File Photo: PM Narendra Modi (Agence France-Presse)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he would host over 50 family members of Subhash Chandra Bose at his residence next month, but skipped any reference to the declassification of secret files related to Netaji which is being demanded after West Bengal did so a few days back.
In his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' -- 12th edition marking completion of one year of 'Mann Ki Baat' - the Prime Minister recalled that in May he had met some family members of Netaji during a visit to Kolkata.
"I got an opportunity to spend some time with them. That day it was decided that the extended family of Subhash babu will visit the Prime Minister's residence," PM Modi said.
"Last week, I got confirmation that more than 50 members of Subhash Babu's family are coming to visit the Prime Minister's residence... I am happy to welcome them," he said.
Describing it as a momentous occasion, PM Modi said the "bigger happiness" for him would be that "nobody in the Prime Minister's residence have got such a chance earlier".
The Prime Minister, however, made no mention of the issue of declassification of secret files related to the freedom fighter.
After West Bengal government declassified 64 files last week - 70 years after Netaji's mysterious disappearance -- Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and some others have demanded that the Central government also declassify the files that are with the Prime Minister's Office and the Home Ministry.
Some of Netaji's family members have rejected the theory that he had died in a plane crash in Taihoku airport in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu has said the nation needs to tread cautiously on Netaji files.
"It needs to be studied what is there in those files before the Centre takes such a decision, its impact on the international community, our relations with other countries," he has said. "The government will decide how and when to do it."