Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has a special place in our hearts, says Mamata Banerjee. (File)
Calcutta:
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help declare Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthday on January 23 as a national holiday.
She also urged Prime Minister Modi to personally ensure that the Center takes appropriate measures to give a conclusive picture of the disappearance of the freedom fighter on August 18, 1945.
“Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has a special place in our hearts. I would like to ask for your kind personal intervention so that the central government declares January 23, Netaji’s birthday, national holiday and also takes the appropriate measures to give conclusive action position on the issue of Netaji’s disappearance … “, wrote the Chief Minister.
In her two-page letter, Banerjee pointed out that the state has long demanded that January 23 be declared a public holiday.
She asked the PM to give people “the long-awaited opportunity to find out what happened to their great leader – their inspiration and their passion”.
Born in 1897, Netaji’s 125th birthday will be celebrated next year.
Several reports claimed that Netaji boarded a plane from Taihoku Airport in Taiwan which crashed resulting in the death of the leader. There is, however, no confirmation of his disappearance, as experts, over the years, have come up with different theories about his disappearance.
The Center had commissioned three inquiries – the 1956 Shah Nawaz Commission of Inquiry, the 1974 Khosla Commission and the 2005 Judge Mukherjee (JMCI) Commission of Inquiry – to shed light on the mysteries surrounding the death or disappearance. . by Netaji.
The first two commissions concluded that Netaji had died as a result of a plane crash in Taipei, while the third investigative panel disputed the claim and suggested that Bose was alive after that.
As of September 1, 2016, the Narendra Modi government declassified 100 reports on Bose. Banerjee had in September 2015 made public 64 files related to the freedom fighter. None, however, could help draw any conclusion.
