File Photo: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
With West Bengal government declassifying files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in its possession, All India Forward Bloc today demanded that the Odisha government follow suit as the nationalist leader was born in the state.
"We request to declassify the documents relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and INA in the custody of government of Odisha and to request the prime minister to do it at the Centre," said All India Forward Bloc, Odisha State Committee in a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today.
Stating that Bihar government too had declassified some documents related to Netaji, the memorandum said "all other sensible persons are demanding the Union government to do a similar exercise".
"In this regard, Odisha State Committee is also expecting some files relating Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and INA to be with Odisha state government be made public," the memorandum said and added Cuttack is the birth place of the nationalist leader and the state is proud to remember the activities of INA under his leadership.
Meanwhile, Anil Dhir, a city-based researcher on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, in a separate letter to the chief minister said "I had gathered data that the INA Association of Odisha, which had its headquarters at Hinjilikatu, was kept under surveillance by Odisha Police Intelligence Wing from 1948 to an unspecified period."
"If the government of Odisha does not have any files, let this be known to the public. As the birthplace of this great patriot, the state of Odisha owes him this much," Mr Dhir wrote in his letter.