Congress downplays IB report, claims Nehru and Bose shared 'personal rapport'

The Congress Party on Friday downplayed the alleged Intelligence Bureau declassified report which states that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had ordered a surveillance on freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose's family, adding that the two leaders had shared an 'excellent personal rapport'.

"This is a story made by the media and it is not a fair assessment of the history. Pandit ji [Nehru] and Subhash Chandra Bose enjoyed an excellent personal rapport in spite of all the differences. The difference was only about the strategy to attain independence. [Nehru] was of the view that it should be attained through peaceful means, while Subhash Chandra Bose had a different viewpoint on this issue," Chacko told ANI.

"Despite this, Pandit ji and Subhash Chandra Bose had an excellent personal relationship. As the first prime minister of India, it was his duty to oversee many of the developments of the intelligence agencies and beyond that there was no personal enmity between them. This is a wrong interpretation of history," he added.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh condemned the allegations, claiming that it was an attempt to defame the Nehru-Gandhi family.

"All this is bound to happen as BJP and the Sangh Parivar are against the Nehru-Gandhi family because Nehru ji was always against their ideology of dividing Hindus and Muslims. They must reveal the source of such news. I condemn such reports," Singh said.

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.