Rahul Gandhi stirs up row over Netaji's 'death date'; BJP, TMC call out Congress leader

Congress MP and leader of opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has sparked a controversy with a post on social media paying tribute to freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 128th birth anniversary on Thursday.

Gandhi, in his post, mentioned the date of Bose's death as August 18, 1945, for which both the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have called him out. The date and circumstances of Netaji's death have been a topic of dispute with several of his supporters refusing to believe August 18 plane crash as the reason of his death.

"Heartfelt tribute to the great revolutionary, founder of Azad Hind Fauj, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary. Netaji's leadership, courage, his struggle for social justice, his contribution towards tolerance and inclusion continue to inspire every Indian even today," Rahul wrote in a post on X with a picture of Bose mentioning his date of birth and death.

Union Minister and BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar took strong opposition to the post and shared a screenshot of it on his account demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi.

The BJP leader wrote, "I strongly protest with the claim that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died on 18th August 1945, as stated in social media posts by @RahulGandhi! I also demands that Rahul Gandhi to apologize within the next 24 hours for showing disrespect to Netaji, who was the first Prime Minister of India."

Later in the day, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh also raised protest against the claim and said the LoP's post is "wrong and not acceptable."

"We are celebrating the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. We don't know whether the theory regarding the air crash accident of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is correct or not. The date of death that Rahul Gandhi has mentioned is wrong, he should correct it," he told media persons.