Amidst speculation that the country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna may be conferred on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, his grandnephew on Sunday claimed that a majority of his family members did not approve of the idea.
Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji’s grandnephew, said the mystery of his disappearance should be solved first.
“Netaji has been missing since 1945. When you award him with Bharat Ratna posthumously, you have to say when he died. But where is the evidence? The best way to honour him is to declassify government files which can reveal the truth behind his disappearance,” Mr. Bose said.
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He said he had spoken to around 60 family members of the great leader, none of whom was willing to accept the award on his behalf.
The family and members of the Open Platform for Netaji had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding formation of a Special Investigation Team to investigate Netaji’s disappearance.
When under house arrest by the British, Netaji had escaped from India in 1941 to seek international support for India’s freedom struggle.
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He went missing in 1945, giving birth to India’s most debated and lingering mystery ever. The Mukherjee Commission that inquired into the disappearance had rejected the opinion that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. — PTI