Owing to media reports nominating Subhash Chandra Bose as a possible awardee of the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, the freedom fighter is back in news in Kolkata.
On Monday evening, the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), a party founded by ‘Netaji’, lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “offering” Bharat Ratna to their leader “posthumously.”
At a press conference in Kolkata, AIFB leaders said that to confer Bharat Ratna on Netaji without disclosing the secret behind his disappearance is “a strategy to humiliate the great leader” and belittle the entire community. The party’s secretary general, Debabrata Biswas, placed a three-point demand to clear the confusion related to the disappearance of Bose.
Mr. Biswas said before conferring any award on Bose, the government will have to “declassify the relevant reports”.
“There are 980 files which are yet to be declassified. The government will have to make those public and clarify what happened to Netaji,” said Mr. Biswas.
Patriots' dayThe AIFB also asked the BJP-led government to declare Netaji’s birthday (January 23) as Deshprem Diwas (patriots’ day).
INA war memorial“We also want a war memorial of Indian National Army (INA) in front of Red Fort in Delhi where no one knows anything about the army founded by Netaji,” said Mr. Biswas.
INA was formed in 1942 to secure independence with Japan’s assistance.
Interestingly, the release issued by the AIFB – still a constituent of the Left Front – has identified Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “true nationalist” and appealed to him to declare January 23 as Deshprem Diwas, in his scheduled speech on August 15 at Red Fort.
