Bhubaneswar: When the country has been observing with patriotic fervor the 128th birth anniversary of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Thursday as Parakram Diwas, Orissa High Court heard a plea that seeks decalring Netaji as ‘National Son’.
Petitioner Pinakpani Mohanty filed a plea before the bench of Acting Chief Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo seeking declaration of Netaji as ‘National Son’ and had sought declassification of Netaji files.
The petitioner had also sought for declaration of Netaji’s birthday (Jan 23) as ‘National Day’ and his birthplace as ‘National Museum’.
In his plea, the petitioner has also sought a direction from the court to the Union govt to publicise the ‘Transfer of Power Agreement 1947’ and also the inquiry report of Justice Mukherjee Commission.
The matter has been adjourned Thursday and the next date of hearing has been fixed on Feb 12, as the court granted leave to Deputy Solicitor General of India and Additional Government Advocate for the State govt to file their respective affidavits before Feb 12 hearing.
NETAJI FILES NOT DECLASSIFIED?
The Vajpayee government had constituted Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry on 14th May 1999 to inquire into all the facts and circumstances related to the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945 and subsequent developments thereafter.
Among many terms of reference, one of the terms of reference of the Commission was "whether ashes in the Japanese temple are ashes of Netaji".
The Commission submitted its report in year 2006. The report concluded that Netaji Subhas Bose didn’t die in an air crash in 1945, and the ashes kept in Japan’s Renkoji temple are not Netaji Subash Bose’s ashes.
However, the then UPA government rejected the report’s conclusion and had not accepted the same.
After Modi govt came to power, the Justice Mukherjee Commission Report and its connected documents have been declassified and sent to the National Archives of India (NAI) for permanent retention – the same are available at www.netajipapers.gov.in
NETAJI FILES SOUGHT FROM HOW MANY COUNTRIES?
As per Ministry of External Affairs report, India had sought Netaji files from as many as 5 countries.
- UK
- USA
- Japan
- China
- Russia
STATUS OF NETAJI FILES FROM THE COUNTRIES
The MEA report has stated the following .
- Responses received from the governments of these countries were as follows:
- UK: As per the UK government, 62 files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose are already available on the websites of the National Archives and the British Library.
- USA: The US Government informed that they do not hold any historical records of over 30 years. Moreover, the US National Archives and Records Administration informed that their archival records of that period were not digitized. Therefore, locating these documents would require extensive research of the records of different US Government agencies and they will not be able to do so.
- Russia: On request from Indian government, Russian Government conveyed that they were unable to find any documents in the Russian archives pertaining to Netaji even after additional investigations made on the request of Indian govt.
- Japan: The MEA report underlines that Government of Japan had declassified two files on Netaji. The Government of Japan transferred these files to India and are retained in the National Archives of India. Government of Japan has also conveyed that if there are any additional documents relevant to the matter, these would be declassified as per their policies after a prescribed time period and based on an internal review mechanism.
- China: The MEA report stated that the response of the Government of the People’s Republic of China has not been received.
