AIFB calls for 3-day protest over Centre's Netaji crash death claim

The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) on Thursday announced a three-day protest against the Centre for asserting that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose died in a plane crash.

The AIFB - founded by Bose - said that the Centre should apologise to the nation and immediately withdraw the statement.

The Union Home Ministry on Tuesday said in reply to a query under the Right To Information Act that Netaji had died in an air crash in 1945.

The AIFB said that starting on Friday, there will be a three-day demonstration in different districts of the state and threatened to burn Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy.

"Netaji is the father of Indian freedom movement. How can the government make such statements without any conclusive evidence? We demand they withdraw the statement immediately," Naren Chatterjee, General Secretary of the party's West Bengal unit, told IANS.

"People of the nation would not accept such irresponsible response to such a big issue. The central government should apologise to the nation for their irresponsibility," he said.

"All India Forward Bloc would hold protest demonstrations in various districts. Effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be burnt on the streets," Chatterjee said.

Another veteran leader of the party, Naren Dey, said the government should take a call on the Mukherjee commission report which clearly stated that Netaji did not die in a crash.

"The Mukherjee commission was formed to probe the mystery behind Netaji's disappearance as the reports of two previous commissions were not satisfactory. It clearly mentioned that there was no plane crash in Taipei in that week. Maybe the government is scared to accept it because many political leaders would be in trouble," he said.

Terming Netaji's disappearance as a "smoky" episode propagated by the then British and Congress leadership, Netaji researcher Jayanta Choudhuri alleged the latest controversy has been kicked up only to "influence" the proceedings of the Vishnu Sahai inquiry commission set up to establish the identity of Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji, who many believe was actually Netaji.

The Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji lived in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad district till 1985.

"The controversy being cooked up now on the alleged air crash death of Netaji Subhas Chandra on August 18, 1945, is a move by all stakeholders who want to adversely influence the proceedings of the ongoing Sahai Commission," Choudhuri told IANS.

Choudhuri said in reply to a letter they had written last year, the government had not been assertive or conclusive on the issue.

"What made the government change its stand from disappearance/death to only death within a span of few months?" he asked.

"After considering the reports of the Shahnawaz Committee, Justice G.D. Khosla Commission and Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, the government has come to the conclusion that Netaji has died in plane crash in 1945," the Ministry said in its response to a query from Open Platform For Netaji spokesperson Sayak Sen.

--IANS

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