Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting with Subhash Chandra Bose grandnephews, Chandra Bose and Somnath Bose and their family members in Kolkata on Saturday. (PTI)
A group of relatives of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata today and urged him to declassify files related to the freedom fighter.
The family also raised the issue of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) snooping on at least two of Netaji's nephews. Government files declassified recently had revealed that the Intelligence Bureau kept relatives of Netaji under close surveillance between 1948 and 1968 - when Jawaharlal Nehru was India's Prime Minister.
The prime minister, the family claimed, had assured them he would take the issue of declassification forward but did not fix a time frame.
"The prime minister said this is no longer a family matter, the whole nation wants to know," said Chandra Bose, one of Netaji's grandnephews who has been pressing for declassification.
"He said he wanted to meet the whole family and involve historians, researchers and even journalists who have been trying to trace what happened to Netaji," Mr Chandra Bose added.
About the MHA saying there would be no probe into the snooping issue, Mr Chandra Bose said, "The prime minister wants to take a holistic view of the whole issue. The snooping issue will therefore automatically be covered."
Netaji's nephew Ardhendu Bose had earlier told NDTV that the family was always aware of the surveillance and considered it a sign that the leader was alive for a long time after he was presumed dead.
In April, during his visit to Germany, PM Modi met another close relation of Netaji -- Surya Kumar Bose - who appealed for declassification of all the files related to his great uncle.
Other members of the Bose family, including Somnath Bose and Chittopriya Bose, said they had also demanded of the prime minister that Netaji's birthday be declared a national holiday and members of his Indian National Army be declared freedom fighters.
The prime minister, they said, had said he would look into the matter.