West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sought the “personal intervention” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in declaring January 23, the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as a national holiday.
Mamata, in a letter to the prime minister, also urged him to ensure that the “truth” behind Netaji’s disappearance be unravelled.
“I would like to request for your kind personal intervention to see that the Central government declares 23rd January, Netaji’s birthday, a National Holiday, and also takes appropriate steps to give a conclusive position to the issue relating to the disappearance of Netaji and unravel the truth...” wrote Mamata.
She also said the move would be a “very appropriate recognition to the National Leader” ahead of his 125th birth anniversary.
Pointing out that the state government had already declassified several files regarding the disappearance of Netaji and placed them in public domain Mamata said the Centre should take necessary action to provide a “conclusive picture” to the issue.
She said the people of the country, especially Bengal, have the right to know what happened to Netaji.
“West Bengal government has already declassified and placed in public domain many files relating to Netaji on the issue. In the past, on several occasions, we had requested the Central government to take further appropriate steps to give a conclusive picture to this matter,” stated Mamata.
The Centre on September 1, 2016, declassified 100 files on Netaji. The Mamata Banerjee government in 2015 placed 60 files related to Netaji in the public domain.
Published 18 November 2020, 13:36 IST