BJP dismayed, opposition in denial on IB report of Nehru spying on Netaji's family

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday expressed its dismay over the alleged declassification of an Intelligence Bureau report which stated that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had ordered a surveillance of the family of freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose, and maintained that the Congress Party has had a 'murky past'.

"If you see the history of the Congress Party, then, you will see darkness everywhere. There are lots of hidden things about them. Lot of such things come out about them (Congress) and most of them are true," Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

Meanwhile, the opposition was in denial mode and downplayed the report.

"All this is a part of history, there is not much information available now. As far as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was concerned, he was a democratic person, I do not think such things have any meaning," Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar said.

"There were differences between Jawaharlal Nehru and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose over the strategy adopted for gaining independence. I am not able to believe that Nehru ji would have ordered a surveillance on Netaji's family. But if it has happened, then, it is very unfortunate," Janata Dal (United) leader K C Tyagi added.

Earlier in the day, media reports stated that two recently declassified IB files have revealed that the Nehru-led Congress government spied on Netaji's kin between 1948 and 1968.

The files reveal that the IB had resumed British-era surveillance on the two Bose family homes in Calcutta at Woodburn Park and Elgin Road.