Left asks Modi to declassify Netaji files

Kolkata, Jan 1 (IANS) Asserting that people of India had the right to know about mystery behind the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the Left Front has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declassify secret files relating to the nationalist leader.

Front chairman Biman Bose, in a letter to Modi, has also called for official declaration of Jan 23 - Netaji's birthday - as "Desh Prem Divas". He also wrote separately to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requesting the West Bengal government to follow suit.

Citing the Mukherjee Commission findings that Netaji did not die in the alleged air crash of 1945, Bose expressed concern over the PMO's recent refusal to declassify certain secret files.

"Declassification of all secret files is urgently needed. The previous Congress led central government had refused to do it.

"We are much concerned about some media reports that your PMO has repeated the old pleas of the previous government for not declassifying a few particular secret files," said Bose urging Modi to take immediate necessary actions to declassify all the secret files.

Observing that India was going through a phase where moral values and love for the country are "withering away", the Front urged the central and the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal to declare Jan 23 as Desh Prem Divas for inculcating patriotism in among the young generation.