TOI's Rohit E David

Do you feel this declassification is a big achievement for the

and India?

How close are these files in telling the truth about Netaji's death?

Did you go through the files? Did you find anything striking that you would like to share with us?

Do you feel these files have been strategically declassified considering West Bengal goes to polls in May?

Is it true that Congress paid Bose's daughter Anita Rs 6,000 a year? If so why?

The Indian government in 1967 refrained from setting up an Indo-Japanese joint probe team to investigate Netaji's death as was requested by retired Japanese army officer General Iwaichi Fujiwara, a declassified file said. What do you think was the reason behind it?

Is it true that Indira Gandhi didn't want Subhas Chandra Bose's ashes back, fearing political backlash?

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee demanded that Netaji be given the title of 'leader of the nation'. What are your comments on that?

What do you have to say about some theories that Gumnami Baba was actually Netaji?

Has the Bose family asked the Indian government to remove Netaji's name from the list of Indian war criminals in the United Nations?

What are your reactions to Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Bose joining BJP?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made public digital copies of 100 secret files relating to Subhas Chandra Bose on his 119th birth anniversary. Netaji's grand-nephew, Surya Kumar Bose , speaks toon the declassified files and much more.Yes, this has been the first time that a Prime Minister of India has had the courage to start opening up the classified files on Subhas Chandra Bose, Sarat Chandra Bose , (and other family members) and the Indian National Army (INA).The 100 files that have been opened so far have not yet exposed any information regarding his death or disappearance. We shall have to go through thousands of documents to see if they have any further information. These have quite clearly exposed the criminal mind of Congress, which has ruled for the major part since 1947.Yes, I did go through some of the files at the National Archives in Delhi. I will have to go through many more via the internet. We have requested the National Archives to compile a portable version on DVD or some similar media. Most of the files that I went through were correspondence between Bose family members and the government of India (PM, FM, HM, etc) and notes on issues regarding the socalled 'ashes' in Renkoji Temple in Tokyo, along with remarks made by the PM and others. This also clearly showed the attitude of the Congress governments towards Netaji and their intentions to prove by any means his 'death' in the so-called 'plane crash'.I do not think that this move by the Prime Minister will have much effect on the polls in West Bengal in May, but political parties always have some political agenda and that is common to all of them.Congress did not pay a penny to Netaji's daughter. The money she received was from a trust fund that was set up from the amount collected from the screening of the film 'Pehla Aadmi' (based on Netaji Bose's INA). Only the interest on the 'capital' was paid till she became an adult.I am not sure what the real reasons were but I would assume that the government was not prepared to take a risk then. They ultimately set up the Khosla Commission in 1970, which turned out to be a farce.After the death of my grandfather Sarat Chandra Bose, the government was only afraid of one person in the Bose family - Amiya Nath Bose. She (Indira Gandhi) knew that Amiya Nath Bose, who was in Parliament then (1967) after defeating finance minister Sachin Choudhury with a margin of over one lakh votes, would make it very difficult for her to even think of bringing the so-called 'ashes' without sufficient proof of its authenticity.How does it matter now what title is given to the 'Liberator of India'. I feel that the only tribute that the country can give Netaji is by following his ideals and fulfilling his vision of an Independent India where communal harmony and economic and individual freedom are integral to our lives.This is an absolutely preposterous suggestion. Netaji himself had said several times that to become a sanyasi when the country needs you is the worst form of betrayal. He was disappointed in Shri Aurobindo when he gave up his revolutionary activites and retired to Pondicherry. He wrote about this to Aurobindo's brother Barin Ghosh.The declassified files are out. Now what does the Bose family plan to do? Well, we shall have to keep up the pressure, so that the 'intelligence files' in India as well as in Russia, the UK, the US and Japan among others are declassified. The people of India should keep up the pressure. Netaji always said that his countrymen (and women) were his family.I do not think that the UN would have Netaji's name on their list of war criminals. No such document has come to light till now. The United Nations was formed after the Second World War.No comments.