The debate continues

The death of Subhas Chandra Bose or Netaji has stoked controversy in the past. It got another lease of life when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted this on Thursday morning: "Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was an icon of exemplary valour and sacrifice. We remember and pay him our respectful tribute on his death anniversary." The minister was going by the theory that Bose died in a plane crash in Taihoku, Taiwan, on August 18, 1945. But if there is evidence in support of his death in the plane crash, there are as many theories against it. Sometime back, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that some of the letters in the declassified files with the Kolkata and West Bengal police suggested that Netaji might have been alive after 1945. On Thursday, she posted that she was shocked by the "hurtful tweet by @arunjaitley ji". Jaitley removed the tweet later.