Kolkata: Family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will meet Prime Minster Narendra Modi on May 17 and press for the declassification of secret files on Netaji lying with the central and state governments.
"We had written to the Prime Minister requesting for time to discuss the issue. A couple of days back we received a letter from the PMO inviting us on May 17," Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose said.
Besides demanding declassification of the secret files, they will also request the Prime Minister to form a Special Investigative Team to look into the content of the secret files once they are declassified, Bose stated.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose family members to meet PM Modi on May 17
"I speak as a historian, a parliamentarian and as a member of his family," Bose, also an MP, said.
"We will request the PM to constitute an SIT with officials from the PMO, External Affairs Ministry, Intelligence Bureau (IB), senior journalist and a Netaji-researcher as members of the committee to look into the files," Bose said.
"So far all the committees formed by the government to probe Netaji's disappearance were bureaucratic panels and none of them could deliver a fruitful conclusion. We believe that there should be presence of non-bureaucratic persons in the panel," he said.
Surya Kumar Bose, Netaji's grandnephew and elder brother of Chandra Bose had met Modi in Berlin earlier this month and sought declassification of all secret files amid a row over reported snooping on the leader's close relatives.
Meanwhile, Sugato Bose, another grand nephew of Netaji said, "This is an important national and historical issue and any attempt to politicise it will do a disservice to Netaji".
"I speak as a historian, a parliamentarian and as a member of his family," Bose, also an MP, said.
He further said, "It is unfortunate that the PM on his visit to Germany did not meet Netaji's closest surviving relative, his daughter".
