On the occasion of the 129th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded the immediate declassification of all files related to the great Indian patriot in the central archive by the Union government.
In a social media message posted on Friday morning, the Chief Minister has claimed that it was highly unfortunate that the mystery of Netaji’s disappearance was yet to be solved and reminded that the West Bengal government, led by her, had declassified the files on Netaji that were there in the state archives long back.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reminded the people of Netaji’s spirit and message of communal harmony in the country. "Unfortunately, the mystery of Netaji’s disappearance is yet to be solved. We do not know what happened to him after 1945.
It is a matter of great sorrow for everyone. But we made all the state files public long ago. I will again appeal to the Government of India to declassify all the information related to Netaji,” the Chief Minister said in her social media post. Netaji’s birth anniversary on Friday coincides with the occasion of Saraswati Puja, an extremely popular festival in West Bengal, especially among the student and youth fraternity, with Devi Saraswati being the Goddess of learning and music.
In her social media post, the Chief Minister also claimed that the true homage to Netaji would be in following his lessons of communal unity and universal brotherhood. “Netaji knew that the country is not just of Hindus or just Muslims. For him, the country was for all men, women, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Punjabis, Tamils, Gujaratis, and Bengalis.
His Azad Hind Fauj was a symbol of secularism and brotherhood, where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, rich & poor, men & women and people from all races, religions, castes, communities -- fought together for the country. If we want to truly respect Netaji, it is the duty of all of us to follow his ideals of unity, brotherhood, and harmony, irrespective of caste, religion, and gender. We are all Indians, and this is our identity," the Chief Minister said.