Congress dubs controversy on Netaji files as 'needless'

The Congress Party on Friday welcomed the declassification of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose files, but said that the controversies surrounding the issue are entirely 'needless'.

"All the controversies regarding Netaji's files are needless and they have been created in a political environment. The files are there with the government and they can declassify them whenever they want," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI.

"This is a welcome step. The declassification may throw light on the new facts that maybe unknown to us," he added.

Responding to a question on whether the Central Government should also declassify the files of Netaji files, Dikshit told that it should be left to the government to decide. They know the reason behind not declassifying the files better.

"The governments of different parties in the Centre have said in the past that declassifying these files won't be in the interest of the country and its foreign relations," he added.

Acknowledging that there was a long-standing demand for the declassification of the files on Bose, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier announced that her government would be declassifying 64 files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on September 18.