged people to visit the website and follow the twitter feed to “judge for themselves the merit of the documents that have and will be disclosed”.

With a section of Bose family believing that Netaji went to the Soviet Union after 1945, the website and twitter handle have posted five documents since December 7, four of which are files from the Indian Embassy in Moscow and Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While both these documents claim Bose never went to the Soviet Union in or after 1945, the fifth document, released on December 15, is a statement by a Russian Ambassador to India, reiterating the position.

Roy, who worked as the London correspondent of BBC and CNN for 38 years, said although Bose’s Austrian widow Emilie Schenkl died in 1996 “without the comfort of closure on the matter”, the nation owes full disclosure to Bose’s daughter Dr Anita Pfaff and millions of devoted followers.